Patriots Beat Giants, 38-35
New England Finishes Regular NFL Season 16-0
The New England Patriots narrowly defeated the New York Giants Saturday night, completing a perfect regular season with a 16-0 record.
It took another late comeback for the Pats to beat New York 38-35, as the Giants – although losers – played their best game of the year. New England retook the lead at 11:06 of the fourth quarter when quarterback Tom Brady hit wide receiver Randy Moss for a 65-yard touchdown, establishing new, single-season records for touchdown passes and touchdown receptions.
Brady completed a phenomenal 32 of 42 pass attempts for a total of 356 yards and two TDs – both to Moss. Again, he didn’t throw a pick. Wideout Wes Welker pulled down 11 passes for 122 yards, while Moss accounted for 100 yards on six catches.
New York head coach Tom Coughlin pulled out all the stops, playing his starters for virtually the entire contest. QB Eli Manning played much better than expected, keeping his cool and avoiding the meltdown he’d seemingly suffered on nearly a weekly basis. Manning coolly completed 22 of 32 pass attempts, tallying four touchdowns and amassing 251 yards with a single interception.
Giants’ wide receiver Plaxico Burress was Manning’s favorite target, hauling in four passes for 84 yards and two TDs. In fact, Manning opened the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Jacobs at 10:59 of the first frame.
Following a Stephen Gostkowski field goal, the Pats took the lead on the strength of a 4-yard TD pass, Brady-to-Moss, at 14:55 of the second quarter. But after an excessive celebration penalty, New York kick returner Domenik Hixon flew through the Pats on a 74-yard kick return TD 11 seconds later.
Two Gostkowski field goals again gave the Pats a slim lead, 16-14, with 1:59 ticks remaining in the first half. But the Giants roared right back, with Manning hitting Kevin Boss for a 3-yard TD with but 13 seconds left in the half.
Then Manning expanded the Giants’ lead with a 19-yard TD strike to Burress. The extra point gave New York a 12-point advantage, 28-16, the largest Patriot deficit of the season. Then New England’s Laurence Maroney romped for a 6-yard TD run and Brady hit Moss on his bomb for the 65-yard score. Maroney then ran for a second rushing touchdown and a late Giants’ score still left them shy.
Even with their 16-game winning run, the Pats know they’ve still got more work to do. Without another Super Bowl victory, the 16-0 record doesn’t mean much.
"It's a great feeling," New England head coach Bill Belichick admitted to The Associated Press. "Now is the time to take a day or two and appreciate what this team has done, but at the same time we have our biggest game of the year coming up. Pretty soon we need to turn the page and move on."
