Giants Rout Redskins | Remain in NFC Hunt | Giants Missing 2 DBs, McKenzie Against Redskins

LANDOVER, Md. — For the New York Giants, Monday night's game against the Washington Redskins presented two clear realities: Win and remain in decent contention for a wild-card playoff berth. Lose and be reduced to a mathematical long shot.

They responded in emphatic fashion, building a 24-point halftime lead and going on to a 45-12 rout that keeps them in the NFC postseason hunt. The Giants, who won their first five games before losing the next four, are 8-6. The Redskins fell to 4-10.

New York's defense stuffed Washington's offense when it mattered most, holding the Redskins to 78 yards in the first half. The Giants sacked Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell five times and picked off three passes, one of which was returned 14 yards for a score by Terrell Thomas.

The offense, meanwhile, hummed along behind quarterback Eli Manning, who completed 19 of 26 passes for 268 yards and three TDs before sitting down in favor of David Carr. New York scored on its first four possessions and by halftime many fans at FedEx Field headed toward the exits.

Any chance the Giants had of winning the NFC East was snuffed Sunday when the division-leading Philadelphia Eagles beat the San Francisco 49ers, leaving only the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys with a shot. Philadelphia beat New York in a 45-38 shootout a week earlier.

The Giants began the game with an 80-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 3-yard run by Ahmad Bradshaw. After a Redskins punt, New York drove down the field again, with Bradshaw taking the ball in from 4 yards for a 14-0 lead.

It was the first game for new Redskins general manager Bruce Allen, who last week replaced Vinny Cerrato as the team's personnel chief. Allen's father, the late George Allen, coached the team in the 1970s and led them to a Super Bowl appearance.

More than 1,200 workers were recruited to clear an estimated 25 million pounds of snow from the stadium, the result of a weekend storm that pounded the region.

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