Giants 24, Patriots 20
The stakes weren’t as high but the result was the same.
Eli Manning threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jake Ballard with 19 seconds left to lift the New York Giants to a 24-20 win over the host New England Patriots on Sunday in a rematch of Super Bowl XLII.
The winning score was set up by pass interference against Victor Cruz in the end zone with under a minute to play as New York drove the length of the field to end Tom Brady’s home winning streak at 31 games.
Brady, who finished with 342 yards and two touchdowns, appeared to have executed yet another one of his patented fourth-quarter comebacks by completing a 14-yard touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski on a fourth-and-9 play with 1:40 to play.
But Manning, who threw for 250 yards and a pair of touchdowns, hit two big passes on the game-winning drive.
After a woeful start in which Brady threw two interceptions and lost a fumble, he connected with Aaron Hernandez for a TD early in the fourth quarter to tie it at 10-10.
The two teams played the NFL’s first scoreless first half of the season before the offenses broke out after the break.
New York (6-2) took a 17-13 lead when Manning threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham with just over three minutes to play.
Brady quickly moved the Patriots (5-3) down the field and capped the drive with the pass to Gronkowski, who finished with 101 yards on eight catches.