GEORGE: Patriots Say Bye To Everyone With Giant Win
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FOXBOROUGH – This was a weekend where most every good team in the NFL lost.
Detroit. Kansas City. Baltimore. Philadelphia. Pittsburgh. Indianapolis. LA Rams. All losers this Thanksgiving weekend.
The only good teams who won are Buffalo (they beat Pittsburgh, but they were ostracized for playing poorly in victory), Denver (who had to go to overtime to finally vanquish a very game Washington team Sunday night), and New England (who played on national TV Monday night and showed the rest of the NFL that the Pats are back).
So, of all the top tier teams in the NFL, only the Patriots did what they were supposed to do: lay an inferior team on paper to waste. Their 33-15 over the New York Giants on Monday night at Gillette Stadium sent a message to the rest of the league, especially the Denver Broncos, whom the Patriots leapfrogged over in reclaiming the top seed in the AFC with an 11-2 record.
The Patriots now finally get their bye week, which means that if Denver wins next week against Las Vegas out on the Strip, the Broncos will again tie the Patriots for the top record at 11-2 and once again claim the top spot in the AFC based on conference record (some will say it’s strength of victory).
All you can really do is worry about the team you’re playing, and the Patriots did their due diligence with the lowly Giants. It was 30-7 Patriots at the half, then the Patriots more or less coasted the rest of the way. The Patriots gave up two touchdown drives to the Giants which were a little hard to explain and featured mostly running plays, but in the end it was a classic mismatch and a nice layup win for the Patriots who expected nothing less.
The game was on ESPN, which meant that it was the former Fox #1 broadcast team of Joe Buck and (the Hall of Famer) Troy Aikman chomping at the bit to finally see Drake Maye ply his craft live and in person. Before the game, Aikman could not gush enough over Maye despite never really having seen him. During and after the game, both Buck (who really and truly is not a Yankee fan as most Boston fans think) and Aikman were believers just like all the other top network broadcasting crews who have seen the Patriots earlier in the year.
It was 17-0 Patriots after one quarter. The Giants ended their first offensive possession by punting after five plays. Jamie Gillian (more on this guy later) punted to Marcus Jones at the Patriot 6. He sprinted up the middle, then headed towards an alley down the left sideline. Buck yelled “This guy can fly!” as Jones began to tightrope the left sideline. Jones made it to the house. 94 yards, 10-0 Patriots.
The Patriots got the ball back on offense at their own 39. A 36-yard pass to Hunter Henry down the right sideline led to a 3-yard touchdown pass to Kayshon Boutte to make it 17-0 Patriots with a minute left in the first quarter. Maye threw a perfect lob toss over the head of defender Cor’Dale Flott and right into the arms of Boutte. Aikman was nearly going nuts over that throw and catch.
Give the Giants credit. They never gave up the entire evening. The Giants proceeded to embark on an 8-play, 62-yard drive capped off by a 30-yard screen pass over the middle to Darius Slayton where the Patriots looked like the Bengals in coverage. That made the score 17-7 Patriots and sent a message to the Patriots to not quit playing.
Two special teams plays doomed the Giants in the second quarter. Facing fourth and ten on the Patriot 29, former Atlanta kicker Younghue Koo attempted a 47-yard field goal, a kick he could make in his sleep while a Falcon. The ball was snapped, the punter Gillan held perfectly, Koo approached the ball, then wound up to kick. His right foot hit the ground before he hit the ball. Not knowing what to do, Gillan tried to cover the ball but Jeremiah Pharms covered the ball at the New York 42. The play went into the books as a sack of Gillan for a 13-yard loss. Koo never touched the ball, so it was not counted as a miss. Buck and Aikman said they had never seen anything like this, and chances are you haven’t either.
The other play was a bit more ominous. After Kyle Williams hauled in a 33-yard scoring toss from Maye to make it 24-7 Patriots, old friend Gunnar Olszewski took the ensuing kickoff to about the Giants’ 27-yard line. Olszewski was blasted by Christian Elliss, and the ball came out. Elijah Ponder recovered the fumble, leading to a 30-yard field goal by Andres Borregales. But Olszewski laid on the ground for several minutes until he was able to walk off the field, and he was obviously headed off to concussion protocol.
It was 30-7 Patriots at the half, but the Patriots could only manage a field goal in the second half (Borregales also missed a 45-yarder in the third quarter). Despite the Giants using a drive that featured former Bills running back Devin Singletary, the Patriots were never severely threatened.
Maye finished with 24 of 31 passing for 282 yards, two touchdowns, and a rating of 126.0. By game’s end, Buck and Aikman kept saying things like “MVP”, “#1 seed” and “way ahead of his years” in describing Maye. Looks like Maye convinced still another national TV crew of his developing greatness in this league.
Henry and Boutte each had four catches, but Henry led the Patriots with 73 yards. Eight Patriot receivers had double-digit receiving yard totals. TreVeyon Henderson led the Patriots with 61 yards rushing and a 6.1 per carry average.
Dart, meanwhile, had 17 of 24 passing for 139 yards, one touchdown and a rating of 99.1. Singletary had 68 yards on 12 carries and a 5.7 per carry average. Keep in mind that the Giants were without star WR Malik Nabers and rookie RB Cam Skattebo. Dart looked mostly very good Monday night, and looks like he has a much brighter future in New York than Daniel Jones ever had.
The Patriots finally have their week off, then they come back for the stretch drive. Their next game is December 14 at home against Buffalo, whom they beat 23-20 back on October 5th. Buffalo could exact revenge, but not if they play like they did Sunday at Pittsburgh and not at Foxborough.
The Patriots really have to just pay attention to their opponents. If both Denver and New England win out, Denver gets the one seed. If you watched Sunday night’s Denver-Washington game, the Commanders almost beat the Broncos. But right now, Denver still beats the Patriots in tiebreakers. Having this great season end in Denver would be tragic.
But we’ll worry about that later. Enjoy your week off, Patriots.
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