Tom Brady threw for 334 yards to move into second place on the NFL's all-time passing-yardage list, and the New England Patriots remained unbeaten with a 35-14 victory over the New York Giants on Thursday night in Foxborough, Mass.
The Patriots (6-0) forced four turnovers and scored touchdowns on a blocked punt and a fumble return in the same game for the first time since Nov. 30, 1986, against the New Orleans Saints. Brady scored twice on quarterback sneaks to notch two rushing touchdowns in a game for the third time in his career.
Rookie Daniel Jones was intercepted three times while completing 15 of 31 passes for 161 yards and one touchdown for the Giants (2-4), who were outgained 427-213 in total yards.
New York played without star running back Saquon Barkley (high ankle sprain) and three other key offensive players -- backup running back Wayne Gallman and receiver Sterling Shepard, both out with concussions, and tight end Evan Engram (knee).
Still, the Giants were in the game in the fourth quarter until the Patriots opened up a two-touchdown lead on Kyle Van Noy's 22-yard fumble return with 8:26 left in the contest.
Jamie Collins forced the ball out of the hands of New York running back Jon Hilliman on the third-down pass play, and Van Voy picked it up and ran down the left side and hit the ball with the pylon to make it 28-14 as Jones tried to make the tackle.
New England put the game away on Brady's 1-yard sneak with 3:49 remaining.
Brady, who completed 31 of 41 passes with one interception, reached the passing-yards milestone with a 19-yard completion to Sony Michel on his first toss of the game. The opening-minute play pushed him past Peyton Manning (71,940 passing yards).
Brady finished the game with 72,257 passing yards. Drew Brees is the all-time leader with 74,845.
New England scored its first points on special teams as a punt by New York's Riley Dixon hit the back of the helmet of blocker Nate Stupar. Chase Winovich caught the deflection at the New York 6-yard line and went in for the score with 1:41 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Patriots increased the lead to 14-0 on Brandon Bolden's 1-yard touchdown run with 7:11 left in the second quarter.
New York responded 66 seconds later as Jones teamed with Golden Tate on a 64-yard touchdown play.
The Giants carried the momentum over to the defensive side as Lorenzo Carter sacked Brady and forced a fumble. Markus Golden picked up the ball and raced 42 yards to knot the score at 14 with 4:38 left in the half.
Brady rebounded by leading a 11-play, 75-yard drive. The 42-year-old executed a quarterback sneak from the 1 to give the Patriots a 21-14 lead with 36 seconds remaining before halftime.
--Field Level Media
N.Y. Giants | New England | |
Jon Hilliman | Player | Sony Michel |
11 | Attempts | 22 |
38 | Yards | 86 |
3.4 | Avg Yards | 3.9 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
10 | Long | 26 |
N.Y. Giants | New England | |
Golden Tate | Player | Julian Edelman |
6 | Receptions | 9 |
102 | Yards | 113 |
17.0 | Avg Yards | 12.6 |
1 | Touchdowns | 0 |
64 | Long | 36 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
N.Y. Giants | 213 | 52 | 161 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3.0 | 1 |
New England | 427 | 114 | 313 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 1.0 | 1 |