Patriots Pregame Thread Week 13 MNF: Giants @ Pats

[Foxypats]

This is the game I fear the most.

A Giants team, already eliminated from playoff contention, but on prime time national television and with nothing to lose.

This stinks of a Giants upset.

I can't bear the thought of another Giants upset. We have had enough of them to last a lifetime !!!

 

[patfanken]

I can't bear the thought of another Giants upset. We have had enough of them to last a lifetime !!!

There was only one upset in 2007. WE were the underdogs in 2011. That was the year WE had the bad D, with a secondary so thin Edelman was the slot CB

 

[sb1]

There was only one upset in 2007. WE were the underdogs in 2011. That was the year WE had the bad D, with a secondary so thin Edelman was the slot CB

True but I believe the Pats were still 7 pt favorites and rightfully so as the Giants were underwater with point differential.

 

[Real fan 02]

To me, the Bengals game is either going to be a blip of a stinker we had even in the glory years or it's going to start the trend for the last several games, where we just slog it out and can't recapture the effectiveness we had in the earlier games. Obviously, I hope it's a blip but we really won't know until we see how they come out against the Giants.

Fatigue. Mike Reiss was mentioning it Monday. This team has the longest winning streak in the league and best record on the road and in the AFC.. they are a tired, banged up team.. they have been grinding all season and out themselves in a excellent position. Even coming off 10 days wasn't really a "bye" as it takes 5 days just for thier bodies to recover from a Thursday night game..

Guys have been playing alot of snaps and the body needs down time. Get a solid win Monday against NYG and get to the well needed bye week unscathed.

 

[Real fan 02]

True but I believe the Pats were still 7 pt favorites and rightfully so as the Giants were underwater with point differential.

As a fan I want to smash the giants each time we can.. for those 2008&2012 super losses...

 

[Borg140]

Fatigue. Mike Reiss was mentioning it Monday. This team has the longest winning streak in the league and best record on the road and in the AFC.. they are a tired, banged up team.. they have been grinding all season and out themselves in a excellent position. Even coming off 10 days wasn't really a "bye" as it takes 5 days just for thier bodies to recover from a Thursday night game..

Guys have been playing alot of snaps and the body needs down time. Get a solid win Monday against NYG and get to the well needed bye week unscathed.

Yep. I’m not sure how much I buy into it, but I did hear a couple of peeps suggest that just playing that Thursday game with the 10 days rest might have thrown them off a bit. They had 10 straight weeks of the same routine for the most part leading up to it. Either way, I wasn’t too surprised they started out slowly against Cincy. I think they’ll be sharper on Monday.

 

[Real fan 02]

Yep. I’m not sure how much I buy into it, but I did hear a couple of peeps suggest that just playing that Thursday game with the 10 days rest might have thrown them off a bit. They had 10 straight weeks of the same routine for the most part leading up to it. Either way, I wasn’t too surprised they started out against Cincy. I think they’ll be sharper on Monday.

Yeah.. even though they have the best of everything as athletes as far as training and recovery.. the human body still needs down time.. mentally, physically and emotionally. Cincy is a scrappy team and they likely got tired of hearing about how bad they are and defense.. it happens..we saw plenty of games like this over the years as fans.. nothing to be alarmed about.. they are learning from winning as opposed to losing.. that's what makes a championship contender.

 

[PatsFan2]

Yep. I’m not sure how much I buy into it, but I did hear a couple of peeps suggest that just playing that Thursday game with the 10 days rest might have thrown them off a bit. They had 10 straight weeks of the same routine for the most part leading up to it. Either way, I wasn’t too surprised they started out against Cincy. I think they’ll be sharper on Monday.

Thank the greedy NFL Owners for that. Thursday Games except for maybe the Thanksgiving day traditions ones should be outlawed.

 

[Triumph]

 

[Nikolai]

Yeah.. even though they have the best of everything as athletes as far as training and recovery.. the human body still needs down time.. mentally, physically and emotionally. Cincy is a scrappy team and they likely got tired of hearing about how bad they are and defense.. it happens..we saw plenty of games like this over the years as fans.. nothing to be alarmed about.. they are learning from winning as opposed to losing.. that's what makes a championship contender.

Yep.

I also feel like the muscle memory of "giving the New England Patriots their best shot" has kicked in for a lot of teams already. It wasn't uncommon during the TFB/BB era to watch eliminated teams playing the game of their lives against us.

 

[Borg140]

Thank the greedy NFL Owners for that. Thursday Games except for maybe the Thanksgiving day traditions ones and should be outlawed.

Don’t get me started on Thursday Night Football. I’ve never been a fan.

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Don’t get me started on Thursday Night Football. I’ve never been a fan.

I’m a fan just because I like watching football as many days of the week as possible.
That said, player safety and quality of product is always an issue with Thursday night games.

 

[PatsFan2]

Funny I thought the exact opposite on that play, I'm going off of memory and the TV stream, but either Henry or Diggs presnap had to scream his name and pull him over as he was lining up on the wrong side of the formation. More evidence IMO he's still struggling with the mental aspect not the physical which makes me wonder why McD isn't giving him easier reads so he can catch a few? On the other hand you can not put someone out there who doesn't even know how to line up 12 weeks in. Frustrating either way.

Good eye: Kyle Williams logged a whopping Five snaps on Sunday: we know the guys McDaniels prefers. Well hopefully he continues to learn the Offense.

 

[Real fan 02]

Yep.

I also feel like the muscle memory of "giving the New England Patriots their best shot" has kicked in for a lot of teams already. It wasn't uncommon during the TFB/BB era to watch eliminated teams playing the game of their lives against us.

Agreed. Good points you brought up.. teams know we are a good team and the record shows that.. so teams want to knock us off.. boy that feels good to say after 5 years of mediocrity... we can expect the same from Jets and Miami.. as well.

I'd also mention that.. Vrabel is going to play it smart down the stretch.. if it becomes very clear that Denver or indy is going to be the #1 seed over us then the last game or even last 2 games of the season we should really be looking to play back ups more.. ?

 

[slash83]

Any early indications on who’s starting for NY this week?

 

[p8ryts]

This is fair.
I will say, the Giants have played Philadelphia twice, which might skew those numbers a little bit. Not a lot, but a little bit.

I'm far more concerned about Dexter Lawrence than anyone else on that line. Bradbury's going to be in for a long evening.

The inside rush is a killer. That one at the end of the game, all the interiors had rushers locked up, but the one backer came free. It seems like this might be a part of Drake's game that still needs improvement. You have to see the guy in front of you. Hit the check down or throw it away. We don't handle stunts well. I think Drake is going to face more last second movement by the defense in the future. I have confidence in Josh figuring something to respond to it, the challenge will be the execution.

 

[jdlboot14]

Why would whether you or I take the giants lightly matter?

They are a bottom 2 or 3 defense. We moved the ball at will in cincy, and got bogged down in the red zone.
We’ve scored 26.3 ppg the last 3 weeks. Maye hasn’t struggled.

Every team has good pieces. Teams that are 2-10 don’t have enough.

Btw we won last week. On the road. The sky isn’t falling.

I'm not saying the sky is falling - I was suggesting that if we struggle on O (and look inept again running against NYG run D) that people are going to freak out the whole bye week - and rightfully so... because our O has not looked great of late.

And yes - Maye HAS struggled more the last 4 weeks. Look at the numbers!
That doesn't mean he sucks, that means his comp % and TD/INT and efficiency in the RZ has been worse than before that.
If you watched the first half in CIN, and thought he didn't struggle with "seeing the D" & accuracy, then check your rose glasses.

Whether or not you say, "Giants are bad, 2-10 stinks, we'll easily win, our O is good enough" has no bearing on the reality of our O being less balanced, efficient, dangerous, and converting TD's in the RZ.

We're not suddenly horrible on O. But run blocking is the major key to returning to better & balanced offense. And JMD needs to widen the attack - more toss runs & RB screens to Hendo.

 

[PatsFan2]

Any early indications on who’s starting for NY this week?

IF J Dart clears protocol it's probably him: but J Winston can give us a game too.

 

[Ring 6]

I'm not saying the sky is falling - I was suggesting that if we struggle on O (and look inept again running against NYG run D) that people are going to freak out the whole bye week - and rightfully so... because our O has not looked great of late.

And yes - Maye HAS struggled more the last 4 weeks. Look at the numbers!
That doesn't mean he sucks, that means his comp % and TD/INT and efficiency in the RZ has been worse than before that.
If you watched the first half in CIN, and thought he didn't struggle with "seeing the D" & accuracy, then check your rose glasses.

Whether or not you say, "Giants are bad, 2-10 stinks, we'll easily win, our O is good enough" has no bearing on the reality of our O being less balanced, efficient, dangerous, and converting TD's in the RZ.

We're not suddenly horrible on O. But run blocking is the major key to returning to better & balanced offense. And JMD needs to widen the attack - more toss runs & RB screens to Hendo.

We haven’t really “struggled on o” all year. We are 7th in points 8th in yardage. We’ve scored 23 or more points 9 straight games.

Maye the last 4 weeks has completed 64% of his passes, and thrown for 1104 yards (the equivalent of 4700 a year) and we are scoring over 26 ppg.
He has also reduced the sacks taking only 1 in each of the last 3 games

The Giants are bad. I have said nothing by about “winning easily” I care only about wining.

Every team has strengths and weaknesses. The Giants have a lot fewer strengths and a lot more weaknesses than we do. Hand wringing over imperfection while acting like the 2-10 team is scary is silly. Discussing areas that could improve is one thing, acting like the team that won 9 in a row is likely to lose to the 2-10 team is ridiculous.

Why would you care if “people are going to freak out”?

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Discussing areas that could improve is one thing, acting like the team that won 9 in a row is likely to lose to the 2-10 team is ridiculous.

Who is saying “likely to lose”?
It’s the NFL, any game is loseable and talking about areas of concern is not conceding defeat.
The Giants are not near as bad as you think. They have been very competitive against a really tough schedule, much tougher than ours.