Giants Can't Unseat Patriots but Can Still Win NFC East

A late Stephen Gostkowski field goal cost the New York Giants an all-important win over the New England Patriots. But thanks to another treacherous day for the woeful NFC East, the division is still well within reach for the G-Men.

There's just something about this rivalry that has produced two Super Bowls in the Tom Coughlin era for the Giants. They showed that again throughout an eventual 27-26 defeat, stepping their game up against the league's most formidable force.

The Giants' Twitter account noted the last-second loss:

While another easy Patriots victory was expected by some in this Week 10 clash, that's far from what materialized. New York came to play, jumping out to an early lead and taking a 17-10 edge into halftime.

After the Pats scored a touchdown on their opening possession, the Giants held them to just three points the next six times they touched the ball. A defense that gave up a record-tying seven touchdown passes to New Orleans' Drew Brees weeks ago stiffened against the machine-like New England attack.

The eventual Patriots surge could inevitably be felt, and it came early in the fourth as Rob Gronkowski barreled forward for a 76-yard touchdown catch.

That could have been the death blow for the Giants, but they failed to let that be.

Gary Hershorn/Associated Press

With the Pats up 24-23 and on the Giants' 5-yard line, Tom Brady channeled his inner Russell Wilson and threw an end-zone interception on a slant pass. Eli Manning led the Giants down the field and put them in position to not just win the game but run the clock out in the process.

They kicked a field goal to take the lead with about two minutes left, but in the end, the Giants have to be lamenting a missed opportunity after giving away chances to put this one on ice, per Shannon Sharpe:

The loss calls for immediate second-guessing, but Coughlin wasn't in the mood to do that, as Jordan Raanan of NJ.com noted:

Although this one is a bit more understandable in that it came against the now 9-0 Patriots, New York is getting somewhat used to giving away games late.

Starting with their opening two games of the season—losses to Dallas and Atlanta—and continuing a few weeks ago versus New Orleans, the Giants are becoming pretty good at losing games they should win.

Still, somehow, the NFC East is right there for the taking after the Philadelphia Eagles inexplicably let a win slip away on Sunday against Miami and the Dallas Cowboys (2-7) did the same against Tampa Bay. The biggest threat in the division is still 4-5 Philadelphia, which could be without quarterback Sam Bradford. According to ESPN.com's Phil Sheridan, he suffered a concussion and injured shoulder on Sunday. 

The 4-5 Washington Redskins dominated New Orleans 47-14 to push themselves into the discussion, but this is for all intents and purposes a two-horse race in the NFC East.

And the way Sunday's games unfolded leaves the 5-5 Giants sitting pretty in the driver's seat despite a loss that will linger into their bye week.