Giants extend Falcons' slump

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. --- Eli Manning and the New York Giants were just happy to celebrate a victory again. It had been six frustrating weeks, not that they were counting or anything.

"It's been a long time, 42 days since our last win," said Manning, who had his first 300-yard passing game at Giants Stadium. "It felt like it, too."

Lawrence Tynes kicked a 36-yard field goal 3:54 into overtime to make up for an earlier miss and lead the Giants past the Atlanta Falcons 34-31 on Sunday. The win snapped a four-game skid and came after the defense blew a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter.

"It's nice to win," coach Tom Coughlin said. "We were miserable around here for a month."

That must be the feeling for Atlanta (5-5), which has lost four of five after a 4-1 start.

"What I told our team is that we've been through a long road in terms of the last six weeks," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "Four of the six games we've played have been against teams that have been coming off the byes."

Matt Ryan finished 26 of 46 for 268 yards and two touchdowns, while Tony Gonzalez had eight catches for 82 yards and a touchdown. Jason Snelling, filling in for the injured Michael Turner, had two touchdown runs.

New York hadn't won since beating Oakland 44-7 on Oct. 11, but this one didn't come easily.

The Giants' defense -- without injured linebacker Antonio Pierce indefinitely -- couldn't hold a 31-17 lead.

Ryan threw a 4-yard scoring pass to Eric Weems with 6:01 left in regulation, then found Gonzalez for 11 yards with 28 seconds remaining to tie it.

"It's disappointing because we didn't come out with the outcome we wanted," Ryan said. "We had a lot of great contributions and great efforts from a lot of guys in the second half to come back from 14 down. But with that said, there are no moral victories."

The Giants became the first home team to win in the series since New York beat Atlanta in 1979. The visiting teams had won 12 in a row.

"Disappointing loss," Ryan said, "but we can't be discouraged."