"In the offseason were going to work on his fifth gear because he kept getting caught," center Shaun O'Hara said. "He probably could've had 300 yards if he didn't get tackled from behind so many times."

You bet Ward wanted Manning to just give him the damn ball.

"My teammates, they looked at me and they said they want me to get it done. That's all I needed from 'em," Ward said. "I looked into every one of my offensive lineman's eyes, and they had my back, and so I'm not gonna disappoint 'em by messing up or doing anything that's out of the norm. We played smashmouth football in overtime, and that was the end result of it."

Jacobs, back from his knee injury, had 24 carries for 87 yards and rushed for three touchdowns. "He sets the tone for us," Ward said. "He's the physical back, you know, 6-4, 260 . . . that'll soften up any defense in the NFL," Ward said.

Ward was succinct in describing the Giants performance last night.

"One word: resilient," Ward said. "And that's what Coach Coughlin preaches to us every day, week in, week out, being resilient. Only a resilient team could get through what we went through tonight."

So now the Giants will not be limping into the playoffs. "It's a boost, without a doubt," Coughlin said.

Come one, come all, to Giants Stadium, and try to steal that Lombardi Trophy from Ward and the Giants.

"Whoever wants to come to Giants Stadium, the way our crowd was today," said Antonio Pierce, "it should be fun."

Carolina Panthers News News » An a-Ward-winning performance for Giants
An a-Ward-winning performance for Giants
The Road to Tampa and the Super Bowl runs through East Rutherford now, and the Giants are quite lucky that Derrick Ward will be running on it. Ward put on a performance for the ages, not unlike the one Tiki Barber came up with when he rumbled for 234 yards against the Redskins to carry the Giants to the 2006 playoffs. NFL Week 16 Jets' collapse continues in snow Greenberg: Big Blue just better Primetime snub for Jets More from The New York Post