Following the season, defensive coordinator John Fox left to become the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, a team he would take to the Super Bowl just two years later.

[2] After the Monday night loss in Denver, the Giants returned to Newark International Airport around 6 a.m. EDT on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, less than three hours before hijackers ran passenger jets into the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, causing them to collapse.

In the aftermath of the attacks, co-owner Wellington Mara advocated for postponement of the following week's games, including the Giants' home opener with the Green Bay Packers.

Amani Toomer led the offense with 7 receptions for 97 yards, while Jason Sehorn intercepted two passes including the aforementioned touchdown.

The Rams answered with three Jeff Wilkins field goals, the last one of which came as time expired in the first half to give St. Louis a 9–7 lead heading into the locker room.

After a scoreless fourth quarter, the Giants capitalized off a Marshall Faulk fumble with Kerry Collins finding Ike Hilliard for a 25-yard touchdown to make the score 14–9 with 13:33 remaining.

The Rams went on a 77-yard drive and advanced to the Giants' 1-yard line after a Sam Garnes pass interference penalty, on a play where Kurt Warner was temporarily knocked out of the game with an injury.

Backup Jamie Martin entered the game for one play, which was a 1-yard touchdown run by Trung Canidate to give the Rams a 15–14 lead with 4:17 to go.

The Giants dominated the first half, but failed to get in the end zone despite two goal-to-go situations and were forced to settle for three Morten Andersen field goals and a 9–0 halftime lead.

With 1:52 remaining, Donovan McNabb threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to James Thrash, and the ensuing extra point gave the Eagles their first lead of the night, 10–9.

On the next drive, Kerry Collins was sacked and forced to fumble by Jeremiah Trotter, and the Eagles recovered the ball to clinch the game.

On the second play from scrimmage, Kerry Collins lost a fumble on a snap, and Washington capitalized with Tony Banks finding rookie receiver Rod Gardner for a 12-yard touchdown pass.

The Giants initially appeared to be on their way to a defeat against a Cowboys team that not only was 2–4 heading into the game but was playing without their first- and second-string quarterbacks as well as star running back Emmitt Smith.

Late in the first quarter, the Giants allowed Cowboys third-string quarterback Clint Stoerner to throw a 16-yard touchdown to Joey Galloway to make it a 10–0 game.

He began the quarter by throwing an interception to linebacker Dexter Coakley, who returned Collins' errant pass 29 yards for a touchdown to make it 17–0.

Finally, in between the third and fourth interceptions, Thabiti Davis blocked and recovered a Cowboys punt to set up a Collins touchdown to Ike Hilliard to tie the game at 24–24 with 8:19 to go.

However, a Ron Dayne fumble and a missed 59-yard field goal by Andersen as time expired prevented the Giants from completing the comeback in regulation, and the game went into overtime.

Held just one week after the 2001 World Series concluded, the media had a field day comparing the Giants to the Yankees and the Cardinals to the series-winning Diamondbacks.

However, the Cardinals struck back with Jake Plummer throwing a 38-yard touchdown pass to star receiver David Boston to make it a 14–7 game heading into the locker room.

Then with 6:32 to go, Culpepper hit Moss over the middle on a crossing route, who then headed upfield and outran the Giants secondary for a 57-yard touchdown to complete the scoring.

The first was to running back Charlie Garner for a 21-yard score, then the second was to Tim Brown on a post pattern for a 46-yard touchdown to make it 21–3 Oakland heading into the locker room.

The Giants turned out yet another poor performance after their bye week, losing to the Cowboys for the only time during the three-year span Dave Campo coached the team.

After a 39-yard field goal by Morten Andersen made it a 10–6 game in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals took the lead with 4:04 to go with Jake Plummer finding Tywan Mitchell for a 24-yard touchdown.

In the second quarter, linebacker Micheal Barrow sacked Matt Hasselbeck and forced him to fumble, with Michael Strahan recovering the loose ball and returning it 13 yards for a touchdown to give the Giants their first lead of the day, 14–10.

Antonio Cochran sacked Kerry Collins and forced him to fumble, with defensive tackle John Randle recovering the ball in the end zone for the Seahawks to regain the lead.

A loss for the Giants would result in the team being officially eliminated from the NFC playoff race just one season after representing the conference in the Super Bowl.

The Giants ran a flea flicker, with Kerry Collins going deep and hitting Amani Toomer for a 60-yard touchdown to tie the game.

With David Akers' ensuing kickoff going into the end zone for a touchback, virtually everyone watching assumed the game had finally been decided.

However, upon reaching field goal range he began running out of room, and safety Damon Moore avoided problems for the Eagles by knocking Dixon out of bounds just 6 yards short of the end zone.

In the days after the game, numerous analysts criticized the play and went as far as to state that Strahan did not deserve the record due to the intentional nature of the sack.