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EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Jim Fassel saw the New York Giants' season melting before his eyes, until Kerry Collins played like he had ice water in his veins.

Collins capped a 96-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Ike Hilliard in the closing seconds as the Giants earned a crucial 27-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

Inconsistent all day, the Giants went 96 yards in 10 plays and remained breathing in the race for a postseason spot, getting within two games of Philadelphia for first place in the NFC East.

"You see your season melt before your eyes and you have to be composed," said Fassel, whose team travels to Veterans Stadium next week for a key divisional matchup.

Next week's game would have been meaningless if not for Collins, who completed 7-of-10 passes for all 96 yards on the decisive drive, finding Hilliard over the middle for the game-winning TD.

"It's about just keep fighting," said Collins, who was 30-of-47 for 338 yards. "You go through a game, you have ups and downs. You have to keep it together for 60 minutes."

The final drive was especially surprising considering the Giants began their previous possession at their own 1 and went three-and-out. But Collins remained confident on the bench.

"I said, 'We're going 99 yards," Collins yelled in the locker room. "We came off and got it again. 'OK, we're going 96 yards.'" The game-winning march started with a 28-yard strike from Collins to Amani Toomer and included 18-yard passes to Joe Jurevicius and Hilliard and a pair of near interceptions.

On 1st-and-10 from the Seahawks' 25, Collins looked down field for Hilliard and watched Reggie Tongue drop an interception. Two plays later, linebacker Anthony Simmons got his fingertips on a pass intended for Jurevicius.

"I had a chance," Simmons said. "I was a half step off. If I had a little more jump on the ball, I would have had it."

New York still was left with 3rd-and-goal from the 7 before Collins went to Hilliard, who found a seem between cornerback Willie Williams and safety Marcus Robertson.

"They had combo coverage on Amani and Joe," Collins explained. "That left Ike free to do what he can to get open. I saw (Williams) was playing him to where he couldn't get across his face.

"I knew Ike would plant his foot and go. It was simultaneous. It's not the first time. That kind of chemistry is hard to find."

Collins had chemistry with Hilliard and Toomer all day. The two combined for 15 catches totaling 229 yards after looking non-existent before the final drive in last Saturday's 17-13 win over Arizona.

"We had to step up," Hilliard said. "We were ripped all week in the meeting room. Last week was our worst game. Coach reminded us of that every day."

The Seahawks will be reminded of their penultimate possession, which began at the Giants' 37 and included three plays totaling three yards.

Before punter Jeff Feagles pinned New York at its own 4, Seattle coach Mike Holmgren decided to run the ball three times and pass up a 51-yard field-goal try.

"My mindest was to at least get in field-goal range, don't take a sack," linebacker Chad Brown said. "We had an opportunity for the offense to end the game, but we didn't take advantage."

The Seahawks (7-7) didn't take advantage of their chance to stay in the thick of the wild card race. They need to win their last two games and get a lot of help.

"This hurts the most out of all the games we lost," said Brown, whose team dropped its third straight on the road. "We could have won and we let it slip away."

The defending NFC champion Giants won their second straight following a two-game skid. But the victory won't mean much unless they can defeat the Eagles next Sunday.

"We lose, and again, we're done," Fassel said. "We win, we keep going. It's like a playoff for us. We have to treat it that way."

The game was tight throughout as the teams traded long TD runs, defensive touchdowns and field goals in the first half for a 17-17 tie.

Matt Hasselbeck then followed a fumbled kickoff return by Ron Dixon with a 16-yard TD pass to running back Shaun Alexander as the Seahawks took a 24-17 lead 2:07 into the third quarter.

Morten Andersen made it 24-20 early in the fourth with a 33-yard field goal.

Alexander also rushed for 96 yards and a score for Seattle, which had 259 yards of total offense to 420 for New York. Hasselbeck finished 15-of-26 for 185 yards.

Both Hasselbeck and Collins had key fumbles in the second quarter.

Defensive end Michael Strahan returned Hasselbeck's fumble 13 yards for a score to give the Giants a 14-10 lead 5:42 before halftime. But just 2:28 later, defensive tackle John Randle fell on a fumble by Collins in the end zone.

Alexander had opened the scoring with a 29-yard TD run with 5:43 left in the first quarter, but Ron Dayne answered with a 31-yard scamper less than three minutes later.