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Chinks in New England's armor

By Dan Ralph

Once again the New England Patriots staggered and once again their opponent couldn’t deliver the knockout punch.

The Patriots overcame a 12-point deficit Saturday and rallied for a 38-35 road win over a game New York Giants squad to become the first NFL team to finish the regular season 16-0. New England became just the second team in league history to complete a perfect regular campaign, joining the ‘72 Miami Dolphins.

Up next for New England will be following in Miami’s footsteps and capping their unbeaten regular season with three playoff wins en route to a Super Bowl title.

However, that can wait for a bit.

The Patriots were hardly perfect against the Giants. They had trouble countering a rugged New York pass rush and New York’s Domenik Hixon returned a first-half kickoff 64 yards for the touchdown after New England’s Randy Moss was flagged for excessive celebrating upon hauling in a Tom Brady touchdown pass.

New England found itself down by 12 points in the second half, a larger deficit it faced in its previous close calls this season against the Indianapolis Colts, Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens. But then the Patriots caught fire, scoring 22 points to take control of the game. The biggest play was a 65-yard TD strike from Brady to Moss.

The Giants, led by a stellar first half from quarterback Eli Manning, couldn’t effectively counter the Patriots’ attack enough to register the upset victory and prevent New England from making NFL history.

Brady finished the game completing 32-of-42 passes for 356 yards and two touchdowns. Despite cooling down in the second half, Manning ended up 22-of-32 passing for 251 yards and four touchdowns and an interception.

Manning’s three-yard TD strike to Plaxico Burress with 1:04 remaining pulled New York to within 38035, but the Giants’ comeback bid died when New England recovered the onside kick.

Brady finished the season with 50 touchdown passes, breaking the NFL record of 49 previously held by Indianapolis’s Peyton Manning. And Moss caught 23 of those passes to eclipse the previous mark of 22 that former San Francisco 49ers great Jerry Rice set in 1987. It should be noted, though, Rice accomplished his feat in only 12 games that year due to an NFL players strike.

New England also finished with an 589 points for the season, another NFL single-season record.

But while New England wasn’t at its best until late in the game, a big reason for that was the inspired play by a Giants team that had nothing tangible to play for. New York had already clinched a playoff berth and the contest wasn’t going to impact its standing in the overall standings.

It would’ve been easy for Giants coach Tom Coughlin to field his backups Saturday night in an attempt to rest his regulars for the playoffs and also safeguard against serious injury. However, Coughlin not only fielded all of his regulars, but kept them in for the entire game.

It was a very commendable gesture that underscored Coughlin’s understanding about how important it was that the Giants (10-6) maintained the integrity of the game by making the Patriots earn their date with destiny.

Coughlin’s move, though, might’ve resulted in the Giants being without centre Shaun O’Hara, linebacker Kawaika Mitchell and cornerback Sam Madison for next week’s playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. O’Hara and Mitchell both suffered knee injuries against New England while Madison is out with an abdominal strain. Their status for next week is uncertain.

Yet even in defeat, the Giants have plenty to build on from Saturday’s game. Their defence was one of the few units this year that actually got solid pressure on Brady and hit the New England quarterback, especially in the first half when Brady and Co. looked rather ordinary while Manning better resembled his older and more celebrated brother, Peyton.

And New York managed to score the most points against New England this year.

But that counts as only a moral victory. With a perfect 16-0 record it’s the Patriots who can assume the mantle of best regular-season NFL team ever.

However, the title of best NFL team ever can only come after winning two AFC playoff games and their fourth Super Bowl title. That’s the only validation now for New England’s historic 2007 regular season. If the Patriots can do that, there will be no challenging their spot as the best-ever team in NFL history.

Nothing less will do.