In the playoffs, the Giants defeated the Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, and the San Francisco 49ers to win the NFC championship.

The previous teams to go 9–7 and reach the Super Bowl (the 1979 Rams, who only needed two playoff wins were the first, and the 2008 Arizona Cardinals) were both defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Despite Jason Pierre-Paul having a breakout Pro Bowl season with 16.5 sacks, the defense was ranked in the bottom 10 in points and yards allowed and was top 10 in penalties.

Manning engineered 6 regular season game-winning drives in 2011 and threw 15 touchdown passes in the 4th quarter, NFL records that still stand.

Manning's 5 career game-winning drives in the playoffs are tied for third in NFL history with Joe Montana and became the fifth player to win multiple Super Bowl MVP awards.

Todd McShay (ESPN),[5] Steve Wyche (NFL.com),[6] Pat Kirwan of NFL.com, New Era Scouting, and DraftKing.com predicted that the Giants would use their first round pick (19th overall) to draft Gabe Carimi (who went 29th overall), a left tackle for the Wisconsin Badgers who won the 2010 Outland Trophy as the nation's top collegiate interior lineman, and was a Consensus All-American.

In the first week of the offseason the Giants signed some road free agents and former members of their 2010 practice squad to reserve/future contracts in order to bolster the roster for the 2011 season.

They added an insurance score in the fourth quarter when Rex Grossman found Jabar Gaffney in the end zone and iced the game.

Taking to the road to face another divisional rival, the Giants took care of the Eagles in Philadelphia for the first time since 2008 after having lost the previous five meetings.

It was the teams' first meeting since the infamous finish to their second matchup in 2010 which saw DeSean Jackson return a punt for a touchdown as time expired.

Arizona led 20–10 entering the fourth on the strength of two Beanie Wells rushing touchdowns and two Jay Feely field goals.

On the next play Eli Manning snapped the ball before the Cardinals defense was set and threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks.

Kolb drove the Cardinals into field goal range on their final drive, but a sack by Osi Umenyiora and pass breakup by Corey Webster sealed the win for the Giants.

Cruz had a play-of-the-year candidate touchdown catch in the third quarter as he caught the ball off his own deflection and ran it 68 yards to give the Giants a 22–19 lead in the fourth.

The Giants bounced back from their loss to the Seahawks last week at Metlife Stadium by recording another last-minute win, beating the Bills 27–24 on a Lawrence Tynes field goal.

Buffalo took an early 14–7 lead on two big offensive plays, an 80-yard run by Fred Jackson and a 60-yard pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Naaman Roosevelt.

New York was down 17–10 behind two rushing touchdowns, one by wildcat quarterback Steve Slaton and the other by starter Matt Moore, and a Dan Carpenter field goal.

Lawrence Tynes recorded a field goal of his own while Eli Manning threw a touchdown to Mario Manningham in the second quarter.

After Tynes recorded his second field goal in the fourth, Manning found Victor Cruz for a 25-yard touchdown with 2:30 left to give the Giants the victory.

However, leading the New York Giants 80 yards in just over a minute, Manning hit Jake Ballard for a 1-yard touchdown with 15 seconds left for a 24–20 win on Sunday, repeating a come-from-behind victory similar to the 2008 title game between the teams.

New York received the ball late in the game and drove inside the 49ers' red zone, but Manning's last pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage to preserve the San Francisco win.

Looking to snap their losing streak, the Giants took on the undefeated Super Bowl champion Packers at home following their blowout loss in New Orleans.

New York rebounded from their poor offensive effort against the Saints by putting up 35 points on the defending Super Bowl Champions and had the lead three separate times during the course of the game.

Trailing late in the fourth quarter, Eli Manning recorded a touchdown pass to tight end Jake Ballard to pull the team within five.

Both teams needed to win their last two games to make the playoffs and Jets coach Rex Ryan, while trying to motivate his players, added fuel to the fire.

Cruz broke two tackles and then took off for the end zone, outrunning the remaining Jet defenders on his way to a record-tying 99-yard touchdown reception and a 10–7 lead which the Giants never looked back from.

Down 20–14 and with an opportunity to march down the field to take the lead, Chris Canty forced an intentional grounding penalty in the endzone on Sanchez resulting in a safety.

Sanchez threw a career-high 59 passes for 258 yards and two total touchdowns but was intercepted twice and Dustin Keller led all receivers with eight receptions.

The Cowboys rallied to within a touchdown when Tony Romo found Laurent Robinson for a second time in the game, but the Giants put the game away with clutch 4th quarter play from Manning and put the nail in the coffin with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks, his fifteenth 4th quarter pass of the season, an NFL record.

Eli Manning won his second Super Bowl MVP award in four years after orchestrating another game-winning touchdown drive in the game's final moments.