Giants' Defense Authors Miracle Monday Night Finish in Meaningless Game

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Tommie Hill hadn't been in the end zone with a football since his senior year of high school, when he blocked a punt for a touchdown. But with time ticking down in the fourth quarter of a tied preseason game against the Carolina Panthers on Monday night, the Giants' rookie defensive end out of Colorado State found his way back. Hill's fumble recovery and subsequent 18-yard rumble to paydirt as time expired made the Giants winners in their first preseason game of the year and, more importantly, spared everybody from the inexplicably pointless experience that is preseason overtime.

"I ought to be able to get a dinner out of it," Hill joked. "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

Evidently, they really would have played overtime if the game had still been tied when time expired. Which...why? These games don't count at all. Everybody agrees that there are too many of them, and that they're dangerous. Why add an extra period in which somebody could get seriously hurt? Why not just call it a tie?

These are all relevant and sensible questions, but as they were being asked all around Giants Stadium late Monday night, Hill was boxing them up and saving them for another day. With 10 seconds left and the ball at the Carolina 18-yard line, Panthers quarterback Hunter Cantwell dropped back to pass. Reserve defensive lineman Leger Douzable got loose and sacked Cantwell, who lost the ball as he was throwing it. The ball popped up into the air and into the arms of Hill, who ran it back across the goal line as the clock ticked down to 0.00.

"This time it was me," Hill said. "The next time, it's going to be somebody else."

In all seriousness, that may have been the story of the night. Hill's fumble recovery was the fifth turnover the Giants' defense forced. They forced six fumbles and recovered four of them to go with an interception of Josh McCown. Early in the game, the Giants' deep and fearsome defensive line was a standout unit, making the Panthers look as if they hadn't even game-planned for them. Which, actually, they hadn't.

"Some teams game plan for these early preseason games, but we actually don't, so this was really the first time we were seeing them," Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme said. "But that said, they're outstanding. They have a ton of talent on that defensive line and on that defense period."

The Giants fully expect to be able to create havoc in opponents' backfields, and their first work against a real opponent helped reinforce that expectation. Several Giants defenders said it was a pleasure to get out on the field and hit somebody who wasn't a teammate. As for the five turnovers...

"If we keep this going all year," Justin Tuck said, "we'll be prettty good."