MORSE: Clearing the Notepad From Patriots Win Over the Giants
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Here are some more observations after getting a few hours of sleep after the late game.
The Patriots Offensive Line blocking was excellent all night. The Giants were credited with 3 sacks. However, Abdul Carter’s sack was for zero yards, which meant that Maye got back to the line of scrimmage. Carter should not have been credited with a sack. The second was an all-out blitz in which Ben Brown and Garrett Bradbury double-teamed Nose Tackle Dexter Lawrence, allowing a free rusher.
| Season | Cincinnati Bay Game | Season Stats | ||||||
| Overall | Offense | Pass Blck | Run Blck | Sacks | QB Hits | Hurries | Pressure | |
| Campbell | 71.4 28 | 63.4 | 86.5 | 48.9 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 25 |
| Wilson | 49.8 68 | 59 | 70.6 | 58.9 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 22 |
| Bradbury | 58.7 31 | 58.8 | 62.1 | 55.1 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 18 |
| Onwenu | 70.1 18 | 78 | 73.8 | 75.3 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 18 |
| Moses | 69.4 31 | 72.5 | 80.8 | 64.6 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 21 |
| Lowe | 35.9 | 55.5 | 62.7 | 49.8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Brown | 62 | 53.6 | 59.5 | 51.7 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Bryant | 49 | 49.7 | 23.7 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Season | New York Giants | Season Stats | ||||||
| Overall | Offense | Pass Blck | Run Blck | Sacks | QB Hits | Hurries | Pressure | |
| Lowe | 55.3 | 68.7* | 66 | 61 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Brown | 67.2 | 73.3 | 60.9 | 74.4 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Bradbury | 58.6 | 59.7 | 58.4 | 59.1 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 19 |
| Onwenu | 73.9 | 77.5 | 76.9 | 73.5 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 19 |
| Moses | 70.6 | 63.4 | 61.3 | 62.2 | 1 | 3 | 19 | 23 |
If you do the math, the line was not responsible for any of the sacks. Abdul Carter was credited with a sack of Drake Maye when he scrambled up in the pocket and tried to run. Why did Carter get a sack when Maye got back to the line of scrimmage?
Lowe – 3 Hurries, 3 Pressures
Brown – 1 QB Hit, 1 Hurry, 2 Pressures
Bradbury – 1 Hurry, 1 Pressure
Onwenu – 1 Hurry, 1 Pressure
Moses – 2 Pressures
I didn’t agree with Ben Brown not being credited with a sack because of that unnecessary double team. I thought Lowe was outstanding going up against Brian Burns who came into the game with 13 sacks. Many times Maye had a clean pocket to throw from.
Evan Lazar had this stats after the game. On Drake Maye’s 36 dropbacks the Giants only had 9 pressures (25%). That is with two backup players on the left Side. Vrabel gave both Vederian Lowe and Brown kudos when he was addressing the team after the game.
On the other side the Patriots Defense had 40% pressure rate on Jaxon Dart.
What did Mike Kafka say that motivated the Patriots to come out of the tunnel on fire? Kafka basically diminished the Patriots Bengals victory and stated that the Giants would have beaten the Bengals handily. The Patriots physicality was very evident in this game.
Perhaps the Bengals are better than people think they are. Cincinnati beat Baltimore 32-14 and maybe the Patriots are better than their weak schedule indicates. Remember on any given Sunday (or any other day of the week they play) teams can lose. The Los Angelas Rams, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, and Indianapolis Colts all lost! Not the Patriots … they cleaned house and dominated the Giants.
Abdul Carter was benched by Mike Kafka for the entire 1st Quarter. This was the 2nd time Carter had been disciplined by Kafka for missing a walkthrough and being late for a team meeting. There were rumors before the draft that Carter was very aloof and not a team player. Further he was not a leader. Carter did take accountability for the incident after the game when questioned by the New York media. His will be something to monitor going forward, especially with a new coach coming in.
Maye and the Patriots played a near perfect 1st half against the Giants. Maye was 12 of 16 passing for 208 yards and 2 TDs. The Special Teams had a 40+ yard Kickoff Return by Terrell Jennings to open the game, followed by a 94-yard Punt Return TD from Marcus Jones, and a Forced Fumble by Christian Elliss with the Fumble Recovery going to Elijah Ponder on a Giants Kickoff Return.
Maye has 4 TD passes of over 30+ Air Yards, the most by any QB in the league this year. His deep passing proficiency makes his 71.4 Completion Percentage all that more impressive. He rufuses to be “Checkdown Charlie” and throw all short passes to make his Completion Percentage higher.
The Athletic (Chad Graff) has a new #1 Team in their Power Rankings – your New England Patriots.
Andy Borregales set a new team record for points by a rookie Kicker at 105. He still has 4 more games to add to that record.
The end of the 1st half drive was magnificent. The Patriots got the ball back with 1:07 left on the clock and the ball at their own 23-yard line. The 5 play, 67-yard drive started with a 7- yard pass to Mack Hollins. Maye followed that with a 15-yard strike to Pop Douglas. The big play was an all-out blitz with the Giants secondary playing man and having their backs to Maye. Rhamondre Stevenson snuck out to the flat and was wide open when his coverage man blitzed. The play went for 36 yards. Maye followed that up with a 9-yard pass to Pop Douglas. They called their last timeout with :02 on the clock. Borregales made the 28-yard Field Goal and they were up 30-7 and the rout was on.
As I mentioned earlier, Abdul Carter was credited with a sack, his 1st full sack of his rookie year. UDFA Elijah Ponder had one for the Patriots, his 3rd of the season. In my Patriots Draft Recap and Free Agent Signings article back in March I wrote about 4 UDFAs I thought could make the team. Lan Larison is on IR, CJ Dippre and Efton Chism are on the active roster. I wrote “EDGE Elijah Ponder [Cal Poly] is another interesting prospect. He had 27 sacks, 44 QB hurries and 43.5 Tackles for Loss in his career in the Big Sky conference. His Relative Athletic Score is 9.7 out of 10.” Ponder has 3 sacks on just 132 snaps played compared to Abdul Carter’s 637.
I loved the hit by Christian Gonzalez on Wan’Dale Robinson. Gonzalez came up quickly from a zone defense and nailed Robinson sending him flying. After the play Gonzalez was still upright and just walked over the sprawled Robinson. Gonzalez was the #1 CB in the league this week according to Pro Football Focus with an 86.1 grade.
Drake Maye has dispelled another question about him, whether he could play in cold weather. The game temp was 30 degrees at kickoff and dropped as the game went along. I was really impressed that Maye played the game sleeveless and without a glove.
Kyle Williams showed up with that 33-yard TD catch. He was pressed at the line by the DB and easily beat him down the sideline. Williams had 5-yards of separation and tracked the ball beautifully. I have watched the play several times and I am not sure it should have been a catch. However, the officials review every TD in the booth, and they determined he had his right foot down when he caught the ball. His left foot was clearly in bounds. His knew went out of bounds before he tapped his right foot in bounds.
Kayshon Boutte has really improved on passes that are considered contested 50/50 balls. The fade pass from Drake Maye on a two step drop from under center was a beautiful pitch and catch.
Josh McDaniels used 8 different personnel groupings in the game. Mike Kafka used only 4 different groupings. One was the wildcat with Devin Singletary at QB. He ran a fake reverse which he turned into a 22-yard TD. McDaniels used an unbalanced line with both Tackles on the right side of the line.
Recently signed OT Thayer Munford was active for the game and Marcus Bryant was not. That was a bit of a surprise, but when you think about it, Munford has started at both Left and Right Tackle in the league. Bryant, a rookie 7th round selection is strictly a Right Tackle. It appears that Bryant is being groomed to take over for Morgan Moses when he decides to hang up his cleats. Thayer was used as a Tackle Eligible, third TE in the game.
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Mumford. Someone said there was thought into him starting at LT over Vedarian Lowe, but Mumford had not been with the team long. I don’t recall whom said that, but I think it was the MNF crew. If so great, another solid backup the pats got for nothing.
Right on with Abdul Carter. To get disciplined once is fine, but to then repeat it 2-3 weeks later can’t be good. The camera panned in on him showing a hood up, sitting on the bench, not talking to team mates, and with a pouting look. Thank goodness we have Will Campbell.