Perfect Patriots Beat Giants to Go 16-0
Matt Light, Justin Tuck and Tom Brady by Mike Segar/Reuters
Displaying his trademark steely composure, quarterback
Tom Brady rallied the New England Patriots to a
38-35 come-from-behind victory over the New York Giants Saturday night, earning the squad a place in NFL history as the first team to complete an undefeated 16-game regular season. Brady broke Peyton Manning's regular-season record for touchdown passes, with his 50th of the year. That score - a gutsy 65-yarder which turned out to be the game winner - also gave
Randy Moss a record of his own: 23 touchdown receptions, one more than Jerry Rice.
Though the Giants had little motivation - they'd already qualified for the playoffs and a win on Saturday wouldn't improve their seeding - they showed that they should not be ignored by their NFC rivals in the upcoming postseason. New York led 21-16 at halftime and extended that to 28-16 in the third quarter (the Pats' largest deficit of the season) before New England came roaring back, clicking off 22 straight points. At halftime NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci called it "the most hard-hitting, important meaningless game that I've ever been around."
The thrilling game also set a TV record, airing simultaneously on the NFL Network, CBS and NBC (as well as local stations in New York and Boston).
UPDATE: According to overnight ratings, the game drew 34.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched telecast of the 2007-08 season to date.
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Edited by Rich Sands at 12/30/2007 8:02 PM
