FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Giants made Tom Brady look mortal just long enough to come out on top yesterday.
Practically mirroring the game plan they used to beat him in Super Bowl XLII, the Giants got the best of Brady once again in a shocking 24-20 win and did so in a place where that rarely ever happens: Gillette Stadium.
Mixing their presnap looks and flooding the middle of the field with defenders, the Giants intercepted Brady twice, forced a crucial fumble by him in the third quarter, nearly intercepted him three other times, and generally flummoxed the New England star.
Brady came alive in the fourth quarter and produced points on four consecutive drives, including a touchdown with 1:36 left that looked like it might be enough to seal a gut-wrenching Giants loss.
But Jake Ballard’s subsequent heroics with the help of Eli Manning allowed the Giants’ offense to finish what their defense had started against Brady for most of the first three quarters.
“They played us tough,” Brady said. “I’m proud of our resiliency, but they made some pretty good plays at the end there to win it. It sucks to lose, but nobody’s going to feel sorry for you.”
Brady ended up throwing for 342 yards and two touchdowns, but he completed 28 of his 49 passes — well below his 68 percent season ratio — and the early turnovers proved to be killers.
As well as borrowing Steve Spagnuolo’s brilliant Super Bowl scheme, Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell took a page from the playbook the Steelers used last week in throttling Brady and the Patriots in Pittsburgh.
The Giants didn’t use as much man-to-man press coverage as Pittsburgh, but they were physical with Brady’s receivers all day and got terrific performances from Michael Boley and the rest of their usually inconsistent linebacker crew.
Boley had a career day with 10 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a tip that turned into an interception by fellow linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka, who had a big day himself with a team-high 12 stops and a pass breakup along with the pick.
But it wasn’t just the coverage, either. The Giants’ pass rush got to Brady most of the day, resulting in two sacks, three knockdowns and more than a dozen hurries as Jason Pierre-Paul and Osi Umenyiora led the charge up front.
As a result, New England lost at home to an NFC team for just the second time ever at Gillette Stadium and the first time since the Packers escaped here with a win in October 2002.
As well as helping the crosstown Jets by moving them into a three-way AFC East tie with the Patriots and Bills, the Giants snapped a 31-game regular season home winning streak for Brady.
“We’re playing some pretty good defenses, but it’s coming down to execution and we’re not making the plays,” Brady said.