Eli Manning hooked up with Victor Cruz on a 99-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter and the New York Giants defeated the rival New York Jets 29-14 in a critical battle of playoff hopefuls Saturday at MetLife Stadium.

The Giants’ victory eliminated the Philadelphia Eagles from the playoffs and set up a showdown with Dallas for the NFC East title next week.

The dealt a major blow to the postseason hopes of the Jets (8-7), who dropped one game behind Cincinnati for the No. 6 seed in the AFC.

The pass to Cruz was the longest in franchise history and gave the Giants (8-7) a 10-7 lead. The wide receiver became the 13th player in the NFL to catch a 99-yard touchdown pass.

On a third-and-10 from the 1, Giant quarterback Eli Manning hit Cruz over the middle and he eluded a pair of defenders after making the catch before outracing the rest of the Jet defense.

Cruz finished with 164 yards receiving and set a team record for receiving yards in a season. His 36-yard catch late in the third quarter set up a 14-yard touchdown run by Ahmad Bradshaw to increase the lead to 17-7.

The Jets struck first on a 5-yard pass from Mark Sanchez to Josh Baker, but the Giants scored the next 20 points including a pair of field goals by Lawrence Tynes.

Trailing 20-7, Sanchez scored on a 1-yard run midway through the fourth quarter. The Jets got the ball back trailing 20-14, but Sanchez was sacked in the end zone for a Giant safety.

The Giants have won the last five games in the series and they put the game out of reach when Bradshaw scored from 19 yards out with under two minutes left.

• N.Y. Jets will play their next game on the road against Miami. The Jets have a W/L % of .533 after a win and .533 after a loss.
• N.Y. Giants will play their next game at home against Dallas. The Giants have a W/L % of .533 after a win and .533 after a loss.