The recent Patriots/Giants history the past decade or so is no fun to look at for a Patriots fan, but 1996 was a different story.

Today, we take a look at the regular season finale, a thrilling 23-22 win over the Giants in the Meadowlands that not only gave New England some incredible momentum heading into the postseason, but more importantly it locked up a first round bye and guaranteed at least one home playoff game at Foxboro Stadium. The win capped the Patriots’ season at 11-5 and was ultra special for head coach Bill Parcells.

The Patriots trailed 22-0 at the half and 20-3 heading to the fourth before stunning the G-Men with an improbable fourth quarter comeback.

““We have the heart of a lion,’’ said defensive lineman Willie McGinest in a Boston Globe story written by the late, great Nick Cafardo. “We fight. We fight. We fight until our opponent is down and out. I’ve never seen this team so happy. We’ve achieved every goal we’ve set out to accomplish to this point. It hasn’t been easy. We give people heart attacks along the way, but we got what we wanted. We have two weeks to prepare. We’re in the playoffs, we’re the AFC East champions, we’re going to get a bye.’’

“I didn’t think we could come back,’’ added Parcells. “When we got the field goal I got a faint glimmer of hope just to get a score before the end of the third quarter. They’ve got champions’ hearts. We may not be the best team, but this is as happy as we’ve been in a long time.’’

Drew Bledsoe threw the ball 47 times, completing 31 of them for 301 yards, two touchdowns and two sacks. New England needed every bit of those 301 yards as Curtis Martin ran the ball eight times for nine yards and David Meggett had seven carries for just 20 yards. Terry Glenn did put on a show too, catching eight balls for 124 yards and a touchdown on 12 targets.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for New England early, starting with a Bledsoe intentional grounding in the end zone early. The Giants pushed the lead to 22-0 before the half on two field goals, a Charles Way touchdown run and a Jason Sehorn 23-yard pick-six. A 40-yard Adam Vinatieri field goal were the only points scored in the third quarter and the Pats’ playoff seeding was in jeopardy.

Glenn hauled in a 26-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth, cutting the deficit to 22-10. After a three-and-out, Meggett made things really interesting with a 60-yard punt return TD, bringing the Pats within five at 22-17. After trading punts, Bledsoe and the Patriots got the ball back with 7:08 left needing to drive 75-yards for a potential game-winning score.

Thanks in large part to a 3rd-and-13 catch while basically lying down on his back from Troy Brown, Bledsoe eventually hit Ben Coates on a 4th-and-7 from 13 yards out and Vinatieri put the Pats on top for the first time all day with just 1:23 remaining.

This was the game that sparked the run to New Orleans, even though it wasn’t pretty by any means. Check back tomorrow for Day 18 of our 25 days celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1996 AFC champion New England Patriots.