East Rutherford, NJ (My Sportsbook) - Aaron Ross picked off Chad Pennington twice in the fourth quarter, setting up the go-ahead touchdown with the first one and returning the second for a touchdown, as the Giants beat the Jets, 35-24, in a battle for New York bragging rights at the Meadowlands.

Ross's first interception led to Eli Manning hitting Plaxico Burress with a 53-yard touchdown to put Big Blue ahead 28-24 and his second was returned 43 yards with 3:15 left that gave his team a 35-24 cushion.

Manning finished 13-of-25 passing for 186 yards with two touchdowns and one interception for the Giants (3-2), who have won three straight to go over the .500 mark for the first time this season. Burress ended with five catches for 124 yards with a score and Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward also scored for the Giants, winners of four straight against their fellow stadium tenants.

Jacobs ended with 100 yards on 20 carries and Ward recorded 56 yards on 13 rushes before leaving with an apparent ankle injury during the go-ahead TD drive in the fourth quarter.

Pennington went 21-of-36 for 229 yards with a touchdown and three picks for the Jets (1-4), who blew a 10-point third-quarter lead in suffering their second straight setback. Leon Washington returned a kickoff 98 yards for a TD and Kerry Rhodes returned a fumble for a score for the Jets, who actually only scored one offensive touchdown.

Laveranues Coles had eight catches for 89 yards and Brad Smith had the lone offensive touchdown for Gang Green, who yielded 28 second-half points.

Down 24-14, the Giants got into the end zone for a second time in the third quarter. This time, Manning hit Jeremy Shockey for a 13-yard TD, ending a nine-play, 68-yard possession with 33 seconds left until the final quarter.

"Any time you score it feels good," said Shockey, who recorded his first TD of the season.

Big Blue's defense then came up with its biggest play of the game to that point. The Jets drove down field deep into Giants territory, but an ill- advised pass from Pennington intended for Jerricho Cotchery was intercepted by Ross, giving the Giants possession at its own two-yard-line.

"It's always disappointing when you're inconsistent and that's what causes you to lose," said Pennington. "There's not much to be said. Pretty simple formula: Can't turn the ball over, and I got to play smart, and just a couple of plays, that's all it is. You know, two plays really changed the game."

The ensuing possession gave the Giants their first lead of the game. Aided by a couple of penalties by the Jets defense, the Giants managed to go 98 yards on just eight plays with the big play being the 53-yard TD pass from Manning to Burress.

Early in the drive, Andre Dyson was called for illegal contact, helping the Giants get out of the shadow of their own goal line and gain the automatic first down. Then, an unnecessary roughness call on David Harris, who horse- collar-tackled Ward, moved the Giants to their own 47. Ward needed to be assisted off the field with what is believed to be an ankle injury.

Two plays later, Burress caught the ball along the left side line, stiff-armed Dyson to the turf and then high-stepped into the end zone for a 28-24 lead with 7:52 left.

"We just had to stop making mistakes," said Manning of the second-half turnaround. "We ran the ball well in the first half. We knew we could come out and continue to do that."

The Jets offense failed to generate a scoring chance on their next possession, giving the ball back to their stadium mates with 6:34 left. However, the Giants offense didn't take enough time of the clock, putting the pressure back on the defense as the Jets took over once again with 4:40 left at their own 23-yard-line.

However, Ross picked off Pennington for a second time and returned it 43 yards for the score, icing the game with 3:15 left.

"Obviously not very happy with the second half of that game," said Jets head coach Eric Mangini. "Talking to the team it comes back to stuff we discuss every single week, about consistency, about the ability to finish. As much as the first half was positive, in the second half we just couldn't get going the way we needed to get going. We couldn't stop the things we needed to stop, and to me it gets back to consistency."

The Jets started the scoring when Kerry Rhodes picked up a Jacobs fumble and ran 11 yards untouched for the touchdown, just 6:24 into the game.

The Giants tied the game early in the second quarter. After Jets kicker Mike Nugent missed a 42-yard field goal attempt, Manning relied on Ward and Jacobs during a 67-yard touchdown drive. Ward capped the nine-play possession with an eight-yard TD run, tying the game with 4:06 elapsed in the second quarter.

The Jets went ahead just before halftime when Pennington hit Smith with a fade pass in the corner of the end zone with 33 ticks left on the clock. The nine- play drive took of 1:46 off the clock and allowed the team to capitalize one more time before halftime.

On the first play of the Giants' ensuing drive, Manning was picked off by Jonathan Vilma at the Giants' 27-yard-line. Two plays later, Nugent booted a 47-yard field goal as time expired to send the Green and White into the locker room with a 17-7 cushion.

The Giants opened the second half with a six-play, 80-yard touchdown drive capped by a Jacobs 19-yard TD run.

However, the momentum was quickly squashed by the Jets' special teams, as Washington returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown to restore the 10-point cushion, 24-14.

"We just gave the Jets 10 points in the first half on the fumble and my interception," said Manning.

Game Notes

Ross' interceptions were the first of his career...Burress leads the NFC and is tied with New England's Randy Moss with seven TD catches this season...Manning has a TD pass in 35 of his last 38 games...After recording a team-record six sacks last week against the Eagles, Osi Umenyiora had one sack in this game to increase his season total to seven. It was the only sack of the game for the Giants, who had 12 last week...Sam Madison has the other pick for the Giants...Thomas Jones led the Jets' rushing attack with just 36 yards.