Patriots News 11-30, Keys To the Game Against The Giants
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Good morning. Here is your Patriots news, 11-30, and NFL notes this week. The Patriots are shooting for their tenth win in a row against the Giants on Monday Night Football. So, today is like Thanksgiving Day was: a day to relax, watch some good football games, and see how it impacts the various playoff seedings. And there are some good games on the slate for today.
Tomorrow is a good, no, a great reason why the Patriots need to start quickly for a change. The Giants are a team that does start games well, but haven’t been good finishers.
The Giants are 2-10 and already mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but they don’t play that way. They are a pesky bunch; however, they have a league-high five losses after leading by double digits, tying an NFL record, including a 34-27 overtime loss to the Lions, in which they led by ten points three different times. The Giants have lost three consecutive one-score games to the Bears (24-20), Packers (27-20), and Lions (34-27 in OT). There is no quit in this team.
With an interim head coach and defensive coordinator, you have two guys in Mike Kafka and Charlie Bullen, who are trying to impress for a job after this season. There is the unexpected, but don’t be surprised to see them throw every conceivable wrinkle at the Patriots on national television.
Will Campbell: The rookie left tackle was placed on IR with a knee injury, but the Patriots are hoping that he can be back by the end of the season. He’ll miss at least the next four games; the earliest he can be back is Week 18.
Campbell suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee during the third quarter of last week’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Vederian Lowe is slated to replace him.
Jared Wilson: The Patriots’ rookie left guard went down with a high ankle sprain just three plays into the game on Sunday. He’ll be out at least this week, and we’ll see how he responds to treatment after the bye week. Ben Brown will replace him against the Giants.
Patriots No Huddle Podcast: Mike and I broke down the upcoming game against the Giants on Wednesday. Derek is on the road and should be back this week for our post-game podcast.
Please check it out. And be sure to like, share, and leave us a review.
Russ Francis/Chuck Fairbanks: The former Patriot tight end and head coach should be in the Patriots team Hall of Fame, and the fact that Francis isn’t is an absolute travesty. Francis and the Raiders’ Dave Casper changed how teams used the tight end position.
This will be displayed in our Sunday posts until it happens. Casper is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Francis’ numbers stand up well against Casper’s, yet he isn’t even in the team’s HOF.
Can the Patriots make it 10 games in a row before hitting their bye week? Entering the bye at 11-2 would put them in great position for their stretch run to secure the division and a top AFC seed.
But the Giants, despite their 2-10 record present a tougher matchup than their record would indicate. Especially with the offensive and defensive lines banged up right now.
So, let’s quickly get to the matchups.
The Patriots’ running game struggled badly against an awful Cincinnati run defense last week. This week, they’re facing a Giants run defense that is even worse. The Giants are allowing 157.2 yards per game on the ground, the worst in the league, and 5.9 yards per carry. When teams run downhill right at them, between the tackles, they allow a whopping 7.9 yards per rush.
If there is a good time for TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson to have big games, this is it. Of course, last week we said the same thing against the Bengals, and then they struggled.
I look for the Patriots to get the running game going enough to keep the play-action game going.
The Patriots’ passing game will have its hands full with a Giants pass rush that features edge rushers Brian Burns and Abdul Carter and interior pass rusher Dexter Lawrence. Burns leads the Giants with 13 sacks.
One would think that this group would be much more dominant than they’ve been thus far, but the entire left side of the Patriots offensive line is missing this week. With Will Campbell and Jared Wilson out, they’ll probably roll with Vedarian Lowe and Ben Brown.
The Giants play a lot of man coverage, and haven’t done a ton of blitzing, but they’ll watch the tape of Cincinnati’s Cover Zero blitzes and dust some of those off. Drake Maye struggled against that a week ago.
Next up is the Giants offense.
The Patriots’ run defense is currently the #2 unit in the NFL. They have allowed only 87.7 yards per game, but that number keeps increasing. The Giants run the ball well, averaging 124.5 yards per game, good for ninth in the league.
With Milton Williams on IR, and Khyiris Tonga banged up, the Patriots will have to be on top of their game this week. The Giants have Tyrone Tracy, Devin Singletary, and QB Jaxson Dart, who has seven rushing touchdowns this season.
However, Dart is just returning from a concussion this week, so they probably will try to limit his running this week. The Giants do miss Cam Skattebo who was placed on IR.
The Giants welcome back Dart, who has been able to make plays with his feet, extending them and scrambling for yardage. Against zone coverage, Dart is completing almost 68 percent of his passes.
Against man coverage, his numbers drop to 50 percent and just 5.7 yards per pass play. Look for the Patriots to play more man coverage and keep a spy (Robert Spillane or Jack Gibbens) in to stop Dart from gashing them with runs.
Wan’Dale Robinson is coming off a career best 156-yard game against the Lions. He’s outstanding out of the slot, and will match up with Marcus Jones.
Darius Slayton and TE Theo Johnson are the other big targets in the passing game, with Tracey out of the backfield, who is averaging nearly 10 yards per reception. It will be a good matchup with Slayton and Christian Gonzalez matched up.
The Patriots’ special te, Campbell suffered a reported sprained MCL in his right knee during in the third quarter of last week’s win over the Cincinnati Bengalsams units get a slight advantage here; the Giants have averaged better returns on kickoffs and have former Patriot Gunner Olszewski returning punts. But the Patriots counter with Marcus Jones, who has been quiet lately and is due for a big game.
Punter Bryce Barringer gets the nod over Jamie Gillan, while Andy Borregales has been excellent thus far in his rookie season.
The Patriots just want to get a win against a 2-10 team and get to the bye where they can rehab a bunch of hurt players next week. Style points are important here, and won’t be there for the taking.
This one should be close, the Giants have kept everything close lately. But they’re allowing an average of 30 points per game on the road. They won’t allow that much this week, but Drake Maye and the Patriots offense will score just enough for the team to head into their bye week at 11-2. Patriots 27-24
The Patriots and Giants are meeting on Monday Night Football, heading in different directions. The Patriots are 10-2 and currently hold the AFC’s top seed and the best record in the league. They are far ahead of their rebuild timeline.
The Giants are 2-10 and already eliminated from the postseason. Their defense, which they built to be one of the best in the league, has not performed the way they envisioned.
But it has the capability to take over a game if things go their way.
Let’s look at some of the players to watch from a Patriots’ perspective.
Drake Maye – Maye had arguably his worst game during the winning streak, despite passing for a career high in yardage against the Bengals. Everything seemed a bit off the mark for the most part.
The Bengals’ Cover Zero blitzes disrupted the Patriots passing game, this week, Maye will try to use play action and the quick passing game, to keep the Giants’ pass rush at bay.
TreVeyon Henderson – Henderson has been the guy with Rhamondre Stevenson out with an injury. This week facing a Giants’ defense that is porous against the run, Henderson has the opportunity to turn his speed into a big game on Monday night.
Although the Patriots have not been a good running team, they should have the advantage and Henderson will be looked at to provide the burst through the middle.
Marcus Jones- Look for Jones to line up against Wan’Dale Robinson in a speed versus speed matchup. Robinson is coming off a career high game against the Lions, and the Giants will want to get him the ball in space. He leads the Giants with 66 catches for 794 yards with three touchdowns.
Jones will have to bring his A-game to the table. Robinson was listed as limited in practice on Friday with an ankle injury but he will play and probably be good to go on Monday.
Vederian Lowe – The Patriots will be without Will Campbell for the next four games and Lowe, who was the starter at left tackle last season, will get the nod, at least initially to play left tackle for the next few games.
Lowe faces a tough task this week as he’ll get matched up with Brian Burns who leads the Giants with 13.0 sacks. The Patriots will probably give him some help with a tight end chipping or remaining in to double team him.
Kayshon Boutte- The Patriots would love to get the running game going and open up play action passing that would allow them to take some shots down the field. Boutte has been that guy this season with five touchdowns, including a pair of 39-yard scores.
One way to cure red zone woes is to hit a big play for a touchdown, and Boutte has been that guy for Drake Maye. Monday night would be a good time to reignite that deep ball connection.
The Patriots are trying to head into the bye with an 11-2 record, which would be incredible; however, with the injuries along the OL, it will be a difficult matchup. Most national pundits are picking the Patriots this week, except for CBS Sports, which has five of seven picking the Giants.
A rough start to the predictions this week. I’m surprised by Detroit’s record thus far. Dallas played really well to pull off the upset of KC, who continues to lose one-score games and is now 1-5 on the road. Good news for the Bills, the Chiefs’ loss helps their playoff seeding. Buffalo has a big game with the Steelers today. Pittsburgh can keep the divisional lead over Baltimore with a win. Expect that one to be a close one.
Not surprised at all with the Burrow effect on Cincinnati, as Lamar Jackson has been struggling the past few games. The Eagles’ offense needs a shot in the arm. They look too predictable lately. Another big game is Indy and Houston. With Daniel Jones attempting to play with a fractured fibula, going against that Houston pass rush, this will bear watching.
Now we’ll see how the rest of the schedule goes.
Thanksgiving Thursday Football:
Detroit over Green Bay 0-1
Kansas City over Dallas 0-2
Cincinnati over Baltimore 1-2
Black Friday
Philadelphia over Chicago 1-3
Sunday Day Games:
San Francisco over Cleveland
Jacksonville over Tennessee
Indianapolis over Houston
Miami over New Orleans
Atlanta over NYJ
Tampa Bay over Arizona
LA Rams over Carolina
Seattle over Minnesota
Buffalo over Pittsburgh
LA Chargers over Las Vegas
Sunday Night Football:
Denver over Washington
Monday Night Football:
New England over NYG
BYE WEEK:
None
Last Week 11—3
2025 Season 122—55—1
2024 Season 204—68
2023 Season 178—94
2022 Season: 178—92—2
2021 Season: 183—88—1
2020 Season: 169—86—1
2019 Season: 162—93—1
“Quite a bit. I think 57 of the 66 quarterback hits come from those guys up front. Three edge guys with [Brian] Burns, [Kayvon] Thibodeaux, [Abdul] Carter. Obviously what Big Dex [Dexter Lawrence II] can do inside and [Roy] Robertson-Harris. So, those guys are certainly impactful players that have to be accounted for every play. They rotate them through there pretty good, and so there’s a lot of juice there. There’s a lot of disruption..”
Mike Vrabel was asked what challenges the Giants defensive front present.
“Well, I think that that’s based on how many guys are in protection and what the coverage is, and not just getting rid of it, just throwing it into a team meeting and just saying, “Well, I got rid of it quickly.”
“I think it’s about understanding the intent of the play, where you feel like you’re protected and where you maybe aren’t when the ball has to come out on time. We’ve seen him transfer up into the pocket, keep two hands on the football and keep his eyes downfield.
“And then when we leave the pocket, we’ve got to make great decisions and remain a passer, but also understand that these guys are coming. We’ve seen a lot of hits at the sidelines from all the quarterbacks.
“Just better get out or get down, and if they’ve got a foot in bounds – we’ve seen some good shots by guys on the sidelines that have been called penalties and then picked up in replay assist because that’s what the rules are. So, to those defenders that are doing that – and they’re doing it legally – that’s what they’re going to try to do. So, we always have to be smart when we’re out of the pocket.”
Mike Vrabel was asked about possibly getting the ball out quicker this week, as opposed to having Drake Maye trying to extend it to make a chunk play down the field.
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“Somebody asked me what success looks like, and I said, ‘Yeah, you can judge it by wins and losses during the season, but success for me in the offseason is going to be that the players believe in what we’re doing, and they believe in the message, they believe in the teaching, and they believe in the connections that we’re making.’” — Mike Vrabel
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