The first takeaway came on Tampa Bay's third play from scrimmage, as quarterback Trent Dilfer was hit from behind by Jessie Armstead and lost the ball, which defensive tackle Christian Peter—starting for the injured Robert Harris—grabbed on a bounce and raced 38 yards for a touchdown.
The Giants' offense struggled to gain traction against Tampa Bay's vaunted defensive line, as Warren Sapp frequently put pressure on quarterback Kent Graham, and rookie running back Sean Bennett—starting for the injured Gary Brown—failed to find space.
Both offenses had their first drives of the third quarter stall near midfield, as Dilfer had a third-down snap from center Tony Mayberry go over his head before he managed to recover and throw away, and Graham had a pass to wide receiver Joe Jurevicius deflected away by cornerback Brian Kelly.
After another pair of three-and-outs, Brad Maynard boomed a 52-yard punt that hopped out of bounds inside the 1; three plays later, Dilfer's pass from the end zone was intercepted by rookie cornerback Andre Weathers, who ran it in for another defensive score.
But rookie left guard Luke Petitgout was flagged for a false start on 2nd-and-2, and Graham's ensuing screen pass was read and intercepted—his first in his last 131 attempts—by linebacker Shawn Barber, who took it 70 yards the other way for a touchdown; Brett Conway's extra point was blocked by George Williams, keeping the score 27–7.
It started well for them, as defensive tackle Keith Hamilton sacked Drew Bledsoe on third down, and Kent Graham completed his first five passes, hitting Ike Hilliard for a 27-yard gain and then LeShon Johnson for a 6-yard touchdown due to blown coverage.
The play of Percy Ellsworth, Sam Garnes and Jason Sehorn—making his first appearance since missing all of 1998 with torn knee ligaments and the preseason with a strained hamstring—limited Bledsoe's impact, but the Giants' two-minute drill wilted short of midfield, keeping the score 7–7 at halftime.
The Giants went three-and-out on their first possession of the third quarter, with Graham barely overthrowing David Patten on a deep third-down pass, while Bledsoe hit wide receiver Troy Brown for 25 yards on 3rd-and-8 to set up a 38-yard Adam Vinatieri field goal.
Three straight completions to wide receivers Dietrich Jells and Charles Johnson covered 38 yards to put the Eagles in the red zone; but another sack by Strahan forced them to kick another field goal, which nevertheless gave them a 15–13 lead early in the fourth.
Kerry Collins made his first start as a Giant, but it did nothing to improve their anemic offense, as they were held without a touchdown and staggered through three quarters before penalties and communication breakdowns quelled a late rally in a 14–3 loss to the Cardinals in sweltering Arizona heat.
A promising-looking first drive that featured their back tandem of Tiki Barber, Charles Way and Gary Brown converting third downs ultimately resulted in a punt; then late in the first quarter, Collins fumbled on a tackle by defensive end Andre Wadsworth, which was recovered by safety Kwamie Lassiter.
Plummer briefly left the game with a hip pointer on Arizona's first drive of the third quarter after a tackle, but former Giant Dave Brown came in and hit tight end Terry Hardy on consecutive plays for 31 yards to put them in the red zone.
A 36-yard punt return by Barber finally gave New York a jump, as Collins completed a host of short passes to Pete Mitchell and Howard Cross to help set up a 31-yard Daluiso field goal with just over 10 minutes left.
After a New Orleans three-and-out, the Giants drove up to their own 47-yard line with six seconds left; Graham launched a pass deep into the end zone, where it was deflected by safety Sammy Knight right into the hands of Jurevicius, who had snuck behind the crowd of defenders for his first NFL touchdown in dramatic fashion.
A 3rd-and-1 stuff of LeShon Johnson led to a punt; two plays later, Pederson threw deep down the left sideline to Small, who got away from a diving Sehorn and went 84 yards for a touchdown, the longest the Giants had allowed from scrimmage since 1975.
After gaining two yards on consecutive Staley runs, Pederson's third-down pass from New York's 45 was tipped at the line by Peter and snatched by Strahan, who outran the offensive linemen all the way to the end zone, giving the Giants a thrilling 23–17 win.
On the ensuing drive, a holding call on Luke Petitgout and a sack by defensive tackle Ellis Johnson left Maynard punting from the back of his end zone; another short kick was fielded by Wilkins at New York's 39, where he zig-zagged all the way for a touchdown.
However, their momentum quickly vanished, as after a failed challenge of a Wilkins fumbled touchback, James broke through the line and raced 72 yards—stiff-arming Jason Sehorn for roughly 20 of them—down to the 8; thankfully, the defense held the Colts to a field goal, making the score 27–12.
Indianapolis went three-and-out, but on the third play of the next drive, Johnson had the ball stripped from behind on a 17-yard run by safety Chad Cota and recovered by Blevins; the defense, however, made another stand, as a hit by Jessie Armstead forced an incompletion on third down, and a 32-yard punt return by Barber put the Giants at the Colts' 47 with 3:36 to go.
Graham's next pass was caught by Mitchell near the first down, but as he turned, the ball was knocked out by linebacker Cornelius Bennett and recovered by Wooten for New York's fourth and most critical turnover; two Manning kneel-downs ended the game.
Their first two drives saw Kent Graham get sacked by defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield and safety Sam Shade, while Brad Johnson completed three straight passes to Larry Centers for 34 yards down to New York's 8-yard line.
A sack by defensive end Marco Coleman led to another New York three-and-out, and also eventually to Graham leaving the game with a concussion after going just 3-of-10 for 36 yards; an interception by Percy Ellsworth—playing for the first time in a month because of a broken foot—put the Giants at the Redskins' 30, but they settled for a 44-yard Cary Blanchard field goal.
After an emotional week that saw the Giants' defensive players taking verbal shots at their offensive teammates as well as the passing of Jim Fassel's mother Dorothy, they saw an early lead disappear due to four second-half turnovers, resulting in being swept by the Cardinals for the first time since 1979.
Arizona's second possession was prolonged by a third-down roughing the passer-by Keith Hamilton, while Dave Brown completed consecutive passes to wide receiver Rob Moore for 22 yards to set up a 39-yard field goal by Chris Jacke.
Meanwhile, the Jets' top-rated running game couldn't get untracked, as Curtis Martin was dropped for a five-yard loss by Michael Strahan, leading to another three-and-out; Collins then hit a slant to Toomer, who spun away from cornerback Aaron Glenn and raced 61 yards for a score.
Already trailing 17–0, the Jets all but abandoned the run as the second quarter began, with quarterback Ray Lucas leading an 80-yard drive by completing 7-of-10 passes, the last one a 13-yard touchdown strike to wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson in the corner of the end zone.
However, the win proved costly; already without Phillippi Sparks, Conrad Hamilton and Andre Weathers, they would lose Jason Sehorn—who tore his ACL in a preseason game against the Jets in 1998—to a broken leg and Brian Williams—who had missed all of the previous two years with a devastating eye injury—to a sprained knee.
Brad Maynard managed to boom his punt back across midfield, but Buffalo used their backfield tandem of Antowain Smith, Jonathan Linton and Sam Gash before a screen to Thurman Thomas went for a 23-yard touchdown, putting them up 10-6 just after the two-minute warning.
A 31-yard catch-and-run by Isaac Bruce put the Rams right back across midfield; four plays later, Warner hit a slant pass to Holt into the red zone, but the ball was stripped out by Jeremy Lincoln and recovered by Ellsworth.
Needing two touchdowns and two two-point conversions, Collins came out with a fourth-down completion to Patten, and then hit passes to Jurevicius, Hilliard and Barber, also getting 15 yards on an unnecessary roughness on Singor Mobley against Toomer, as the Giants neared the red zone at the two-minute warning.