Barber has Giants a cut above

Tiki Barber put the ultimate exclamation point on the New York Giants’ season of turmoil with a franchise rushing record, a dominating performance that virtually assures his career will last at least one more week.

In his last regular-season game, Barber carried 23 times for 234 yards and three touchdowns Saturday night in a 34-28 victory over Washington. The win ends New York’s seven-week free fall just in time for the Giants to probably make the postseason as a .500 team.

“This is a soap opera to its fullest,” linebacker Antonio Pierce said. “This is New York at its prime right here. Hopefully, we’ll go out on top and do everything right. We finally got to the playoffs, and that was our ultimate goal. We’re in the playoffs, and we’re 0-0, and I like that better than anything else.”

The Giants (8-8) had lost six of seven, and fans were chanting for Coach Tom Coughlin’s firing last week.

Coughlin said he had several “heart-to-hearts” with his players, and they responded by putting New York in the playoffs for the second consecutive year -- its first back-to-back appearances since 1989-90 -- unless a highly improbable series of results today allows Green Bay to take the NFC’s final spot.

“We won a game, and we got into the playoffs,” said Coughlin, who grew a little testy when reporters asked whether he was coaching for his job. “Is that good enough?”

But Coughlin’s team is there mainly because of Barber. He broke a tackle in a 55-yard run -- his longest of the season -- in the second quarter and kept his feet as he stumbled for a 15-yard score later in the half. His crowning feat was a 50-yard run with 6:13 left in the game. He cut left, then right, broke Troy Vincent’s tackle and outran the defense to restore a 13-point lead.

“There are certain things that motivate you, push you,” Barber said. “It’s partly because of the circumstances of this game, my last one. Most important, we had to win to keep playing.”

Barber passed the 1,500-yard mark for the third consecutive season -- he has 1,662 -- and also caught three passes for 24 yards. Barber’s previous best rushing game was 220 yards in December 2005 against Kansas City, which also was the franchise record.

Barber starred on a night when quarterbacks coach Kevin Gilbride handled the play-calling duties in place of offensive coordinator John Hufnagel.

Eli Manning completed 12 of 26 passes for 101 yards and a touchdown, and no receiver other than Barber caught more than two passes.

The Redskins’ 5-11 record is the worst in Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs’ 15-year career.