Three Giants Starters Injured as Giants Fall to Patriots 38-35: The worst-case scenario for the Giants was that they would suffer injuries in what was in effect a meaningless game and that’s exactly what transpired on Saturday night. The Giants not only fell to the Patriots 38-35, but LB Kawika Mitchell (knee sprain), CB Sam Madison (abdominal strain), OC Shaun O’Hara (knee sprain), and S Craig Dahl (knee sprain) left the game with injuries of undetermined severity. “Well anytime you lose a player you are concerned,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin after the game. “We will have to evaluate and see how they are…We will have to wait and see.”
The Giants finished the 2007 regular season 10-6 (3-5 at home and 7-1 on the road). The Giants will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road next weekend in the first round of the playoffs.
To the Giants’ credit, they put up a good fight against the undefeated, now 16-0, New England Patriots. The Giants actually led 21-16 at halftime and extended their lead to 28-16 early in the third quarter. But the Patriots then scored the game’s next 22 points to take a 38-28 late in the 4th quarter. The Giants scored a late touchdown to get within three points.
QB Eli Manning played one of his best games of the season, completing 22-of-32 passes for 251 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception.
Receiving the ball to start the game, the Giants scored a touchdown on their very first possession, driving 74 yards in seven plays. The big play on the drive was a 52-yard pass from Manning to WR Plaxico Burress. Then on 3rd-and-10, Manning found Burress for 10 yards and the first down. Two plays later, Manning hit HB Brandon Jacobs over the middle for a 7-yard touchdown reception.
The Patriots responded with a 12-play, 54-yard effort on their first possession, but were forced to settle for a 37-yard field goal. The Giants went three-and-out on their second possession. New England then took the lead 10-7 as the Patriots drove 50 yards in eight plays, with Patriots’ QB Tom Brady finding WR Randy Moss for a 4-yard score.
The Patriots were flagged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after this touchdown, a mistake that would help the Giants. WR Domenik Hixon returned the ensuing kickoff 74 yards for a touchdown as New York regained the lead 14-10.
New England’s third and fourth possessions also resulted in points as the Patriots first drove 39 yards in eights plays to set up a 45-yard field goal to cut the Giants’ lead to 14-13, then drove 61 yards in 11 plays to set up a 37-yard field goal to take the lead 16-14. The Patriots scored on all four of their offensive possessions in the first half, but three of these ended in field goals.
Meanwhile, the Giants added another touchdown before intermission as New York drove 85 yards in 8 plays to take a 21-16 advantage. The Giants began the drive with just under two minutes to go. Manning hit TE Kevin Boss for 23 yards, WR Amani Toomer for 19 yards, Jacobs for 17 yards, and then found Boss for a 3-yard score after an 11-yard quarterback scramble.
At the start of the 3rd quarter, the Patriots went three-and-out. The Giants went to work again and drove 60 yards in seven plays to go ahead 28-16. Jacobs had two big runs of 16 and 15 yards before Manning found Burress for a 17-yard score.
The Patriots responded with an 8-play, 73-yard effort that resulted in a 6-yard touchdown run by HB Laurence Maroney. Giants 28-Patriots 23. The Giants’ next drive was sabotaged by a 14-yard sack of Manning, the only sack the Giants gave up all night.
At the start of the 4th quarter, New England managed one first down then punted. The Giants then went three-and-out. The real backbreaker was a 65-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Moss on 3rd-and-10 on New England’s fourth possession of the second half. The Patriots also scored on the 2-point conversion attempt to take 31-28 advantage.
On the ensuing possession, Manning’s pass intended for Burress on 2nd-and-6 was intercepted at the New England 48-yard line. Nine plays later, Maroney scored from five yards out and the Patriots had a 10-point advantage with under five minutes to play.
The Giants did drive 68 yards in 11 plays on their last possession of the game to make things a tad interesting as Manning found Burress for the score with just over a minute to play. However, New England recovered the onside kick and Brady took three knees to end the game.
“It is a confidence builder,” said LB Antonio Pierce. “That is the best team in the league, probably hands down in the regular season. I thought we played toe-to-toe with those guys. But you have to play four quarters. But they are a good team and they have a great quarterback. I think we have to look at all of the positives and fix the negatives. I think we played exceptional all across the board. We only turned the ball over once and gave up one big play on defense. Special teams played solid. That is a good team. You have to play damn near perfect against them – you have to play perfect.”
“It is a great momentum builder but we still lost,” said OC Grey Ruegamer who filled in for the injured O’Hara. “So I’m pretty ticked off about that. When you play a team like that, you want to gauge yourself and you want to win. We played to win and we just came up a little short at the end. It is a little frustrating, but we are in the playoffs. Our goal in the beginning of the season was to get in. Now it is a one-game schedule from here on out. This game is past us. The Patriots are obviously a good team. Good luck to them, but we are looking forward to Tampa. Special teams played good. Defense played well. Offensively we still left some plays on the field. Like I said, the gauge was to play against the best team in the league and we did. Obviously we needed to make more plays. We need to make some corrections. We lost but we are in the playoffs.”
“It is definitely a good momentum builder going into the playoffs,” said FS Gibril Wilson. “We are coming out with positive attitudes with this game. If we play the way we did tonight, I think it can carry us a long way. We have to bring the same intensity that we brought in tonight. They are one of the best teams that I have ever faced. They deserve it because they played hard. They did the things at the end that they had to do to win the game.”
“Well, we played; we lost, but we are going to the playoffs and that is all that matters,” said DE Michael Strahan. “Tonight is over with and we are moving on.”
Post-Game Notes: Inactive for the Giants were CB Kevin Dockery (hip flexor), HB Ahmad Bradshaw (calf), WR Sinorice Moss (back), DT Manny Wright (ankle), LB Tank Daniels, OT Adam Koets, TE Jerome Collins, and QB Jared Lorenzen (third quarterback).
The Giants have lost their last four home games.
The Giants’ 35 points were the most allowed this season by the Patriots.
The Patriots’ 44 rushing yards were the second-lowest total allowed by the Giants this season. Detroit ran for 25 yards on November 18.
The Patriots’ 27 first downs were the most by a Giants opponent since St. Louis had 27 on October 2, 2005.
QB Manning finished the season with 3,336 passing yards, the second-highest total of his career, and 23 touchdown passes, one less than he threw in each of the previous two seasons. He is the second Giants’ quarterback in history with three consecutive seasons with more than 3,000 yards and 20 touchdown passes. Phil Simms did so from 1984-1986.
WR Plaxico Burress caught 12 touchdown passes this season, a new career high. His previous career best was 10 scores in 2006. The team record of 13 was set by Homer Jones in 1967.
HB Brandon Jacobs rushed for 67 yards on 15 carries and finished the season with 1,009 yards – despite missing five games and most of a sixth.