SANTA CLARA, Calif. — So badly, the Giants needed something good to happen to them.
Anything.
Whether it was by their doing or a gift from an opponent.
Anything.
It had been a month and a half since they last won a game — their only win — and a month since they even held a lead.
The ebb and flow of Monday night’s game against the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium represented a tedious tease of sorts for the Giants because all night it was right there for them.
All night, victory was within reach. The 1-7 Dead Team Walking entering their bye last week showed some life.
And in the end, with 53 seconds remaining in the game, something good happened for the Giants, who completed a nifty 27-23 comeback victory over the 49ers when Eli Manning completed a 3-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard in the shallow right corner of the end zone.
Manning, the Dead Quarterback Walking, whom most Giants fans have been begging to have benched, engineered a nine-play, 75-yard drive in 1:53 to win the game after the 49ers had taken a 23-20 lead on a 30-yard field goal by the Giants’ former kicker, Robbie Gould, with 2:46 remaining.
Along the way, there were critical completions of 31 yards to Evan Engram, 23 yards to Saquon Barkley, another 9 to Engram that got them down to the San Francisco 3-yard line.
And then the game-winner to Shepard.
Giants 27, 49ers 23.
Finally, something to smile about for the Giants and their 37-year-old punching-bag quarterback. Manning completed 19-of-31 passes for 188 yards and three TDs with no turnovers. He was 7-of-8 for 69 yards on the game-winning drive.
Earlier, there were good things from the Giants, signs of life, signs that this team has not quit despite having lost five consecutive games.
First there was linebacker B.J. Goodson picking off a Nick Mullens pass to Kendrick Bourne in the first quarter to give the ball to the Giants offense at the 49ers 12-yard line.
The Giants offense responded with a 10-yard Manning scoring pass to Odell Beckham Jr. for a 7-3 lead. It was the first of two times Manning would connect with Beckham on touchdowns.
That was the first time the Giants had a lead in any game since their Oct. 7 loss to the Panthers in Carolina. The Giants entered the game averaging 9 minutes and 6 seconds of being in the lead per game — worst in the NFL by some four minutes.
The lead would be short-lived, with the 49ers taking a 10-7 lead on a 3-yard scoring run by running back Matt Breida.
The Giants showed some spark in tying the game at 10-10 in the second quarter on a drive that featured Manning rolling out twice to his right to complete 13-yard passes to Beckham and Saquon Barkley.
Manning even got receiver Corey Coleman into the action, completing an 11-yard pass to the former Browns first-round draft pick. It was Coleman’s first catch as a Giant, his last catch coming three teams ago, spanning Cleveland to Buffalo to New England.
That drive, however, ended in a 20-yard Aldrick Rosas field goal when Barkley was stuffed on a third-and-3 with the Giants showing a five-wide empty formation. The 49ers — specifically their terrific rookie linebacker Fred Warner — were not fooled.
The 49ers answered with a 36-yard Gould field goal for a 13-10 lead.
That lead ballooned to 20-10 when the 49ers — aided by Rosas booting the second-half opening kickoff out of bounds — scored on the first possession of the third quarter, an 11-yard Mullens scoring pass to Breida.
The way the Giants offense has performed this season, you could have made the argument that 20-10 might as well have been 40-10.
But the Giants answered with a 20-yard Manning TD pass to Beckham — their second scoring connection of the night — to cut the 49ers lead to 20-17.
After a stout defensive hold, the Giants tied the game at 20-20 on a 31-yard Rosas field goal.
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