The New England Patriots defense had three interceptions and also a fumble recovery and blocked punt that both went for touchdowns pulling away in the fourth quarter Thursday night to defeat the New York Giants 35-14 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
New England (6-0) picked off New York rookie quarterback Daniel Jones twice in the first half and took a 7-0 first quarter lead when Giants punter Riley Dixon had his kick hit one of his offensive lineman in the back of the helmet that was then scooped up by Chase Winovich who went into the endzone from six yards out. The block was credited to the Patriots Brandon Bolden. The hosts made it 14-0 midway through the second quarter when Bolden scored on a short one yard run, with the key play being a 23 yard pass from Tom Brady to Jakobi Meyers. Jones and the Giants bounced right back though going 75 yards in three plays with the rookie finding Golden Tate down the sideline for a 64 yard touchdown on a perfect throw beating Pats defender Jonathan Jones. New York (2-4) tied it just moments later after New England had driven inside Giants territory. Brady was hit and sacked by Lorenzo Carter losing the ball that was then scooped up by Markus Golden who took it 42 yards for the score to tie the game 14-14. The hosts took the halftime lead when Brady snuck one in at the goal line to cap off an 11 play, 75 yard drive.
New England would pick off Jones again to start the third quarter after a good starting drive by the Giants. New York had gotten to the Patriots 30 yard line before Jones was picked by Stephon Gilmore at the 18. The Patriots couldn’t extend the lead though as Mike Nugent missed a 40 yard field goal off the left upright. They would finally put it away in the fourth quarter though. New York again had the ball down only seven still when Jon Hilliman caught a pass from Jones in the flat and was hit by Jamie Collins forcing a fumble at the Giants 22 yard line. The ball was returned up the sideline by Kyle Van Noy for the touchdown that made it 28-14. Brady had his second short touchdown run with 3:53 left to end the scoring set up by a 36 yard pass to the Giants three yard line to Julian Edelman.
Brady finished the night 31-41 passing, 341 yards, and one interception. He rushed for two touchdowns in a game for the second time in his career. In the first quarter he passed Peyton Manning for second place on the NFL all-time passing yards list. Sony Michel rushed 22 times for 86 yards, and Edelman caught nine passes for 113 yards. Gilmore, Duron Harmon, and John Simon each had an interception to lead the defense. New England on the 64 yard scoring play to Tate allowed their first passing touchdown against them so far this season. Jones was 15-31 passing, 161 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions in the loss. Hilliman had 11 rushes for 38 yards and the one big lost fumble. Tate caught six passes for 102 yards. Alec Ogletree and David Mayo both had 12 tackles to lead the Giants defense.
New England has now won 11 games in a row and has 10 days off before returning to action again in primetime on Monday Night football on Monday, October 23 when they travel to Met Life Stadium to battle the New York Jets.
