Giants fire back at Redskins CB DeAngelo Hall

• Redskins lost to Giants 27-23 Sunday on Manning's 77-yard TD pass
• Manning said he saw something in the Redskins' coverages and took advantage of it
• DeAngelo Hall said Redskins 'gave him' the TD with poor coverage

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – For a couple of days, the story of the New York Giants' victory over the Washington Redskins has been the tremendous play Eli Manning and Victor Cruz made to split the Redskins' secondary for a 77-yard game-winning touchdown.

Until Wednesday, when Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall told D.C.-area reporters the Giants didn't earn that play so much as Washington let them have it.

"He made the play to beat us, but I don't feel like he made that play. I feel we gave him that play," Hall said. "We just had one guy set his feet and one guy not do this. I could have thrown that ball and he would have scored.

"It wasn't something where he was a rocket scientist and he figured something out. We just played that as bad as possible."

The Giants have been sensitive to comments from Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews and San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner saying those teams gave the Giants playoff victories. So it was expected the comments wouldn't sit well in the Giants' locker room.

The unexpected part, though, was that Manning fired back ... a bit.

"I appreciate him giving it to me. Thank you," Manning quipped. "I didn't think it took a rocket scientist to figure it out either. I had a guy running open and I hit him."

That's about as big a shot as Manning has ever taken at another player. And here comes another one:

"If that's the way they want to put it in their heads, then that's fine. But the fact is that was the coverage they messed up," Manning said. "That's what you've got to do as an offense: You've got to take advantage of it. If a team wants to give up some plays or they don't want to play well on a certain day, it's our job to play better and make the plays and take advantage of that opportunity."

Even though he was on the sideline at the time of the touchdown, Giants defensive captain Justin Tuck had an opinion on Hall's comment.

"DeAngelo's not that smart then, if they gave it to him," Tuck said. "I love how DeAngelo plays, he's an awesome player. But to give a person a game-winning touchdown? Ehhhh."

Has Tuck ever seen a defense give away a touchdown that long?

"No, I've seen teams on the goal line kind of back up and let people score," Tuck said, referring to the Giants' game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLVI. "But a 77-yard touchdown? Maybe he meant to say we had some communication (issues). Something like that. I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm not going to go down the road of what I want to say."

Which was to point out all the folks saying they've given the Giants victories.

"You know, I'm trying not to say that. And I'm hoping we've got, like, nine more giveaways this (regular season) and then three to four more giveaways. I'll be a happy man with that," Tuck said. "So for all y'all guys out there listening, if you play us, if you feel you want to give us something, I'll take some sacks, I'm sure Eli will take more 77-yard touchdown passes, Coach (Tom) Coughlin will take a couple of more wins to separate himself from Coach (Bill) Parcells. There are all types of things."

As for Cruz, he believes a lot of defensive backs haven't shown him enough respect, perhaps because they can't believe a former undrafted free agent is making all of these plays.

"I guess so. But after you do make the plays, they've gotta believe something," Cruz said. "They've gotta believe what they see. You can't just be that oblivious to it."

Hall's comments put him on a list with the New York Jets' Darrelle Revis, the Dallas Cowboys' Brandon Carr and the San Francisco 49ers Carlos Rogers as cornerbacks who have taken a few shots at Cruz.

"I have no idea where it comes from. I don't know why some people say the things they say," Cruz said. "I think it's just them feeling the type of way because they lost and the way they lost, these different teams and different players that have said things. I don't know why it comes off that way.

"It's definitely a little disrespectful, but we can't dwell on it."