Giants dominant in rout of Redskins

LANDOVER, Md. – Playing for their playoff lives, Eli Manning and the New York Giants were efficient, focused and dominant.

Playing for their new general manager, the Washington Redskins did a good job of convincing the boss that maybe everyone ought to be fired.

The Giants kept themselves in the postseason hunt Monday night with one of the most lopsided victories in the long, storied series against their NFC East rival. New York scored on six of its first seven possessions and controlled every facet of the game in a 45-12 win that wasn’t as close as even that margin of victory would indicate.

Manning completed 19 of 26 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns, and Ahmad Bradshaw ran for two scores for the Giants (8-6), who are one game behind Dallas and Green Bay in the battle for wild-card spots with two weeks remaining in the regular season. A loss would have left New York with only the faintest of playoff hopes.

The Giants marched downfield at will to take a 24-0 halftime lead. At one point in the second quarter, they held a 226 to minus-2 advantage in total yards, a 16-0 dominance in first downs, and the time of possession gap was roughly 21 minutes to 41/2. The Redskins (4-10) went three-and-out on their first three possessions, finally got a first down on the fourth, then tried to pull a ridiculous-looking fake field goal on the fifth – a play that produced a Giants interception to end the half.

Even when the Redskins scored their first touchdown – with the game already out of reach in the third quarter – the Giants blocked the extra point.

Prior to the game, the Redskins had to remove an estimated 25 million pounds of snow from the stadium and their parking lots just so the game could be played two days after a historic East Coast storm.

The Giants set the tone by taking the opening kickoff and driving 80 yards for a touchdown in a 16-play drive that took 9:13. The second drive was 63 yards in 11 plays over 5 minutes.