so we could see more action after next week at the meadowlands. five cornerbacks on injured they lose goff early on. they've been able to mix and shower for tom coughlin, as if with the leg right now.

the giants wind up 9-7. the nfc east champions. >> cris: tom coughlin knows how quarterbacks feel right now. you know he's back there, but you don't know where he is. >> al: they should pour it on fewell. >> cris: maybe that's who it's for. he took heat. once he got boley in there. uh-oh, maybe the son-in-law is going to get him. there you go. >> al: 31-14, the wendy's post-game report coming up next.

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>> bob: well, in the second half, dallas rallied back, but then the giants pulled away again to end the cowboys' season and prolong their own. 31-14. eli manning, 24 of 33 for 346 and three touchdowns. one of those tds, caught by the dynamic young receiver, victor cruz, who had six receptions all told for 178 yards and the two of them are on the field with michele tafoya. michele? >> michele: thank you very much. eli, after all the highs and lows of this season, what does a

win like this mean? >> it's a great feeling. our guys have stuck together the whole season. we've had ups and downs. we talked about finishing. that's what we wanted to do in the off-season. we've done great in the fourth quarter and we finished the season strong. we needed two wins to make the playoffs. we got it done. >> michele: speaking of the fourth quarter, you threw your 15th fourth quarter touchdown pass. that broke the record held by johnny unitas and a guy by the name of peyton manning. what does the mean for you? >> under the circumstances, we needed it today to seal the victory. great catch by nicks. our guys played big in the fourth quarter. couple big catches, cruz and nicks. big-time conversions. >> michele: speaking of victor cruz, you continue to get in the cruz. what kind of weapon has he become for you? >> he's done a great job. his working hard, understanding the offense, how to get open, working on his craft. he's a big play guy.

we saw a three-yard out route, he turns upfield and gets touchdowns. in the fourth quarter, down the middle of the field, he does a great job jumping up. either he's going to catch it or nobody. he's done a great job making big plays for us. >> michele: congratulations, eli. victor cruz, you just heard it. what has the ride this season been like for you. >> it's been amazing, to come in relatively unknown. to find a spot and to propel us to the nfc east champion. it been amazing. i have to give credit to god, of course, and to my whole team believing in me and the coaching staff trusting i'm going to do the right things. it's been incredible. >> michele: obviously, eli manning has found great trust in you. you've built the relationship as a passer and catcher. how do you continue this roll into the playoffs. >> good defense and understanding what we have on offense and understanding what defenses want to play against us and taking advantage of that. and i think if we can do that, if we pay attention in the film

room, we'll be all right. >> michele: victor, congratulations. >> no problem. thanks a lot. >> michele: bob? >> bob: michele, thanks. the playoffs are set completely in the nfc. the packers and the 49ers have the beas. detroit travels to new orleans saturday night. atlanta will play at new york next sunday at 1:00 eastern on fox. let's bring in tony dungy. tony, in your mind, what was the key for the giants tonight? >> tony: i thought michele hit on the first one, and that was eli manning in the fourth quarter, bob. when the momentum had shifted, making two great throws to victor cruz, getting away from the rush and making those plays that franchise quarterbacks make. but also, you have to look at the giants pass rush. we talked about it before the game. and it wasn't just jason pierre-paul tonight. it was osi umenyiora, justin tuck. everyone getting after tony romo, making him uncomfortable. you have to credit perry fewell's defense. six sacks and they did a job on romo.

looking ahead to next week, it's going to be the same situation. atlanta with a powerful passing game, a lot of weapons. but their offensive coordinator, mike mularkey, has to be looking at how do i slow down the pass rush. they've got to run michael turner to keep these guys under control and not let them just tee off on matt ryan. >> bob: let's move over to the afc. the patriots and the ravens have the byes there. six seed, cincinnati, travels to houston in the early game on saturday. coverage beginning at 4:00 eastern here on nbc. the 12-4 steelers will go to denver to face the broncos on sunday at 4:30 eastern on cbs. now, tony, tim tebow hasn't been the same since the first half against the patriots. what do you think has happened to him? >> tony: the more people have had a chance to look at tim and this read option offense, the more they've found out what he does well and what he doesn't do well. and what people are doing now is taking away the outside runs of tebow. they're forcing him to stay in

the pocket. the linebackers are staying up the field and particularly on his left shoulder, making him come back to the middle of the field. he'll have to become a pocket passer. and i expect pittsburgh to do the same thing. crowd the box, line of scrimmage. make them get away from that running game and make him throw from the pocket. he has not adjusted to that. >> bob: all right, tony. happy new year. talk to you next week. we turn to mike florio of profootballtalk.com. he'll have all the news tomorrow on the nbc sports network. mike, big injuries affecting playoff teams. update us. >> steelers runningback rashard mendenhall has a right knee injury. coach mike tomlin after the game said he's not expected to play in denver next sunday, and he could have a torn acl. mri tomorrow. for safety ryan clark, an unusual health situation. in 2007, when the steelers played in denver, the altitude caused a blood reaction for clark.

he ultimately lost his spleen, gallbladder and 30 pounds. when the steelers returned to denver in 2009, clark did not play. a decision will be made in the next few days whether he'll play sunday on denver. chris kuper for the broncos is out for the year after suffering a fractured tibia against the chiefs sunday. finally, texans quarterback t.j. yates, from third stringer to starter, left shoulder injury, his non-throwing shoulder. he said after the game, as did coach gary kubiak, yates will play saturday against the bengals. >> bob: thanks as always. wednesday night on the nbc sports network, nfl turning point with dan patrick takes you inside the pivotal plays from week 17 and features record breaking saints quarterback drew brees miked for sound. here at metlife stadium, the giants beat the cowboys, 31-14. coming up, we'll take you inside the giants locker room. plus, final thoughts from al and cris. feel like your dollar keeps getting smaller? not at wendy's.

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listen, listen, listen. congratulations to the nfc east champions. great job of finishing that. great job of finishing this part of the season. now we go, man. we go. play atlanta 1:00 on sunday. let's go. let's get ready. stay on schedule. let's go. way to go, giants! energy, energy! energy! let's have a team, one, two, three, team! good job. >> dan: big finish to the season. they beat the jets last week. they beat the cowboys tonight.

it's on to the playoffs for them. our nbc doubleheader next week begins with cincinnati against houston. then we go to the superdome, where it's detroit against the saints. we did that game back in early december. figures to be a shootout as always. >> cris: but ndamukong suh was not there for the lines, serving that suspension. and, of course, matthew stafford and drew brees, both over 40 touchdown passes. calvin johnson. going to be a lot of firepower in that game. >> al: figures to be a great matchup and we will talk to you next saturday night and, of course, we'll begin with the bengals and the texans at 4:30 eastern time. the saints and the lions at 8:00 eastern time. tomorrow don't miss the winter classic. following the game, it's the premiere of the all new nbc premiere of the all new nbc sports network. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

it is a new year. we saw the same old redskins. after today's loss we'll tell you where the team will pick in the draft. get ready for the chill. mother nature bringing some cold

changes for the new year. good evening, everyone. welcome to news 4 at 11:00. we begin with a deadly crash on what neighbors call a dangerous road. two people killed when a car full of young people ran into a tree. news 4s darcy spencer joins us live from bethesda. darcy, this new year is beginning with heartbreak. >> reporter: it is. i was able to speak to the best friend of one victim. he tells me their entire circle of friend is grieving. they're in a state of shock. montgomery county police are investigating to see why the tragedy unfolded here this new year's morning. a man and woman died when the chevy trail blazer they were riding in crashed on the road in bethesda 3:00 new year's morning. nate lucas was friend with both victims. news 4 its not identifying them until police release their names. >> he was my closest acquaintance. like we always used to spend time over each other's houses.

she was cool. cool like a little sister. >> reporter: police say the suv was traveling west on jones bridge road when the driver lost control. the two victims who died were front and back seat passengers. three men survived including the 22-year-old driver. >> for reasons still under investigation they hopped the curb went through the chain link fence and came to rest against a tree. >> thomas quinn says he came to the scene to pay his respects, he says he was friend with the male passenger who died. >> just knew him from the skate park and around. a bunch of friends. >> montgomery county police are trying to figure out what caused the crash. residents say there have been other fatal crashes here along the road. >> the curves do not look treachero treacherous. >> friend say the group had been at a new year's eve party earlier in the evening. it's unclear where they were going when they wrecked. >> tragic. just as the hard for me as many

others. i can't even, you know? it's hard. still hard to believe it for real. seriously. >> reporter: police are saying that the driver was taken to a baltimore hospital with serious injuries. those two passenger whose survived are 18 and 19 years old. they were talk tine local hospitals with nonlife threatening injuries. police say they do expect to release identities tomorrow. reporting live from bethesda, darcy spencer, news 4. aaron, back to you. >> thank you. a married couple in their 70s remains in the hospital tonight after being hit by a car on the sidewalk. this happened this morning in kensington. a hyundai went off the road on summit avenue near prospect street. the cup rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. paramedics transported the driver. she its expected to be okay. >> d.c. police investigating their first homicide of 2012. 56-year-old leroy studevent was

found near a creek. official cause of death is strangulation associated with piercing blunt force trauma. because the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide today it will be included in this year's homicide tally. and we turn to the weather now. a drastic change starting to night. need to barack out t you'll need to break out that heavy coat. kim? >> coldest air we have seen in a long time will be breaking out across our air as we head into this week. let's look at it. this is the front. came through saint louis. right now eastern west virginia. stirring up snow flurries. mild air on top of us right now is actually exiting. we still are holding steady at 52. but look to the west down in morgan town. 33. 30 in elkins. those 30s are moving here. by tomorrow morning. we'll be waking up with

temperatures, between 30, 38. flurry possible overnight. the other story, big wind coming too. i will tell you how gusty they will get. who is going to see the big snow. when we get out of the deep chill next week. all coming up in a bit. >> thank you, kim. see you in a bit. >> another year acht nother loss for the redskins. now that the season is over. fans are trying to look forward. thinking about the draft what's coming out of that. >> that's what you have to do at this point. redskins suffering their worst loss in the season in the finale. hard to even think about i guess right now. yes, we are looking towards the future. with sunday any loss in philadelphia, the redskins earned the sixth pick in this year's nfl draft. it's washington's fifth top ten pick in the last ten years. while that may sound exciting. it's really not. the redskins have won just 15 games in three seasons. shanahan, redskins, down early against michael vick and the eagles sunday. second quarter, we start vick.

looking for chad hall here on the outside. and well he is 5'#", 187 pounds. muscles into the end zone. beating de angelo hall and perry riley. can't make the tackle. chad hall needs a boost into the stands to celebrate. third quarter. redskins answer. rex grossman. playing injured. makes a play. limping. limping all the way into the end zone. 47 yard touchdown. skins trail just 10-7. but we go to the fourth quarter. eagles up 13-10. they start to pull away. vuk lo vick, desean jackson. redskins lose 34-10. 5 and 11 record. finish last in the division for the fourth year in a row. franchise worst. also, shanahan's worst record as a head coach. >> we're doing some good things. but we didn't show any points. that's what you got to do. got to get point. you know we had a chance to have that first touchdown with the

drop pass. chance to get a field goal. touchdown at the end. no points. 14, 17. and you can't go on the road and win games like that. >> coming up, on "redskins final" hear what the players have to say after the final game. locker room report. playoff picture is clear. fill you in. who is playing who, coming up una few minutes on redskins final. >> looking forward to that. thank you. >> surveillance video may provide clues in a rash of fires in los angeles. since thursday there have been 39 arson cases in and around hollywood. most of them started with parked vehicles. some of them spread to nearby buildings. no one has been hurt. but residents in the region say they're living in fear. >> we lost actually four cars, which could have easily been loss of life. thank god that didn't happen. but you just, so close to that. >> police say despite dozens of witnesses and countless pieces of evidence, they don't have a suspect yet.

but they're also not sure if this is the work of one person, a group or even copycats. following a developing story -- growing tensions in iran. the government says it succe successfully tested nuclear fuel rods and test aid new missile that can evade radar. iran will test tomorrow to shut down the strait of hormuz. thor exsize not expected to block other ships. in decision 2012, two more nights until iowa republicans caucus. the presidential hopefuls there are using every second to stump for votes. while mitt romney is the front-runner. religious conservative, rick santorum is making a late surge. steve handlesman has more now from des moines. rick santorum tonight in far northwest iowa. his tireless campaign across this state is finally paying off. santorum could win tuesday

night. >> i said this is an episode of survivor. you just got to survive. if you can keep surviving you just never know what can happen. and, here we are. we just kept surviving. >> the new des moines register poll puts santorum third. if you count gop voters surveyed on the last two days of the four day poll, san tore up is tied. and a surge could win him the endorsement of conservative steve king. >> closer on the social issues with rick santorum of those three. no question. >> reporter: mitt romney, sounding like the nominee. >> president obama and i offer extraordinary stark contrast. >> ron paul with a shot of winning ruled out a third party bid for now. >> i am essentially tied for first place. and why would i kid doing anything like that. newt gingrich fourth look ford a bright spot. >> 41% in the des moines rez

stej po -- register poll were open to changing their mind. >> in iowa at churches, the buzz was about san tore up. a santorum. >> it's what rick santorum hoped for. looking past iowa, santorum has been campaigning in new hampshire and south carolina and polling poorly like he was here until now. i'm steve handlesman, nbc news, des moines. virginia's attorney general is reconsidering his call to change the state's ballot access law for primaries. while he says he believes virginia needs to change the law, he says making changes before this year's primary would not be fair. virginia requires candidates to collect 10,000 signatures from registered voters to appear on the ballot. only mitt romney and ron paul completed the requirement.

five candidates joined a lawsuit started by rick perry. >> need an extra quarter if you take the dulles toll road. costs $1.50. cars pay 75 cents on/off ramps. the higher toll helping to pay for metro to dulles. may want to start bringing your bags when you go shopping in montgomery county getting paper or plastic will cost 5 cents. the county expects to generate $1 million this year from the new bag tax. part of the money will go towards water and litter clean-up. somebody in this area is a millionaire tonight. grab your lottery tick it. we'll have the winning numbers for you. kay yols chaos erupts at a hotel on new year's eve. what made fights break out in the hallways. a special newborn. why this lit girl had a remarkable birth. believe it or not this woman is 100 years old

he took mrs. obama and his daughters to visit his grandfather's grave. buried at a volcanic crater. the first family went to the east/west center where they saw an exhibit on the work the president's mother did in indonesia. the obamas are scheduled to return to washington early this week. >> d.c. metro area welcomed the first baby of 2012 early this morning in clinton, maryland. this little girl doesn't have a name just yet. didn't matter to her. entered the world at southern maryland center hospital center at 12:12 a.m., weighing in at tad over 8, 10 ounces. the birth expected not this early. the couple were spending the day at the baltimore train museum when they got their first

inkling their special delivery might be on the fast track. >> when i was ready in the house getting ready. she said if we don't leave now the baby is going to come here. she threatened me at least once or twice with that. >> well, you can just kind of tell. it just doesn't stop. >> got some lungs on her. baby, mom and dad are doing fine. the first time that southern maryland hospital center has had the first baby of the new year. >> another very special birthday celebration on this first day of 2012. eugena reid turned 100 today. born on january 1, 1912. her family call together to celebrate that special occasion. she is the second oldest of six children and says, a lot has changed in 100 years. but the secret to staying happy is taking the good with the bad. >> there's a whole lot of difference.

everything is different. all i got to do is go on with the swing. >> that's good advice for us too. mrs. reid's grandchildren say they love to hear all the stories about the good old days that nobody else can remember. >> take a live look outside for you right now from our citi-cam. temperature tuesday have really just plummeted. remember it was kind of warm to start. now here we are with just a code, cold night out there. and kim says it is going to stick around for a while, yeah? >> yeah, you know what? we closed out december. and it was 5.3 degrees warmer than average. so, coming off the heels of a really warm month this next air mass even if not the coldest on the planet is going to feel colder. that's what we have coming our way. it is nice to see, no longer new year's day. it's after midnight. so, glad you are hanging out wut

u -- with us. skies have a couple clouds. a cold front that is going to be blasting east. this is going to drop our temperatures quickly. 60 what we hit today. new year's day this was the 16th warmest since 1871. and record keeping. so a warm one. now, look to the west. we have snow showers behind my shoulder. these are going to be really piling up for the mountains out here. winter storm warning, 8 to 12 inches. sup zei subzero wind chills over the next couple days. locally. 49. off to the west. 40s. 50s off to the east across the bay. everybody into the 30s tonight with some form of clouds around. to the north and west. a few flurries passing by. don't be surprised if you get one or two. nothing sticking locally. all going to stick to the west here. out here the winds, really brutal. locally, gusting later tomorrow. again on tuesday. coldest day this week.