Corey Sipkin/New York Daily News Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski goes for a gain as New England stays undefeated with a last-second win over the Giants on Sunday, 27-26, at MetLife Stadium.
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“This is tough, this is tough”, veteran defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. “We know we’re going to get teams’ best”.
ODELL’S NO CATCH: One of the biggest plays of the game came when Beckham’s 5-yard touchdown reception was overturned after video review. “Malcolm is a good corner and he’s a guy that they trust to do what he does over there”.
“I caught it. I trust in my hands”, Beckham said. Manning is not a run threat, so the Patriots did not have to honor the scramble, and they easily covered the targets packed into one side of the end zone.
Brady was hit throwing the ball and it rainbowed down the middle of the field to a waiting Landon Collins. He tried to grab the ball at its high point, seemingly lost his balance and fell to turf, hitting his head and losing the ball. Especially to an old-world coach like Tom Coughlin.
Brady eventually converted a fourth-and-10 on the series and Gostkowski, the NFL’s leading scorer the last three seasons, sent his winning kick soaring through the uprights. “We prepared well, worked hard all week, played hard, and had the 10-point lead”.
With six games to go after the bye, the first-place Giants can still make something good of their season, can still win the division crown in the dilapidated NFC East, can still qualify for the playoffs, can still dream of replicating their proven formula of upending the mighty Patriots when it matters most, in the Super Bowl. It’s very, very frustrating.
“I was happy, excited we won – I wish it didn’t come down to what it had to comes down but that’s what happens”.
The victory kept improved the Super Bowl champions’ record to 9-0 and star quarterback Brady completed 5-of-10 passes during the orchestration of the 49th game-winning drive of his career. Brady launched a bomb that fell out of the sky just as Craig Dahl dashed over and bumped into his own guy, leaving Gronkowski free to make the catch and finish off the 76-yard score, giving New England its first lead since the game’s early moments.
The Patriots inexorably marched downfield with the opening kickoff on a 14-play, 80-yard drive. It was another huge play by the defense, like Chandler Jones’ strip sack of Manning in the second quarter with the Giants at the New England 16. Brown extended his franchise record to 27 straight field goals made, and is now second in Giants franchise history with eight field goals of 50 or more yards. It was revealed that slot receiver Julian Edelman suffered a broken foot, and could be out for the remainder of the regular season, according to NFL.com. They still have Tom Brady and Gronkowski. Many thought it was a touchdown, but the National Football League ruled that Beckham had not yet become a runner, despite toe tapping in the end zone. The seven-play series included Elli Manning’s 31-yard passes to Rueben Randle and Will Tye, the latter getting to the Patriots 1.
Well, a few of that was revisited Sunday, with the Giants on the move, 5 yards from the end zone and looking for a go-ahead touchdown.
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Manning got plenty of help from New England mistakes to start the second half: 36 yards on a pair of pass interference penalties.
