Four Thoughts After the Patriots’ Monday Night Win: Elliss’ Hit Even Fired Up Vrabel
Follow us
Follow Us
🕑 Read Time: 7 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots News
HOME > Patriots Blog > Patriots News
Some thoughts coming off of the New England Patriots impressive 33-15 win over the Giants on Monday Night Football:
1) The biggest thing that stood out from this game was how amped out this Patriots team was, with Mike Vrabel’s defense setting the tone early in this one.
Christian Elliss made his presence felt from the opening kickoff, with Elliss laying a brutal hit on former Patriots special teamer Gunner Olszewski on the Giants first kickoff return. Harold Landry followed that up with a big hit on New York’s first offensive snap, while Carlton Davis came flying in on Dart’s first completion, wrapping up wide receiver Darius Slayton and sending him flying after he was wrapped up.
On that same play, the Giants didn’t seem to like how physical New England was in the early going, with both K’Lavon Chaisson and Corey Durden both scuffling with guys up front.
One play later, Christian Barmore was wrapped up by Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger, with it looking like Bellinger potentially should have been called for holding as he took Barmore down to the ground. But Barmore never gave up on the play and got back up and forced Dart to scramble out to his right before going into a late slide, which saw Landry fly in and give Dart a pretty good hit as the Giants QB was going down.
That play lead to a scuffle between Landry and right guard Greg Van Roten, who didn’t take too kindly to the linebacker’s hit on his quarterback. The Giants eventually punted.
But the biggest play of the night by the Patriots defense came on New York’s next possession. After Anfernee Jennings forced Dart to his right on a 2nd-and-13 play, Dart took off up the right sideline with Eric Gregory chasing him. However, Elliss had the angle and came flying in and instead of going out of bounds, Dart kept running up the sideline and didn’t make a move to give himself up.
If Dart was thinking Elliss might let up, that didn’t happen.
Elliss came in at full speed and absolutely leveled Dart before he could cross the first down marker, sending Dart flipping through the air right in front of the Giants’ bench.
Tight end Theo Johnson immediately went after Elliss, with center John Michael Schmitz Jr. wrapping up Elliss and dragging him across the sideline before things were finally broken up. Elliss wisely kept his composure and never engaged, and it was Johnson who was hit with the unnecessary roughness penalty. Marte Mapu then got a little redemption for Elliss, putting a massive hit on the next play on Johnson, absolutely leveling the tight end as the ball arrived and forcing the incompletion while driving him into the ground. That ended the drive and forced New York to punt.
But that hit by Elliss really got everyone going, and the defense kept its foot on the gas all night, with head coach Mike Vrabel noting that he even felt the energy after Elliss’ hit.
“I think I certainly did,” said Vrabel. “I think our fans did. I think our team did. Again, that’s a weekly reminder to our quarterback. We show him every week. ‘I wouldn’t get too cute over there by the sidelines.’ It happens every week. Christian is playing through the whistle, and as long as the player is in bounds, he’s going to try to hit him legally.”
2) Marcus Jones came up with a terrific punt return Thursday night that also gave New England some momentum and helped get things going.
The return came early in the game, with Jones capitalizing on the Giants first punt. After catching the ball at about the 12 yard line, his guys did a good job setting up blocks and Jones read it perfectly.
He slipped behind a nice block by Mapu before getting behind another by Miles Battle out to his left. Jones then slipped back inside and accelerated, with only punter Jamie Gillan left to try and stop him.
But Jones flew by as Gillan whiffed on the tackle attempt and at that point, Jones kicked it into high gear and was off to the races for what turned out to be a 94 yard touchdown return.
That fired up everyone in the stadium, while giving the Patriots a 10-0 lead.
The punt was Jones’ third career punt return for a touchdown and it also made Jones the league leader with the highest punt return average in league history, with the veteran finally qualifying after that play was his 75th career punt return. He also became the first NFL player to record two special teams TDs and a defensive touchdown in a season since Pacman Jones (2006).
Even better, Jones is just 27 years old and received a contract extension from the team back in October, keeping him in New England through 2028.
3) Drake Maye was absolutely terrific again on Monday night, with Maye looking poised from the start of this one and playing well throughout.
He opened the game with a 12 play, 49 yard drive that ultimately ended with a field goal, and then was a perfect 3-of-3 on the next drive, including a terrific pass to Hunter Henry up the right sideline that went for 36-yards.
That play was impressive because Maye initially was going to take the checkdown in the flat to TreVeyon Henderson, who was all alone, but Maye pulled it back and then fired it out to Henry for a 36-yard completion.
On the play, the defender came up on in anticipation of the throw to Henderson before Maye pulled it back, and then threw the strike to Henry. What was so impressive about the play was just Maye’s vision, and the fact that Maye’s so strong that he was easily able to make the throw downfield and get the tight end the ball in space. From there, the veteran tight end did the rest, making the reception and setting the offense up with first-and goal from the three yard line.
One play later, Maye lofted up a perfectly thrown ball to Kayshon Boutte for the touchdown, and just like that, New England was up 17-0.
Maye also made another terrific throw late in the second quarter on a touchdown pass to rookie wideout, Kyle Williams. On the play, Williams slipped by Giants defensive back Paulson Adebo, with Maye lofting another well placed throw that saw Williams make an unbelievable grab while managing to get both feet down for the 33-yard touchdown.
The second-year quarterback is becoming a nightmare to defend, because he can essentially put the ball anywhere on the field and make every throw.
It even left head coach Mike Vrabel at a loss for words when this one was over, with Vrabel giving plenty of praise to his quarterback.
“Drake is, I think he’s realizing what he can be and the impact that he makes on this offense and being the conductor,” said Vrabel. “He’s hard on himself. I think that he challenges himself as well as his coaches. He means a great deal to this football team and just being able to not get rattled and escape or pressure and find Rhamondre [Stevenson] or scramble. Then, when we do have time and he sees a guy win, he put a ball, great spot there for Kyle [Williams] to make a huge play or Kayshon [Boutte] down there in the red zone. A lot of third-down conversions. Again, very appreciative that he’s our quarterback.”
Maye ultimately finished the night 24-of-31 (77.4%) for 282 yards, with 2 touchdowns.
4) Rhamondre Stevenson saw plenty of action Monday night, with both he and TreVeyon Henderson helping New England’s ground game pile up 119 yards on 29 carries.
Stevenson finished the night with 12 carries for 40 yards, putting together several nice runs in just his second game back coming off the toe injury that kept him out from two weeks.
Still, the offense struggled in short yardage, with Stevenson getting stopped on several plays where they needed at least one yard and they just couldn’t get the push they needed up front.
With both Will Campbell and Jared Wilson sidelined, their problems running the football in those “gotta have it moments” remained an issue.
However, one thing that stood out was how solid Stevenson was in pass protection, multiple times handling guys and complimenting both Ben Brown and Vederian Lowe, who each did a great job in pass protection Monday Night.
Overall, Stevenson’s additional carries also took some pressure off of Henderson, who has handled the majority of carries in recent weeks and it gave him a bit of a breather as New England heads into its bye.
ODDS & ENDS: Maye would have finally hit the 300-yard mark Monday night, but a 30 yard touchdown pass to Hunter Henry midway through the fourth quarter was negated after Ben Brown was called for an illegal shift after not being set. That drive ended in a field goal, and it left Maye short of walking away with his first 300 yard game. Still, Maye made it clear he’s focused on winning rather than records or accolades as the club obviously won its 10th straight game. … Running back Terrell Jennings made a nice return on the opening kickoff while taking a pretty good shot as he ran it back. However, Jennings, who was running with both arms wrapped around the football, bounced off the defender and was spun around, only to pick up additional yards on what turned out to be a 39 yard kickoff return that put New England at midfield. He was later injured and was spotted going into the blue medical tent before leaving for the locker room. Jennings was initially ruled “Questionable” but was later downgraded to “Out” and didn’t return. … In addition to his shot on Jaxson Dart, linebacker Christian Elliss also put a pretty good shot on former Patriots returner Gunner Olszewski on special teams. The linebacker drilled Olszewski in what turned out to be a helmet-to-helmet shot that left the receiver dazed after the play, with a good portion of the Giants label on his helmet being torn on the hit. It also saw Olszewski lose the handle on the football, which resulted in a special teams turnover. The league isn’t big on helmet-to-helmet plays, especially given the state Olszewski appeared in as he came off the field. As a result, it will be interesting to see if the league fines Elliss this week over it. … The botched field goal attempt by Giants kicker Younghoe Koo left punter and holder Jamie Gillan in a tough spot, with Gillan getting blown up by Jeremiah Pharms for what at the time was scored as a 13 yard sack. The league has since changed it to a 13 yard rushing loss, removing some of the humor from a play that was certainly head-scratching. … According to NextGen Stats, Maye completed 6-of-8 passes beyond 10 air yards Monday night for 117 yards and a touchdown. He’s completed a league-leading 88 of those passes this season for 1,865 yards, which is over 200 yards higher than any other quarterback in the NFL. … Maye also tied Matt Ryan after finishing with his sixth game of the season completing at least 75% of his passes while also throwing two or more touchdown. Tom Brady holds the record having done it eight times in 2007, and Maye has four more games to potentially get there. Jared Goff is behind Brady with 7, with Goff’s total coming in 2024. … Chants of “MVP” were noticeable at Gillette Monday Night, although Maye continues to downplay his role and he’s just proud of his teammates. “I wish it was all me,” said Maye. “There’s a lot of people in this locker room, this organization that play a big role in us winning games.”
From our archive - this week all-time:
April 9 - April 24 (Through 26yrs)
Join 2,000+ fans getting exclusive stats, analysis, and insights delivered straight to their inbox every week. Never miss a play.
