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Antoine Winfield Jr. broke up a two-point conversion pass from Daniel Jones to Dion Lewis that saw a flag for pass interference picked up by the officials as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers held on for a 25-23 victory over the New York Giants on Monday night.
Jones was late in getting the pass out to Lewis on the two-point try and threw the ball on Lewis’ back shoulder. Winfield made slight contact with Lewis before the ball arrived and the flag thrown on the play was ultimately waved off after a conference of the officials. Tampa Bay then recovered the ensuing onside kick to get out of New York with the two point victory.
It was just the ninth time an NFL game has ended in a 25-23 final score. The exact same result happened when these two teams met in 2018 as the Buccaneers won a 25-23 final against the Giants in Tampa.
The Giants built a surprising early lead over one of the favorites to win the NFC only to see it slip a way in the second half.
Jones’ two interceptions in the second half allowed Tom Brady and the Buccaneers to rally from a 14-3 deficit to claim a 25-23 victory over the Giants.
Brady wasn’t overly sharp himself but the second-half turnovers from Jones were critical for the Giants.
After a 37-yard Ryan Succop field goal gave the Buccaneers the early lead, Ronald Jones lost a fumble deep in Tampa Bay territory that led to a Giants touchdown. Jones hit running back Dion Lewis for a 7-yard score as the Giants took a 7-3 lead. A 10-play, 77-yard drive led by Jones ended in a 2-yard Wayne Gallman touchdown run as the Giants lead grew to 14-3 with 1:46 left in the first half.
Succop managed to convert a 40-yard field goal before the half as New York held a 14-6 advantage.
Jones was intercepted by Carlton Davis on a forced throw to Sterling Shepard on New York’s opening drive of the second half. The turnover led to a 43-yard Succop field goal as the lead was cut to 14-9 five minutes into the third quarter. Following a Giants’ three-and-out, Brady carried the Buccaneers to their first touchdown drive of the night. Rob Gronkowski caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Brady as Tampa Bay took its first lead at 15-14.
A 33-yard Graham Gano field goal put New York back on top, but Jones’ second interception led to another Tampa touchdown. Sean Murphy-Bunting picked off a Jones pass behind Golden Tate and the Buccaneers capitalized. A questionable unnecessary roughness call against Isaac Yiadom for a hit on Cameron Brate helped move the Buccaneers to the Giants’ 8-yard line. Brady then connected with Mike Evans on the next play for an 8-yard touchdown as Tampa Bay took a 22-17 lead.
Brady completed 28 of 40 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns on the night for Tampa Bay.
Succop would convert his fourth kick of the night from 38 yards out to push the lead to 25-17 with 3:41 left to play.
Jones and the Giants then managed one final drive to give themselves a chance to send the game to overtime. A key fourth down conversion to Shepard kept the drive alive and Jones hit Tate for a 19-yard touchdown with 28 seconds left to close within two. Winfield’s break up in the end zone served to end New York’s chances.
Jones completed 25 of 41 passes for 256 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
