Giants had victory right in their hands, and let it go

Twice within the space of five plays in the final 2:06, the Giants had victory over the undefeated Patriots firmly in their grasp, and twice, they dropped the ball Sunday at MetLife Stadium

First it was Odell Beckham Jr. landing on both feet in the end zone with what was ruled a touchdown catch, only to have it reversed by a replay ruling that credited Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler with a breakup.

On the first play after a field goal that gave the Giants a two-point lead with 1:47 left, safety Landon Collins soared to pick off a deep ball thrown by Tom Brady, but he let go when he banged his head on the turf.

From there, Brady did what he always does, driving the Patriots into position for a 54-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski with one second left that beat the Giants, 27-26.

It was a hard way to go down, and while Beckham disagreed with the replay official's ruling, he put the blame squarely on himself.

"I lost us the game," he said of the 5-yard fade route to the left corner. "You can't leave it up to the officials to get anything right. You've got to just make the play yourself, and it was a case of playing the play longer than your opponent."

On the field, the officials signaled touchdown, and Beckham raced to the bench to celebrate what he believed was his second TD catch of the day, including an 87-yard beauty that tied the score at 7.

"It was one of those moments where you look at a highlight film and you see the play going in slo-mo and the guy going up to make the catch," he said. "So I go up to make the catch and catch it and I put two feet down and I'm thinking, 'That's it. We've got this one.' He comes in and knocks it out late and they overturn it."

Beckham said the officials offered no explanation and he didn't ask for one. Asked if he thought he had to make a football move, he said, "No, I didn't think you had to do anything else but catch the ball and get two feet in the end zone."

Butler immediately swiped the ball out of his hands. The Patriots cornerback indicated that Beckham might have gotten the touchdown if he had fallen with control of the ball, saying: "You're just standing up. I've got to believe we're going to get that call."

After the Giants went up 26-24 on Josh Brown's 29-yard field goal, Brady threw deep down the middle for Aaron Dobson, and when Collins went up, he didn't realize he was by himself. "My eyes got real big," he said. "I said, 'Oh, man, is this really happening?' . . . All I could think of was go high-point the ball so the receiver can't catch it. I brought it down, and once I hit my head, I guess that's why it slipped out."

Seeing those drops by Beckham and Collins take the game with it hurt. "We played our hearts out as a team, all three phases of the game," Collins said. "Losing that game like that is very tough."

By Greg Logan

Gregory.Logan@newsday.comGregLogan1

Greg Logan has worked for Newsday since 1982 covering a wide array of sports and events, currently including the Brooklyn Nets beat.