The New York Giants beat the Carolina Panthers 24-17 on an 18 yard fumble return on the final play of their Monday night NFL pre-season scrimmage at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford.

With 10 seconds left and the ball on the Panthers own 18 yard line, fourth-string quarterback Hunter Cantwell went back to pass and was hit in the arm by Giants Defensive Tackle Leger Douzable. The ball went into the air and NY Giant defensive end Tommie Hill grabbed it and ran it back for a touchdown.

Cantwell had tied the game with 57 seconds left on a five-play drive that ended with a 31-yard TD pass to Jason Cherry and a 2-point conversion pass to Andrew Davie.

The Giants got the ball back but the Panthers defense held them to a three-and-out series. Jeff Feagles then punted it away, setting up the bizarre game-ending play.

“Everybody figured on defense they would take a knee,” Douzable said. “When they snapped it, I put a move on the guard. I saw the quarterback with the ball in his hand and I got it.”

“Both sides have a lot of work, but we have time. We have three weeks to do it,” Panthers coach John Fox said.

The Giants had led almost the entire game, scoring on a 19-yard run by Ahmad Bradshaw, a 36-yard screen pass from David Carr to halfback Danny Ware and a 46-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes.

Eli Manning played only two series but was happy with the running game and defensive play of the Giants, who forced 5 Panthers turnovers.

The Carolina Panthers play their next 2009 NFL pre-season game against the Miami Dolphins on Saturday, August 22, 2009 @ 7:30 pm EST in Florida.

Eli Manning and the New York Giants head to Chicago next Saturday, where they take on the Bears in their next 2009 NFL pre-season. Gametime is 8:00 pm EST.

source: espn