Eight years ago to the day, wide receiver Victor Cruz gifted the New York Giants with a franchise-altering 99-yard touchdown against their cross-town rivals, the New York Jets.
On Christmas Eve in 2011, the Giants were 7-7 and their playoff lives were on the line. On the opposing sideline, the Rex Ryan-led Jets were coming off their second consecutive AFC championship game appearance and, sitting at 8-6, were battling to get back into the NFL Playoffs.
For one team and their fans, it was going to be a very merry Christmas. For the other team and their fans, it would be coal in their stockings and booze in their eggnog.
Late in the second quarter, the Jets were leading 7-3 and had the Giants pinned at the one-yard line. With another stop, it felt like the Jets would have a chance to bury the Giants once and for all.
Instead, wide receiver Victor Cruz would deliver a Christmas miracle like Santa Claus himself.
On a third-and-10, quarterback Eli Manning connected with Cruz around the 11-yard line. With a quick juke, Cruz escaped a tackle and then took off. The MetLife Stadium crowd erupted, Cruz broke out the salsa and the Giants would ultimately be propelled to a 29-14 victory.
It was a Christmas miracle that helped fuel the Giants en route to a Super Bowl XLVI victory over the New England Patriots. And to this day, it still eats away at Ryan.
“There’s no question it sticks with you,” Ryan told Newsday in 2015. “It was Christmas Eve, we were in complete control, third-and-10, and they hit the 99-yard touchdown pass.
“If you could point to a play that turned not just the game around, but maybe the season around, it was that play. The Giants came out a totally different team, and they carried it through. It changed their fortune, and it certainly changed ours with that play and that loss.”
The Giants delivered a small Christmas gift to their fans this season, defeating the Washington Redskins, 41-35 in overtime, but the game had far less consequence and it pales in comparison to that year, that play and that moment.
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