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Inside the Numbers

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Inside the Numbers: Daniel Jones posts record-setting second half

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TEMPE, Ariz. – All it took for the Giants to equal their best comeback in their 99-year history was for Daniel Jones to play one of the finest halves an NFL quarterback has ever produced.

The Giants' prospects looked bleak against the Arizona Cardinals when they trailed 20-0 at halftime and 28-7 with less than four minutes to play in the third quarter. But with Jones' brilliant performance leading the way, the Giants rallied to win the game, 31-28, as Graham Gano scored the game-winning points on a 38-yard field goal with 19 seconds remaining.

It was just the third game in their history the Giants earned a victory after falling behind by at least 21 points. The other such comebacks were in 1945 and 1949, making this one of the Giants' most notable games of the last 75 years. Before Sunday, the Giants had lost their previous 150 games when trailing by 21 or more points.

The Giants pulled off a comeback rarely seen in the NFL. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, in the last 10 seasons (2014-23), teams facing deficits of at least 21 points in the second half are 12-621-0. But the Giants' victory was the seventh since 2019 in which a team overcame a deficit of 21 or more points to win, including the postseason.

Much of the credit goes to Jones. In the second half, he completed 17 of 21 passes for 259 yards, including touchdown passes to Saquon Barkley and Isaiah Hodgins, and rushed for 58 yards and scored the team's first touchdown on a 14-yard run, and did not throw an interception. In the process, Jones became the first quarterback ever to throw for 250 yards, rush for 50 yards, throw multiple touchdown passes, rush for a touchdown and not commit a turnover in the second half of a game.

The only other quarterback to compile such numbers in any half is Michael Vick. On Nov. 15, 2010, Vick, then with Philadelphia, threw for 264 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 66 yards and two scores in the first half of a 59-28 victory in Washington. The Eagles led at halftime, 45-14.

The Giants' victory Sunday was Jones' eighth career game with at least one touchdown pass and one rushing touchdown. He shares the franchise record with Pro Football Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, who played five years for the Giants (1967-71). Jones is now in his fifth Giants season.

Jones' rushing touchdown was the 13th of his career, extending his Giants' record for a quarterback. Tarkenton is second with 10.

Through two weeks, Jones leads all NFL quarterbacks with 102 rushing yards. He has run for at least 26 yards in seven consecutive regular-season games.

View photos from the Giants' 31-28 comeback victory over the Cardinals in Glendale.