The New York Giants are going to playoffs as the top-seeded team in the NFC.
Kerry Collins threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes.
Amani Toomer finished with a career-best 193 yards on eight catches .
Jason Sehorn returned an onside kickoff 38 yards for a TD
Giants move into the postseason with a five-game winning streak.

The Giants hung on and won it. How do you feel about the game?
"There's more tension in a Giants game then when you watch 'Psycho' for the first time. Don't ask me any questions about this game. You can't write about it. You just have to be at a Giants game. You have to see it to believe it."

Ok then Gamegirl ramble on.
"Oh give me a break. You weren't out there freezing, and you know how it goes with these Giants. Even when they 'put the game away', it's never 'put away'. There are so many ups and downs in a Giants game it's unbelievable. You watch them take Fred Taylor on his first running play and make him fumble. It was great after all that talk he came out with about how the Giants didn't have the talent. It was all we were talking about before the game, and everyone around me went crazy. I mean the Giants had good field position around the Jaguars 38 yard line and all.
Of course Kerry Collins gets sacked on his first pass attempt, and he hadn't been sacked much all year so that was worrisome. That drive got killed and the defense had to come back on the field after watching the offense go three and out, and without a score."

They're used to it.
"I know, they're big boys, and they did come right back with a sack on Brunell. The offense had good field position after a bad punt, but Kerry got sacked again. It was back and forth like this with both defenses kicking butt until Tiki ran it in for a touchdown right near the end of the first quarter. So you watch the Giants take the lead, and then suddenly they can't stop Fred Taylor anymore. On the Jaguars very next possession, he reels off a 44 yard touchdown run. Something like that hasn't happened all year to the Giants."

That was the biggest single run given up by the Giants to date.
"Yes, it was scary, and it got worse. On the very first play of the second half, Kerry throws it right at one of the defenders, and the Jaguars end up with an easy field goal and the lead. I didn't want to see the Giants fall behind in this game. Somehow it seems colder in the seats when things aren't working out, and the ups and downs were killing me. You see top players like Ike Hilliard drop easy passes from Kerry Collins on fourth down. Then you see Hilliard make sensational catches. They caught up and passed the Jaguars, and were leading 21-10."

There was only 3:05 left in the game.
"I was thinking about making an early exit, but then you watch the Jaguars get hot, and come within 3 points by making a 2 point conversion. Then you get to see my favorite, Jason Sehorn, grab the onside kick and run it in for a touchdown to 'put the game away'. Before you can even think again about leaving your freezing seat at the stadium a lousy 2 minutes early, you get to watch the Jaguars score again. Then there's another onside kick and, yes, I'll say it again, my favorite player Jason Sehorn grabs it, to 'put' the game away again' for the final and last time."

You weren't worried about the Giants final handoff to kill the last 18 seconds.
"Actually, the way this game was going I was!"

The Giants came up with the points when they needed them.
"Yeah, they got 21 points in the fourth quarter. The Giants needed a better game than they got from Kerry Collins last week against Dallas, and they got it. He was sacked three times in the game, and under constant blitzing, but he looked real cool under pressure. Collins made some great throws, and got everything he could from the players around him. He had thrown for 3,289 yards, the team's highest total since Phil Simms passed for 3,359 yards in 1988, before coming into this game, and he added 321 more yards to his total. I liked the way he looked in this game. I say he's playoff ready."

Who's not ready?
"Sometimes Hilliard looks like he's not. He's dropped a lot of passes this year, and that one he dropped on a fourth down play really hurt. Collins soft touched it to him, and Hilliard just dropped it. That killed a Giants drive that started on the 1 yard line, but it didn't kill their spirits. They stuck with Hilliard and he came up with some big catches after that. They don't seem to be sticking with Ron Dayne though. He hasn't been very effective the past few games, and wasn't this game either. He carried 6 times for 3 yards. They resorted to using Dayne as a decoy and that worked, but they need more from him. They ran Dayne when it was first down on the Jaguars one yard line and he lost 2 yards. Tiki got the next call and he made up Dayne's lost yardage and ran it in for the touchdown. They squeeze everything they can from Tiki Barber."

Tiki had another great game.
"It goes without saying. There's a guy who can cross Flatbush Ave traffic against the light with no trouble. By the way, don't ever try that unless you're a native New Yorker and have a special dispensation from Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Tiki's had 78 yards on the ground in a game where the Giants gained a total of 80 yards. He also had 4 catches for 35 yards, and finishes as the second leading receiver on the team. Luckily that injury he sustained near the end of the game was only a sprained right toe. The only person who might be able to fill in for him hardly gets to play.
You know, they had Joe Montgomery pretending to be Fred Taylor in Thursday's practice. At least he gets some work helping the Giants prepare for a game. You never know when you might need Montgomery to actually play. Like I said, they use the hell out of Tiki, and he's usually the one needed to soften things up for Ron Dayne, not the other way around. If there's no Tiki, there's no running game for the Giants."

Running back Fred Taylor paid for his comments.
"Taylor is a real good player, and just spoke his mind. Still, the Giants weren't happy with what he said, and they stayed on him pretty good. They caused him to fumble in the first quarter and he came back at them in the second, bouncing free and going 44 yards down the right sideline for the game tying touchdown. Taylor ended up with 13 carries for 52 yards which means he gained only 8 yards on those other 12 attempts. He would have had more attempts, except he left the game early in the third quarter with a hip pointer.
Anthony Johnson filled in and took the ball 19 yards on his first attempt before the Giants realized that they had to stop him too. They did a nice job of it after that, and he finished with a total of 5 carries for 18 yards."

The Jaguars got pretty banged up.
"In the second quarter, they were helping the fourth injured player off the field. They asked head coach Tom Coughlin about losing both running back Fred Taylor and wide receiver Jimmy Smith to injuries during the game. 'In order to beat a team like this, you need your big players to make big plays and unfortunately they weren't around for a great deal of the game.'
It wasn't the best of playing conditions for a visiting team, and now with the Giants getting home field advantage, we're looking at two cold January games at wind-filled Giants Stadium. This is what the Giants wanted and Fassel had his players on notice. 'I've already driven (the benefits) home to our players, and there's a definite value between the No. 1 and 2 (seeds),' Fassel said. 'We've pushed really hard these last four weeks. We've had long road games, gotten back at 5 or 6 in the morning and had to go back to work. It's been a hard row to hoe. I told our team if they want to hand our coaches the finest Christmas present that money can buy, then win this game and let the coaches be home for Christmas because, otherwise, we're working.'
Well, the players did their part, and it is a nice holiday gift for everyone, including the fans."

What's next?
"The Giants don't seem to get much credit for their two wins over the 10-5 Philadelphia Eagles and for their big win against Washington on Dec. 3. Now that they've gone ahead and beaten the Jaguars maybe they will."

Stats

Passing
Giants - Kerry Collins 22-39 for 321 yards, 1 INT, 2 TD.
Jaguars - Mark Brunell 23-41 for 262 yards, 1 INT, 2 TD.

Rushing
Giants - Tiki Barber 24-78, Ron Dayne 6-3, Kerry Collins 1-minus 1.
Jaguars - Fred Taylor 13-52, Anthony Johnson 5-18.

Receiving
Giants - Amani Toomer 8-193, Ike Hilliard 4-51, Tiki Barber 4-35, Greg Comella 4-22, Pete Mitchell 1-17, Dan Campbell 1-3.
Jaguars - Keenan Mccardell 11-131, Alvis Whitted 4-39, Kyle Brady 4-31, Reggie Barlow 1-28, Daimon Shelton 1-16, Fred Taylor 1-9, Anthony Johnson 1-8.

Interceptions
Giants - Ryan Phillips 1 for 12 yards
Jaguars - Tony Brackens 1 for 7 yards.

Kickoff Returns
Giants - Jason Sehorn 2 for 38, Ron Dixon 3 for 58.
Jaguars - Alvis Whitted 3 for 41, Jermaine Williams 2 for 50.

Punt Returns
Giants - Tiki Barber 2 for 9.
Jaguars - Reggie Barlow 1 for 0.

Missed field goals
Giants - Brad Daluiso 44.

Fumbles lost
Jaguars - Fred Taylor 1.

Opponent's fumbles recovered
Giants - Shaun Williams 1.

Tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial)
Giants - Michael Barrow 6-2-0, Sam Garnes 5-1-0, Emmanuel Mcdaniel 5-1-0, Jessie Armstead 5-0-0, Shaun Williams 3-2-0, Dave Thomas 3-2-0, Michael Strahan 4-0-0, Cedric Jones 3-1-1, Cornelius Griffin 3-1-0.5, Jason Sehorn 1-3-0, Keith Hamilton 2-0-0.5, Christian Peter 0-2-0, Ryan Phillips 0-1-0.
Jaguars - Brant Boyer 6-1-0, Kevin Hardy 6-1-1, Fernando Bryant 4-2-0, Aaron Beasley 4-2-0, Mike Logan 4-2-0, Seth Payne 4-2-0, Rayna Stewart 4-2-0, T.j. Slaughter 3-3-0, Donovin Darius 1-3-0, Larry Smith 3-0-0, Joel Smeenge 3-0-1, Renaldo Wynn 2-1-1, Tony Brackens 1-2-0, Gary Walker 2-0-0, Jason Craft 2-0-0, Rob Meier 1-0-0.

Net yards rushing
Giants - 80
Jaguars - 70

Net yards passing
Giants - 293
Jaguars - 257

Time of Possession
Giants - 34:21
Jaguars - 25:39

Scoring:

1ST QUARTER:
NYG - Tiki Barber 3 Yard TD Run (Brad Daluiso Extra Point), 0:45. N.Y. Giants 7-0.
2ND QUARTER:
JAC - Fred Taylor 44 Yard TD Run (Mike Hollis Extra Point), 13:23. Tied 7 -7.
3RD QUARTER:
JAC - Mike Hollis 36 Yard Field Goal, 13:19. Jacksonville 10-7.
4TH QUARTER:
NYG - Ike Hilliard 5 Yard TD Pass from Kerry Collins (Brad Daluiso Extra Point), 11:11. N.Y. Giants 14-10
NYG - Amani Toomer 54 Yard TD Pass from Kerry Collins (Brad Daluiso Extra Point), 3:05. N.Y. Giants 21-10
JAC - Kyle Brady 5 Yard TD Pass from Mark Brunell (Kyle Brady 2 Point Pass from Mark Brunell), 1:56. N.Y. Giants 21-18
NYG - Jason Sehorn 38 Yard Kickoff Return for TD (Brad Daluiso Extra Point), 1:51. N.Y. Giants 28-18
JAC - Alvis Whitted 12 Yard TD Pass from Mark Brunell (Mike Hollis Extra Point), 0:19. N.Y. Giants 28-25.

Notes

Giants earned the home-field advantage for the entire postseason and a 1st-round bye.

Giants finish at 12-4. Only three times have Giant teams won more - 1929, 1930 and 1990.

The Giants were 10-0 this season when they scored first.

Giants Tiki Barber became the first Giant to go over 2,000 all-purpose yards (2,089).

Tiki Barber is the sixth Giants RB to rush for over 1,000 yards (1006), joining Ron Johnson (twice), Joe Morris (three times), Ottis Anderson, Rodney Hampton (five times) and Gary Brown.

Going into this game, Tiki was the Giants second-leading receiver (66 catches for 684 yards).

Giants Amani Toomer is the first Giant since Homer Jones (1966-68) to have consecutive 1,000-yard seasons receiving.

Giants Kerry Collins finishes up with 22 TDs, tying Phil Simms for the most by a Giant since Fran Tarkenton had 23 in 1969.

Giants Jason Sehorn's touchdown on the onside kick return was the Giants' first return touchdown this season.

Giants handed the Jaguars their first losing season since their inaugural year in 1995.

Jaguars Keenan McCardell had 11 catches for 131 yards, giving him a career-best and team high 94 catches this season.

Next Game
Giants will play their first playoff game either Jan. 6 or Jan. 7 at Giants Stadium against either the fourth, fifth, or sixth NFC seed.

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