TEMPE, Ariz. – All it took for the Giants to equal their best comeback in their 99-year history was for Daniel Jones to play one of the finest halves an NFL quarterback has ever produced.
The Giants' prospects looked bleak against the Arizona Cardinals when they trailed 20-0 at halftime and 28-7 with less than four minutes to play in the third quarter. But with Jones' brilliant performance leading the way, the Giants rallied to win the game, 31-28, as Graham Gano scored the game-winning points on a 38-yard field goal with 19 seconds remaining.
It was just the third game in their history the Giants earned a victory after falling behind by at least 21 points. The other such comebacks were in 1945 and 1949, making this one of the Giants' most notable games of the last 75 years. Before Sunday, the Giants had lost their previous 150 games when trailing by 21 or more points.
The Giants pulled off a comeback rarely seen in the NFL. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, in the last 10 seasons (2014-23), teams facing deficits of at least 21 points in the second half are 12-621-0. But the Giants' victory was the seventh since 2019 in which a team overcame a deficit of 21 or more points to win, including the postseason.
Much of the credit goes to Jones. In the second half, he completed 17 of 21 passes for 259 yards, including touchdown passes to Saquon Barkley and Isaiah Hodgins, and rushed for 58 yards and scored the team's first touchdown on a 14-yard run, and did not throw an interception. In the process, Jones became the first quarterback ever to throw for 250 yards, rush for 50 yards, throw multiple touchdown passes, rush for a touchdown and not commit a turnover in the second half of a game.
The only other quarterback to compile such numbers in any half is Michael Vick. On Nov. 15, 2010, Vick, then with Philadelphia, threw for 264 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 66 yards and two scores in the first half of a 59-28 victory in Washington. The Eagles led at halftime, 45-14.
The Giants' victory Sunday was Jones' eighth career game with at least one touchdown pass and one rushing touchdown. He shares the franchise record with Pro Football Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, who played five years for the Giants (1967-71). Jones is now in his fifth Giants season.
Jones' rushing touchdown was the 13th of his career, extending his Giants' record for a quarterback. Tarkenton is second with 10.
Through two weeks, Jones leads all NFL quarterbacks with 102 rushing yards. He has run for at least 26 yards in seven consecutive regular-season games.
View photos from the Giants' 31-28 comeback victory over the Cardinals in Glendale.
*The Giants are the second team in the last six regular-season weeks dating back to last season to score at least 31 points in the second half after getting shut out in the first half. On Dec. 17, 2022, the Vikings fell behind the Colts in Minnesota, 33-0, but rallied for a 39-36 overtime victory.
*The Giants' 31 points in the third and fourth quarters is their highest second-half total since Dec. 9, 2012, when they scored 31 in a 52-27 victory against New Orleans in MetLife Stadium. That was also the previous game in which the Giants outscored their opponents in the fourth quarter, 17-0.
*The 31 points marks the Giants' highest total in any half since Dec. 9, 2018, when they scored 34 points in the first half in a 40-16 victory in Washington.
*The Giants trailed in the fourth quarter, 28-14. They had last won a game by overcoming a fourth-quarter deficit of at least 14 points on Sept. 17, 2006, in Philadelphia. Trailing, 24-7, they scored the game's last 23 points, including a 31-yard touchdown pass in overtime from Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress, to defeat the Eagles, 30-24.
*The Giants scored the last 24 points in a game for the first time since Oct. 24, 2021. After falling behind Carolina after one quarter, 3-0, the Giants went on to win, 25-3.
*The Giants had neither a sack nor a takeaway against Dallas or Arizona. According to Elias, this is the first time that's happened in consecutive games.
*The Giants' third-down conversion percentage Sunday of 58.3 (7-for-12) is their highest since Oct. 18, 2020 (7-for-11, 63.6% against Washington).
*The Giants' victory Sunday was their first after trailing at halftime since Oct. 16, 2022, vs. Baltimore. They were behind after two quarters, 10-7, but won, 24-20. The Giants had last won a game when trailing after three quarters a week later in Jacksonville. They scored the only 10 pints of the fourth quarter to defeat the Jaguars, 23-17
*The Giants' 439 total yards against Arizona is their second-highest total under Brian Daboll. They gained 445 yards at Minnesota last Dec. 24.
*Saquon Barkley's rushing touchdown vs. the Cardinals was the 30th of his career. He is 10th on the franchise's career list, two behind Ahmad Bradshaw.
*Barkley was the first Giants player to score a rushing and receiving touchdown in a game since Devontae Booker scored on a one-yard run and a three-yard reception at Dallas on Oct. 10, 2021.
*Gano's seven points in the game increased his Giants total to 344 and moved him past Raul Allegre (340) and into 11th place on the franchise's all-time list.
*Jones threw two touchdown passes in a game for the 13th time. He also has two four-touchdown and one five-touchdown passing games. Jones has never thrown three touchdown passes in a game.
*Jones' ninth 300-yard passing game tied him with Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle for fourth on the Giants' career list, behind Eli Manning (51), Phil Simms (21) and Kerry Collins (17).
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