Patriots Live Blog: Gostkowski's 54-Yard FG Gives Pats 27-26 Win Over Giants
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
Final, 27-26 Patriots: The Giants' last-ditch efforts to lateral the ball 10 times on the final kick didn't work, and the Patriots escape with a victory.
That game was worth the price of admission.
Fourth quarter, :01, 27-26 Patriots: It's good! Gostkowski's kick made it just inside the left upright, and the Pats take a 1-point lead with 1 second left.
Fourth quarter, :06, 26-24 Giants: The Pats will have a chance to win this game. After Amendola came up huge twice, the Patriots got the ball to the New York 36-yard line.
New York took its final timeout. It'll be a 54-yard attempt.
Fourth quarter, 1:47, 26-24 Giants: Eli rolled out on third down looking to pass but keeping the option of just going down in bounds in his back pocket if nothing was open. The Patriots covered it well, so Eli went down, forcing the Patriots to take their final timeout.
Brown kicked the easy 29-yarder, and the GIants lead by two. Brady and the offense will get the ball with not a lot of time and zero timeouts. Buckle up.
Fourth quarter, 1:56, 24-23 Patriots: Manning threw incomplete to Harris on second down. It'll be third-and-goal from the 5-yard line coming out of the two-minute warning. I would run the ball, force New England to take its final timeout, and then kick the field goal to go up by two points. But I'm not Tom Coughlin.
Fourth quarter, 2:01, 24-23 Patriots: The pass was ruled incomplete after review.
Fourth quarter, 2:01, 29-23 Giants: Odell Beckham Jr. came down with a touchdown catch. Sort of. It was ruled a catch on the field, but Butler knocked the ball out before Beckham really had two feet and possession. It should get overturned, but you never know with these things.
Fourth quarter, 2:06, 24-23 Patriots: Rashaan Melvin's not having a very fun day. He just got beat by Dwayne Harris for an 18-yard gain. It's first-and-goal with 2:06 left. The Giants just have to decide whether they want to run some clock before scoring or go for the touchdown right now.
Fourth quarter, 2:10, 24-23 Patriots: The Giants are driving.
They were chipping away, but on a third-and-3 at the New York 42, Dwayne Harris ran a post-corner route and left Rashaan Melvin in his wake. Manning lofted a pass right into Harris' hands, and he made the catch at the New England 28-yard line.
New England took its first timeout, needing a stop and then hoping to score after a potential Josh Brown field goal. Or, of course, a turnover.
Fourth quarter, 6:01, 24-23 Patriots: The Patriots were in business after Brandon LaFell came down with a 54-yard completion deep up the left sideline. LeGarrette Blount actually scored a couple of plays later, but it got called back due to holding.
On second-and-goal from the 5-yard line, Brady threw to LaFell on a slant, but the pass was well behind the receiver and Trumaine McBride picked it off. He went down at the New York 3-yard line, but that was, quite obviously, a massive play by McBride.
Fourth quarter, 11:05, 24-23 Patriots: Aside from the first drive of the game, Malcolm Butler has had a darn fine afternoon/early evening in the Meadowlands. He's playing some excellent defense on Beckham, and he was on him on first- and third-down incompletions on that drive.
The Giants went three-and-out, and Amendola's short return to the New England 34-yard line was wiped out by a block in the back by Pat Chung. The Patriots take over at their own 19-yard line.
Fourth quarter, 11:33, 24-23 Patriots: Wow. That's all there is to say when Rob Gronkowski is involved. Wow.
Following a six-yard pass to Amendola and a four-yard run by Blount, Brady dropped back and lofted a deep ball to Gronkowski up the left seam. Gronkowski made the catch about 30 yards from the line of scrimmage and simultaneously absorbed a hit from Giants safety Craig Dahl. Gronkowski simply shook off the hit from the full-charging Dahl, who ended up rolling into Brandon Merwiweather and taking him out of the play.
Gronk waltzed 40-plus yards after that and into the end zone, and the Patriots now have a lead.
It was a 76-yard touchdown pass, and it was quite the game-changer.
Fourth quarter, 12:58, 23-17 Giants: The Giants were in field-goal range, but Rob Ninkovich made sure to get them out of it. The linebacker came streaking off the left end and chased down Eli Manning, who doesn't have the moves to get away from a player like Ninkovich. Manning went down all the way back at 44-yard line, a 13-yard loss on the sack by Ninkovich.
Manning underthrew Randle on second down and threw a short pass to Tye for a small gain on third down, and the Giants had to punt.
That sack was humongous, as it basically took a field goal off the board for New York. (Josh Brown is pretty automatic.)
Fourth quarter, 14:51, 23-17 Giants: Tom Brady held on to that ball just a little too long. And he paid for it. Jasper Brinkley pounced on Brady as he started to throw, knocking the ball loose. Markus Kuhn recovered it, and the Giants take over, already in position to scoer.
End of third quarter, 23-17 Giants: Scott Chandler dropped a pass while wide open on first down, but Gronkowski made it sting a bit less by grabbing a pass off the blades of fake grass for a gain of 14 on the next play. After a short Blount run, the clock ran out on the quarter, and it'll be second-and-6 from the New England 38-yard line to start the fourth quarter.
Third quarter, :49, 23-17 Giants: Malcolm Butler is having a very good game after that first-drive mishap, and he just made an aggressive play to break up a third-down pass to Beckham. The Giants opted to kick a long field goal, and Josh Brown drilled it right down the middle, a 53-yarder, to stretch New York's lead to six.
Pats corner Rashaan Melvin got called for pass interference on that drive, but this time it was legitimate, as he essentially hit Myles White with a quick jab to the throat while the ball was in the air. That'll bring out the yellow more often than not.
Third quarter, 20-17 Giants: The Patriots are right back in it, and they can thank Danny Amendola.
After the big return set the Pats up on the 7-yard line, Trumaine McBride had a hold of Brandon LaFell's arm in the end zone and got called for pass interference (after a long conference by the officials). Two plays later, Blount torpedoed his way across the goal line for his sixth touchdown of the season.
The Patriots' D showed up on that last drive. Another stop here, and this game could really flip.
Third quarter, 6:20, 20-10 Giants: Holy smokes, Danny Amendola just came up with a huge punt return, and the Patriots badly needed that. Unfortunatley for him, Duron Harmon accidentally knocked down Amendola inside the 10, but not before Amendola had himself an 82-yarder.
Third quarter, 7:56, 20-10 Giants: Ugly drive on offense for the Patriots, with Bolden losing three yards on first down, Blount gaining five yards on second down, and Gronk gaining no separation on an incompletion on third down. Dwayne Harris fumbled on the punt return, but it looked like he was down before losing the ball.
Giants take over at their own 44 looking to deliver a score that could ... really put this game out of reach? Sports are crazy.
Third quarter, 9:32, 20-10 Giants: It's not a stretch in the least to say that Ed Hochuli's officiating crew just handed the Giants a free three points.
First, they called pass interference on Patrick Chung on a play where Shane Vereen simply stopped running his route. Even then, Chung only jumped straight up in the air as a defender. That gave the Giants 15 yards on a third-and-1. Three plays later on a third-and-7, Butler was in coverage on Beckham and literally did not touch the receiver. Yet as the ball hit the ground, so too did a yellow flag, giving the Giants a first down and 21 free yards.
Neither call was good, but that second one was atrocious.
Eli threw incomplete on third down to an open Jerome Cunningham, and Josh Brown booted a 38-yarder to make it a two-score game.
Hard to fault the Patriots' D on that drive. Those were some rough calls.
Third quarter, 14:55, 17-10 Giants: The second half is underway, and Julian Edelman is not a part of it. He's still in the locker room. Time for the Patriots offense to adjust, or else they'll end up losing this one.
Halftime, 17-10 Giants: Brutal drive for the New England defense. Just brutal. And the Giants now lead by a touchdown.
Credit to the Giants for making it hurt, but the Patriots' D looked lost all the way up the field on that drive. It started with Rueben Randle going up over Logan Ryan to make an impressive catch on the first play of the drive, gaining 31 yards. A few plays later, Manning threw to Will Tye over the middle, and the Patriots' defense looked absolutely confused. They didn't cover Tye, and then they didn't tackle him either, allowing him to get all the way down to the 1-yard line. It was as bad a play as the Patriots defense has had all year. That, plus the McCourty/Butler collision in the first quarter, were truly ugly plays.
On second-and-goal, Justin Coleman fell down while trying to cover Dwayne Harris, who tapped his toes while hauling in the lobbed pass from Manning in the left side of the end zone.
Brady took a knee with 10 seconds on the clock, and the Giants head to the locker room up by a touchdown and ready to receive to start the second half.
The Patriots offense was just never the same after Edelman left with the injury, and the defense looks lost. Eli Manning has 251 passing yards and two touchdowns already.
Brady is 14-for-21 for 127 yards and a touchdown. Blount is not having a great day (36 yards on 11 carries), and the leading Patriots receiver remains injured. It seems like if the Patriots are going to win this game, they'll need the D to force another turnover.
Fourth quarter, 1:09, 10-10: The Patriots moved the sticks once, thanks to a Gronkowski grab on third-and-1, but the drive stalled out after that. On third down, Brady threw semi-deep up the right sideline to Gronkowski, but it fell incomplete. It wouldn't have counted anyway, as Amendola was flagged for motioning toward the line of scrimmage.
So now the Giants have a chance to score going into halftime, but they are starting at their own 26.
Second quarter, 3:42, 10-10: The Giants offense has moved the ball nicely this afternoon, but a third-down pass to Myles White into the end zone was covered well by Justin Coleman. There was some contact, but no flag was thrown, so the Giants had to settle for a field goal to tie things up.
The Giants have 199 yards thus far, compared to the Patriots' 145. New England will try to run the four-minute offense to put some points on the board and not leave any time for the Giants to answer before halftime. That's a tough task without Edelman.
Second quarter, 6:59, 10-7 Patriots: New England looked to be in business, with Gronkowski making a catch over the middle on a third-and-8 to move the chains. But the play got called back for offensive pass interference. The crew called it a push-off, where really it was contact just three yards from the line of scrimmage. Gronkowski drew the penalty call because he was immensely stronger than the defender trying to bump him at the line. Tough break for him and the Patriots, as James White's run on third-and-17 gained just five yards.
After Ryan Allen's punt, the Giants take over near midfield.
Second quarter, 9:02, 10-7 Patriots: The Giants were putting together a dandy of a drive, with Myles White going up and making a great catch over Justin Coleman up the left sideline for a gain of 28 yards on a third-and-8.
That catch set up the Giants in the red zone, but Chandler Jones came bursting off the right end and sacked Eli Manning, knocking the ball loose. Justin Coleman was in the right spot to jump on the loose ball, which bounced forward about 5 yards from Eli, and the Patriots take over at their own 16-yard line.
Second quarter, 12:54, 10-7 Patriots: On third-and-4 from the 8-yard line, the Giants threw the ktichen sink at Brady, and it worked. Brady tried to escape the pressure by stepping up in the pocket, but there was no room to be found. Brady went down, the Giants picked up just their 10th sack of the entire season, and Gostkowski came on to kick a 31-yarder.
The story of that drive, though, was Edelman. With Rob Gronkowski being asked to play a bigger role in the blocking game due to all the injuries on the O-line, Edelman's even more important than usual. He headed to the locker room during that TV timeout.
In other injury news, Slater returned to the field for that kickoff. It must have just been a stinger for him.
End of first quarter, 7-7: After that good news on Slater, there may be some not-so-good news on Edelman. After making a 12-yard catch on third-and-4 and absorbing about four hits while twisting to the ground, Edelman hobbled off the field and headed straight for the bench. It's impossible to speculate what he might have tweaked, given the twists and turns his body was going through, but Tom Brady has to be hoping his No. 1 target isn't out for long. Edelman has four receptions for 53 yards already.
First quarter, 1:19, 7-7: Two things. One, Julian Edelman just absolutely juked Craig Dahl out of his shorts, turning a 20-yard catch over the middle into a 30-yard gain.
Second, it appears Slater hurt his arm or shoulder, not his head, and he remains on the sideline, not the locker room. That's good news.
First quarter, 3:22, 7-7: The Patriots' defense answers, with Jonathan Freeny doing a great job of knowing where the sticks are in tackling Will Tye as soon as the big tight end caught the ball, about 10 inches shy of the first down.
That forced the Giants to punt, and Amendola's fair catch sets up the Patriots at their own 30.
First quarter, 4:52, 7-7: Riding the new life given to them by that 87-yard touchdown, the Giants' defense did its job the second time around.
They did enough to disrupt the offense to force an incompletion on a screen pass intended for Brandon Bolden on first down. On second down, Brady felt a little bit of pressure and threw incomplete over the middle. And on third down, a quick screen to Amendola only picked up three yards, as the offensive line couldn't get out in space to make any blocks to give Amendola a chance.
In worse news for the Patriots, Matthew Slater suffered an injury while tackling Dwayne Harris on the punt return. It looked like he went helmet-to-helmet and suffered the brunt of that blow himself. It didn't look pretty.
First quarter, 5:49, 7-7: And ... tie game. Odell Beckham got a step on Malcolm Butler, and Butler's safety help came in and actually put a lick on Butler instead of Beckham.
That allowed Beckham to streak from the right sideline and across the field for an 87-yard score. And just like that, we're tied up after just two Giants plays.
First quarter, 6:40, 7-0 Patriots: All week, we talked about the Giants defense being rather weak. Through one drive, the G-men have lived up to those low expectations.
Brady converted two third-down passes, first hitting Amendola with an 11-yard strike on a third-and-2 and then connecting on an out with Edelman for five yards on a third-and-4.
On the Patriots' next third down, Brady took care of it himself, running up the gut for 10 yards on a third-and-6.
LeGarrette Blount (29 yards on 7 carries) got the Patriots down to the goal line, but after he was stuffed on first down, Brady ran a play-action fake and hit Scott Chandler in the end zone for six.
That entire drive looked much too easy, and the Pats are up 7-0. That was a 14-play, 80-yard drive that chewed up 8:20.
First quarter, 15:00: The opening kick went 7 yards deep into the end zone, and Amendola took a knee. First-and-10 at the 20.
4:25 p.m.: New England called heads and lost the toss. The Giants elected to defer. Tom Brady will be getting this ball to start the game. Here we go.
3:58 p.m.: Based on pregame warmups, it looks like it'll be Cameron Fleming at left tackle and Bryan Stork at rick tackle for the Patriots. The only backup in uniform today is Chris Barker, who was promoted from the practice squad yesterday. Technically, Michael Williams might also be considered a backup in an mergency situation.
3:43 p.m.: Here are some pictures that are sure to make Patriots fans a bit queasy.
Well, at least we know that Roger Goodell is up for attending a Patriots game this year.
Apparently, Jonathan Kraft is getting his money's worth in this conversation.
And according to Scott Zolak, Robert Kraft wasn't all that interested in chatting up the commish.
Neither was Tom Brady.
3 p.m.: The inactives are out, and the list does not include the name of Jabaal Sheard. That means Sheard will be suiting up for the first time since the Indy game, nearly a full month ago.
Here's the complete list of inactive Patriots:
OL Marcus Cannon
WR Keshawn Martin
OL Sebastian Vollmer
OL Tre Jackson
LB Jamie Collins
S Tavon Wilson
DL Trey Flowers
Everyone knows about the Patriots' issues with health on the offensive line, but the Giants will be without starting left guard Justin Pugh today. That's certainly going to be a factor in this one.
There are no other surprises in the Giants' inactive list:
OL Justin Pugh
WR Victor Cruz
TE Larry Donnell
LB J.T. Thomas
LB Uani 'Unga
CB Prince Amukamara
CB Leon McFadden
2:10 p.m.: One name to watch when the inactive lists come out is Jabaal Sheard. He's been out for a few weeks but the Boston Herald's Jeff Howe reported that Sheard has a chance to play today. When he's been on the field, he's been a beast, and he'd no doubt be a huge boost for the Patriots if he can give it a go today.
1 p.m.: A long week of waiting is finally over, as yet another NFL Sunday is upon us.
There's still a bit more time to wait for the Patriots to get their week started, though, as they will kick it off against the Giants about three hours and 25 minutes from now.
That gives New Englanders some time to keep an eye on the Miami Dolphins, though at 3-5 and with an interim head coach, the Dolphins aren't exactly primed to make a run toward the AFC playoff picture. The rest of the division wrapped up its play on Thursday night, when Rex Ryan's Bills hung on to beat the Jets in a rather ugly affair in the same building that will house today's Pats-Giants game.
The win left both teams at 5-4 for the season, and they're still looking up at the 8-0 Patriots.
Of course, any drama regarding an AFC East race would have to be manufactured, so we'll stop that there.
As far as this game goes, the Patriots are expected to roll to a victory over an inferior opponent, but as we saw in games against the Colts and Jets already this year, sometimes those wins just don't come easy.
It should be a good day for passing, though, as temperatures are expected to be in the mid-50s without much wind throughout the game.
We'll see what happens today, and it'll all be right here in the live blog, from pregame news, to the inactive lists, to updates and analysis throughout the whole game. Check back often.
Read more from Michael Hurley by clicking here. You can email him or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
