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Giants fall to Patriots, 38-35
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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December 29, 2007

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The New England Patriots invaded Giants Stadium Saturday night hoping for a coronation. What they got was a prizefight.

For more than three quarters, the Giants stood toe-to-toe with the Patriots, who arrived in town needing one victory to become the first 16-0 team in NFL history. But the Pats delivered the knockout punch - a 65-yard Tom Brady touchdown pass to Randy Moss early in the fourth quarter - and New England went on to defeat the Giants, 38-35

The Patriots scored 22 consecutive points after the Giants had taken a 28-16 lead in the third quarter. New England completed its perfect regular season and will have a week off before its first postseason game.

The Giants finished 10-6 and will visit Tampa Bay next Saturday or Sunday for an NFC Wild Card Game against the Buccaneers.

After the game, the Giants felt both tremendous disappointment and great pride. They were convinced they could play with the Patriots when few others were. But to lose the lead and then the game was extremely frustrating.

"We had a chance to make history ourselves," linebacker Antonio Pierce said. "It didn't go the way we wanted, but we played one hell of a game. We fought to the very last minute of the game."

"The frustrating part about that is to play as hard as we did and then to lose would have been a difficult thing anyway - but we are not very happy about the way in which it took place there at the end of the game," Coach Tom Coughlin said. "I will say this: there is nothing but positives. I told the players that in playing this game that everything would be a positive, that there would be no negatives. That is pretty much the way I feel. Our players played hard, we gave it everything we had, we have some opportunities, we let the game get away, unfortunately."

The Giants scored more points against the perfect Patriots than any other team this season. But they had some costly defensive lapses late in the game, went more than 23 minutes in the second half without scoring a touchdown and couldn't recover a last-gasp onsides kick with a minute left.

Some in the locker could take solace in the strong performance against the NFL's best team. Others were completely dissatisfied.

"I expected to win," Michael Strahan said. "I knew that's what the questions were going to be - 'you guys should just be happy that you came so close.' I don't play to get close to a really good team. You're not out there to just be fish food. I want to be the fish. I'm out there trying to win. To say that it was good enough and close enough and we should be proud - if you want to look at it that way, go ahead. That's not how I look at it. There were a lot of positives. But the one negative that bugs me is that we lost."

In addition to the game, they lost some players to injury. Center Shaun O'Hara and linebacker Kawika Mitchell left the game in the first half with sprained knees. Cornerback Sam Madison suffered a strained abdominal muscle in the fourth quarter. Rookie safety Craig Dahl hurt his knee covering the Giants' first kickoff.

Eli Manning played an outstanding game for the Giants, tying a career high with four touchdown passes while completing 22 of 32 passes for 251 yards. Plaxico Burress caught two of the scores, giving him a career-high 12 for the season, and Brandon Jacobs and Kevin Boss caught one apiece. Domenik Hixon returned a kickoff 74 yards for a touchdown.

"It's been a while since we came out, especially on offense, and put up a lot of points and executed well," Manning said. "We finally had a decent day of weather, where we could do that. We were able to make some big plays in the passing game, and we haven't had that in a while. It was good to do, its helps. We had all the guys practicing this week and Plaxico (Burress) made some big plays. But all the guys, Kevin Boss, Steve Smith, Amani (Toomer), everybody was getting involved. That's good when you can trust whoever is out there to run a good route, get open and make some tough catches and make plays.

"It was good for us to play this game. Coach Coughlin said before, 'We have nothing to lose.' Just go out, have fun and play hard. The most important thing for us as an offense and the way we looked at it coming in was: let's go out there and execute well. It really doesn't matter win or lose, but let's execute. The last game of the season before going to the playoffs, let's have a good offensive game and play good football."

That they did, but the Patriots were better. Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes to Randy Moss, Laurence Maroney ran for two scores and Steve Gostkowski kicked three field goals.

Moss made the game's big play, moments after he dropped what could have been a touchdown. Early in the fourth quarter, the Patriots took possession at their own 35 following a Giants punt. Two incomplete passes - the second a Moss drop - left them facing third-and-10. One more defensive stop and the Giants would get the ball back leading 28-23. But Moss ran deep down the right side, got behind safety James Butler, caught the ball at the 25 and sprinted to the end zone for the score. Maroney ran up the middle for the two-point conversion and a 31-28 Patriots advantage with 11:06 remaining.

The timing was particularly bad for the Giants, because Madison was unable to cover Moss.

"I think that was the play in which Sam was not able to go down the field and therefore they got the score," Coughlin said. "We had an opportunity there to be in the right coverage but we had a bust."

The touchdown was the second in the game for the Brady-Moss combo. Two NFL records were set on the play: it was Brady's 50th touchdown pass of the season (Peyton Manning had held the old mark of 49) and Moss' 23rd touchdown catch (Jerry Rice's 22 had been the standard).

On the Giants' next series, Manning's pass was intercepted by Ellis Hobbs at the New England 48-yard line. The Patriots covered the 52 yards to the end zone in nine plays, with Maroney getting the touchdown on a five-yard run. That gave New England a 38-28 lead.

But the Giants didn't quit. With Manning leading the way, they covered 68 yards in 11 plays. Burress scored on a three-yard reception with 1:04 remaining to pull the Ginats to within three points. But Mike Vrabel recovered Lawrence Tynes' onsides kick, ending the Giants' last chance.

Maroney's six-yard run through the left side lifted the Patriots to within 28-23 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. On first-and-goal, Maroney took a handoff, appeared to be stopped near the line of scrimmage, then sliced his way through the defense and into the end zone.

The score successfully concluded an eight-play, 73-yard drive that included a pass interference penalty on Gerris Wilkinson, who was covering Moss in the end zone. Wilkinson was substituting for Mitchell.

On the drive, Wes Welker caught three passes for 40 yards, including a 24-yarder. His eight-yard reception moved the ball to the Giants' 16-yard line. After Maroney gained two yards, Wilkinson was flagged for pass interference, giving New England a first down at the one. An illegal formation penalty set the Patriots back five yards, but Maroney scored on the next play.

Manning's 19-yard touchdown pass to Burress increased the Giants' lead to 28-16 with 9:12 remaining in the third quarter. On third-and-nine, Manning rolled almost all the way to the right sideline before firing the ball into the end zone for Burress, who caught the ball while somehow keeping his feet inbounds.

The score capped a seven-play, 60-yard drive on which Jacobs accounted for 37 yards - 35 running and two receiving. His two-yard catch moved the ball to the 18-yard line. After Reuben Droughns lost a yard, Manning threw to Burress for the touchdown.

Manning's three-yard touchdown pass to Boss with 13 seconds remaining in the second quarter gave the Giants a 21-16 halftime lead. It was just the second time this season the Patriots trailed at the half; on Nov. 4 at Indianapolis, they were behind after two quarters, 13-7.

On second-and-goal, Manning had plenty of time to scan the field before spotting Boss open in the end zone. It was the second touchdown in three games for Boss, who replaced the injured Jeremy Shockey in the lineup.

The score capped an eight-play, 85-yard drive in which Manning completed five passes for 69 yards and ran for 11 more. The other five yards came from a Patriots delay of game penalty after Junior Seau sat on Boss after a seven-yard reception. Boss got the Giants moving with a 23-yard catch on the second play of the drive. On the first two plays, Manning threw to Amani Toomer for 19 yards and Jacobs for 17. That was followed by the Boss catch and New England penalty, which moved the Giants to the New England 14-yard line.

On the next play, Manning scrambled for 11 yards to the three. After an incomplete pass to Burress, Boss scored the touchdown that gave the Giants the lead at the break.

Gostkowski's second 37-yard field - and third overall - gave New England a 16-14 lead with 1:59 remaining in the second quarter. Before the kick, The Patriots traveled 61 yards in 10 plays, the longest a 21-yard pass to tight end Benjamin Watson that gave them a first down at the Giants' 25-yard line. But a third-and-four pass to Moss fell incomplete and the Gostkowski came on to kick the field goal.

Gostkowski's 45-yard field goal with 9:59 left in the quarter had lifted New England to within 14-13. The Patriots set up the kick by driving 39 yards in eight plays, including Brady's 13-yard pass to Welker and Maroney's 13-yard run. But the Pats gained only four yards on third-and-14 and Gostkowski came off the sideline to kick the field goal.

The Giants had jumped ahead, 14-10, on Hixon's 74-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Because of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, the Patriots had to kickoff from their 15-yard line. It was the Giants' first kickoff return touchdown in 47 games (plus two playoff games), since Willie Ponder brought one back 95 yards vs. Arizona on Sept. 11, 2005.

It was the 19th regular season kickoff return for a touchdown in the Giants' 83-year history. They also have two in the postseason. Hixon's 74-yarder is the Giants' second-shortest score on a kickoff return. Jason Sehorn returned an attempted onside kick 38 yards for a touchdown against Jacksonville on Dec. 23, 2000.

Hixon was awarded to the Giants off waivers on Oct. 3 from the Denver Broncos. In Denver, he returned 12 kickoffs earlier in the season, but he didn't fill that role for the Giants until Saturday night - and only because Ahmad Bradshaw was inactive with a calf injury.

Brady's four-yard touchdown pass to Moss on the first play of the second quarter gave the Patriots their first lead, at 10-7. The score capped an eight-play, 50-yard drive that was kept alive by a costly Corey Webster penalty. Antonio Pierce sacked Brady for an eight-yard loss on third-and-14, but the play was nullified because Webster was flagged for illegal contact, a five-yard infraction that gave New England a first down at the Giants' 49.

Brady then threw to Donte Stallworth for 13 yards and Welker for 19 more. After Kevin Faulk was stopped for no gain, Brady threw him for 11 yards to the six. After Maroney gained two yards, the first quarter ended. When play resumed, Brady immediately found Moss for the Patriots' first touchdown.

The Giants led, 7-3, after a first quarter in which a big play propelled them to a touchdown on the game's first series. They got the score on Manning's seven-yard pass to Jacobs, who caught the ball at the five, bulled over linebacker Tedy Bruschi and extended his body to get the ball over the goal line.

The touchdown catch was Jacobs' second of the season and the scoring throw was Manning's 20th, making him the second quarterback in Giants history with 3,000 passing yards and 20 touchdown passes in three consecutive years. Phil Simms did it from 1984-86.

The score was set up by Burress' leaping catch on a 52-yard Manning pass on the game's second play. Burress soared above Hobbs and came down with the ball at the Patriots' 18-yard line. It was the Giants' third-longest pass completion this season; Burress also has 60 and 53-yard receptions.

On third-and-10, Manning threw to Burress for a 10-yard gain to the eight. After Jacobs ran for a yards, he caught Manning's short pass and scored the touchdown after just 4:01 had elapsed in the game.

New England responded with an 11-play, 54-yard drive that resulted in Gostkowski's 37-yard field goal. The longest plays on the series were the first two, Brady passes to Moss and Welker. An 11-yard pass to Welker gave the Patriots had a first down at the Giants' 21-yard line, but they gained just two yards in three plays before Gostkowski came on to kick his first field goal.