So, are the Giants the Patriots “Patriots”?
Teams that play New England appear to try too hard, make mistakes, forget to take care of the football. Yesterday, the Patriots had trouble with making mistakes and taking care of the football. Fumbles, dropped passes–though not as bad as in previous weeks, an interception on the goal line, penalties-mostly pass interference but also a penalty negated touchdown before the interception.
Sloppy work. They left a lot of points on the field. But in the end, New England managed to overcome that and more.
Edelman left at the end of the first quarter with a foot injury. Julian is their third down conversion machine. But that energizer bunny is out until, best guess, the playoffs. Great time to get him back but it makes it harder to get there with home field advantage.
Dion Lewis is done for the year after an injury last week and you could see the difference that made against the Giants. With Lewis in that offense options abound for play action and spreading out the opposition. Blount is great and he has his role but he’s not Dion Lewis. The offensive line is a patchwork of odd pieces made to fit unfamiliar roles and the defense is still missing key parts.
And the Giants are the Patriots ‘Patriots.’ Every team has their kryptonite.
New England did not do a great job of taking care of the ball but they managed to take care of it well enough when it mattered most. Butler’s touchdown stopping knock-away with just over two minutes left is the touchdown that wasn’t (after review) and forced the Giants to kick a field goal for a two point lead with 1:50 left in the game. That set the stage for Brady to work some magic, with seconds on the clock, in a quarter in which he accumulated most of his passing yards.
With a 4th and ten on their own 20 yard line Brady connects with Amendola for a first down that keeps the undefeated season alive. Brady then proceeds to move within field goal range by managing the clock and the short pass to give Gostkowski his shot-a 54-yard field goal with one second left on the clock. It’s up it’s good, Patriots Lead 27-26.
The kick off to follow results in an impressive display of keep away by the Giants but the Kryptonite is too far away ad the Patriots did not beat themselves–Game over.
At 9-0 the Pats share the undefeated label with the Carolina Panthers, who they will never meet unless both teams find a way to the Super Bowl, and the Bengals (who they could see in h playoffs). Whatever happens the Pats have to get there more wounded than when they walked in to Met Life stadium yesterday afternoon.
Edelman the receiving machine is offline for the balance of the regular season. That changes the focus of the offense leaving Blount, White, Dobson, Amendola, Gronkoswski, Lafell, Chandler etc., to pick up that slack. Given the state of the offensive line, this is not as easy and it should be. Even with a retooled offense strategy–never a problem for Belichick and company, one or more of these guys may need to keep the pressure off Brady as a blocker on passing plays making it harder to spread the defense. If play options isn’t as much of an option (absent a dynamic back like Lewis) that makes getting to the passer easier and more likely requiring more protection and on and on. They’ve won before minus a Dion Lewis so that adaptation is not a stretch for this team but it makes it harder for Brady to force opponents to believe they need to score thirty points to win, the kind of pressure that creates the sort of mistakes that add to New England’s on-field advantage.
Given all the injuries they will want to keep that advantage if they can.
Buffalo is in New England next weekend, where aside from the gimme game in week 17 last year the Bills have had their struggles in Foxboro. Rex will probably mess it up but it could be close. Then it is away to Denver where winning has suddenly become a problem for the Broncos (ala Green Bay’s collapse) but with a defense that is one of the best in the AFC if not the league. Philadelphia, Houston, and Tennessee don’t look like big threats but these are NFL teams with the potential to win on any given Sunday if you help them enough. Then it’s off to face the Jets in New York, a game slated as a tough end of season win, then further south to Miami for sunshine and cocktails.
Denver, the only BIG threat, appears to be wearing down a bit as the season drags on. The Bills and Jets both have the ability but have to get past the Patriot being their “Patriots.” If New England continues to deliver game plan solutions for every week’s problems and everyone just does their job then a playoff bye and home field advantage-the only goal that matters-is a done deal
But they need to take better care of the ball and Brady has gotten a bit more reckless with it. Yes, he is trying to help out is o-line by getting rid of the thing as fast as possible but that can’t result in wild throws, fumbles, and interceptions.
Every week opponents feel pressure to make a name for themselves as the king-slayer. Some will screw up but some will rise to the occasion. Giving them more opportunities to beat you will inevitably come back to bite you in your undefeated ass.
Having said all that, nice job guys. You beat the Giants. And you needed that.
Note: After publication I made a correction. I forgot the Bengals were still without a loss and edited the text to include them.