East Rutherford, N.J. - It doesn't matter.

That the defense gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns. That the offense could have sealed it with any sort of drive late in regulation. That it came down to a coin toss, a 50-50 proposition in which the wrong decision probably would have left the Giants at .500.

"Who cares?" Osi Umenyiora said. "It just feels good to win."

It had been a while - six weeks, in fact - since the Giants last felt this way. During that time, they lost four straight games, simmered through a bye week, sank in the NFC East standings and waited while the rest of the division slipped back within their reach. But when Lawrence Tynes' 36-yard field goal 3:54 into overtime sailed through the uprights Sunday for a 34-31 win over the Falcons, the Giants finally were able to exhale all of that negativity they'd been clenching in their lungs.

"We were miserable around here for a month," Tom Coughlin said. "It's nice to win."

It would have been nicer, of course, to win easily. The Giants went ahead 31-17 when Eli Manning (25-for-39 for 384 yards) hit Madison Hedgecock for a 3-yard touchdown pass, Manning's third of the game, with 12:08 remaining in the fourth quarter. Those who hadn't been watching the last few games might have been tempted to pop the champagne at that point. But that's when the Falcons started converting third downs the way Al Gore converts incandescent to fluorescent lightbulbs, marching down the field not once but twice to tie it at 31 with 28 seconds left in regulation.

It was reminiscent of the way the Chargers came barreling through the Giants' defense two weeks ago to win that game, not only for fans but for the players. So when Tony Gonzalez caught an 11-yard pass and Jason Elam's kick tied it after a 12-play, 76-yard drive, there was a "here we go again" ripple in the defense.

"Can't help but do that," defensive tackle Barry Cofield said of having an unhappy flashback. "At least in this scenario, it wasn't for the game. We knew that we'd have another opportunity."

The Giants did. The defense did not. And although they said they were confident they could have stopped the Falcons had the coin landed on its other side - "We were fed up," Umenyiora said - the Falcons never touched the ball in OT. After a 7-yard pass to Hakeem Nicks on third-and-2 and a 29-yard pass to Mario Manningham that put the ball at the Atlanta 23, the Giants got to the 18 to set up Tynes' second game-winner of the season.

"It's a really good feeling to kind of be a hero for 30 seconds and help your team win a football game," said Tynes, who kicked this one just inside the right upright after missing an earlier 31-yard try. "I knew that was going to haunt us even though we were up 14. I knew I had to make amends, and fortunately I got an opportunity to do that."

The win not only helped the Giants get off a historic slide - besides them, only the 1989 Rams were 5-0 before losing four straight - but it also was worth more than one game in the playoff push.

Both the Giants and Falcons came in with 5-4 records, so the Giants pulled a game ahead of them and secured a head-to-head win should they need a tiebreaker at the end of the season.