EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — From the start Monday night, it was obvious the Giants were going to be liberated from their winless misery.
The ball bounced their way at every turn. When Eli Manning threw an ill-advised pass — something he did at least twice — the ball was not intercepted but instead bounced harmlessly to the ground.
The Giants recovered two fumbles, something they had not done in a game this season. They led at halftime, another first for 2013. There was good Giants karma everywhere. The place-kicker for the opposing Minnesota Vikings missed a field goal — another first. as opposing kickers had been 14 for 14.
On Monday at MetLife Stadium, with the home crowd cheering and happy for the first time in nearly 300 days, it was as if the football gods said, Enough.
They let the Giants up. An 0-6 start to the season was sufficient humiliation.
Not long before midnight, the Giants had their first victory of the season, a 23-7 rout of the Vikings.
"It removes the stigma of having a zero at the front of your record, and it gives us renewed energy," wide receiver Victor Cruz said. "Everyone feels a little fresher, like the season is beginning again."
For the first time this year, there was music in the Giants' locker room after a game. And smiling faces. For a day at least, the gloom had been lifted.
"I think we have a shovel in our hands now," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "We can use it to dig ourselves out of the hole we've dug."
It would not be fair to call Monday's game an easy win — there is no such thing when your last victory came around Christmas in 2012 — but the Giants' performance against the Vikings was unforced and seemed to come to them naturally. Facing the hapless Vikings (1-5) certainly helped, but this first quality effort of the Giants season was not all luck and having the good fortune of playing a team without a bona fide quarterback.
Manning led the Giants on multiple efficient scoring drives without turning the ball over. Two running backs who until Monday had never carried the football for the Giants, Peyton Hillis and Michael Cox, gave the offense the much-needed balance it had lacked. The defense intercepted a pass, pressured Minnesota quarterback Josh Freeman and held the Vikings superstar running back Adrian Peterson to 28 rushing yards on 13 carries.
It was everything the previous six losses had not been. And while it may be irrelevant from a pragmatic sense, the 1-6 Giants are only three games out of first place in the N.F.C. East with nine games left on their schedule.
The tone for the game was set in the opening moments. Facing a third down and 5 at his own 21-yard line, Manning saw no receivers open and bolted up the middle of the field rather than force a throw into coverage. Avoiding one tackle, Manning gained 6 yards to pick up the first of 17 Giants first downs.
"On the first drive, you don't want to go three and out," said Manning, who looked at ease instead of anguished after the game for the first time this year. "It's important to do something with that drive. You get a first down, and the crowd gets involved and the sideline is excited."
The Giants kept the ball after Manning's scramble for 13 more plays, in a ball-control possession that lasted more than 9 minutes and featured seven rushing carries. The drive allowed the Giants to establish a dependable running game that set up the accurate third-down passing of Manning, who would complete 23 of 39 passes for 200 yards.
Unfortunately for the Giants, the first drive led only to a field goal, but at least the Giants were leading. To a winless team, a lead on the scoreboard is like an oasis in the desert.
Defensively, the tenor of the game was set on the opening Minnesota drive as well when the Giants held Peterson to zero rushing yards on his first two rushing carries and forced a Vikings punt. But when the Giants could not move the ball during their second possession — Manning did not see a wide-open Cruz in the middle of the field on third down — Steve Weatherford was called on and lofted a 51-yard punt within yards of the left sideline.
Minnesota's Marcus Sherels fielded the ball at his own 14-yard line just as Giants rookie Damontre Moore overran the punt and took himself out of the coverage. Sherels then had an unimpeded path upfield. No Giant came close to tackling him after the 50-yard line with the exception of Weatherford, who tugged at the neck of Sherels's jersey as he crossed the goal line for a touchdown.
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