Giants lead Patriots 21-16 at halftime

Eli Manning threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to rookie Kevin Boss with 13 seconds left in the half, taking a 21-16 lead Saturday night in the New York Giants' bid to end New England's run at perfection.

Manning also threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Jacobs and Domenik Hixon returned kickoff 74 yards for a touchdown as the Giants become only the second team to take a halftime lead over New England during this remarkable season.

Tom Brady and Randy Moss tied single-season records on a 4-yard touchdown pass, and the Patriots set a single-season scoring record in the nationally televised game that was being seen on three networks — NFL, CBS and NBC.

Brady's touchdown pass was his 49th of the season, tying the single-season mark set by Eli's brother, Peyton, in 2004.

The touchdown catch was Moss' 22nd of the season, tying the standard set by Jerry Rice in 1987.

Stephen Gostkowski added three field goals as the Patriots pushed their scoring total for the season to 567 points, breaking the mark of 556 set by Minnesota in 1998 when Moss was a rookie with the Vikings.

Still, it wasn't enough to prevent the Giants from joining the Indianapolis Colts as the only team to lead the Patriots at the half. New England came back to win that game 24-20 on Nov. 4.

The Giants twice rallied from deficits to take the lead, the last coming on an eight-play, 85 yard march on which Eli played like Peyton.

The younger Manning hit passes of 23 yards to Boss, 19 to Amani Toomer, 17 to Jacobs and he had an 11-yard run before eventually finding a wide-open Boss in the end zone.

The Brady to Moss touchdown pass gave New England a 10-7 lead on the opening play of the second quarter, but the Patriots were penalized for excessive celebration, a 15-yard markoff.

Hixon, who was returning kicks because Ahmad Bradshaw was out with a calf injury, fielded the ensuing kickoff and went 74 yards untouched for a 14-10 lead.

Gostkowski gave New England the lead back with field goals of 45 and 37 yards, the later coming with 1:59 left in the half.

The Giants become only the third team to score on the Patriots first when Manning hit Jacobs on a 7-yard pass out of the backfield on the opening series. The quick march was highlighted by a 52-yard bomb from Manning to Plaxico Burress on the second play from scrimmage.

The Patriots, who entered the game trying to become the first team to win all 16 regular-season games, got a 37-yard field goal from Gostkowski on their opening series as Brady moved them 54 yards in 12 plays.

New England, which trailed after the first quarter for only the fourth time this season, was at the Giants' 4-yard line when the quarter ended, and Brady and Moss got into the record book on the first play of the second quarter.

The regular-season finale drew a packed house at Giants Stadium. Although there were many New England fans wearing Brady and Randy Moss jerseys, they clearly were outnumbered by Giants' fans, who booed Bill Belichick and his team when they ran on the field.

The game was the Patriots' first at Giants Stadium since opening their march to perfection with the infamous "Spygate" contest against the New York Jets.

The 38-14 victory was marred when a Patriots' video assistant was caught taping the Jets' defensive coaches with a sideline camera. It cost Belichick and the team $750,000 in fines and a first-round draft pick.

Many experts felt the Giants should rest their starters. Win or less, they will face the Buccaneers in Tampa, Fla. in an NFC wild-card game next weekend.

The concerns proved valid when starting weakside linebacker Kawika Mitchell, last week's NFC defensive player of the week, backup safety Craig Dahl and center Shaun O'Hara sprained knees in the first half.