New England Patriots
It will be a mistake for the Patriots to look previous the Giants.
Welcome to Season 14, Episode 13 of the Unconventional Preview, a severe but lighthearted, nostalgia-tinted have a look at the Patriots’ weekly matchup . . .
Drake Maye and the Patriots have an opportunity to increase their outstanding profitable streak to 10 video games — which might be the franchise’s longest since 2015 — in opposition to the Giants on Monday night time.
That probability is available in prime time (their first “Monday Night time Soccer” look since December 2022) and of their all-time sharpest uniforms (the Pat Patriot gear, clearly, worn from 1984-92).
The Patriots will look their finest in entrance of a nationwide viewers. However will or not it’s a problem to play their finest? Accidents have been mounting, with left tackle Will Campbell becoming a member of All-Professional-caliber defensive deal with Milton Williams on injured reserve this previous week. Subsequent week’s bye has been a very long time coming, and it will likely be welcome.
However they can’t look previous the Giants, who’re taking part in their third sport underneath interim coach (and transient onetime Patriot) Mike Kafka.
With fearless rookie Jaxson Dart (who has been in concussion protocol) or wild card Jameis Winston at quarterback, the Giants have had a reliable offense, even after shedding receiver Malik Nabers and operating again Cam Skattebo to season-ending accidents.
The protection has been dismal however can get after the passer. The Patriots ought to stretch that win streak to double digits. However the diploma of issue is increased than it will have been earlier than the infirmary began to refill.
Kick it off, Borregales, and let’s get this factor began . . .
Three gamers price watching aside from the quarterbacks
Brian Burns: Let’s simply say this isn’t the perfect week for the Patriots to have to show to 2 backups on the left facet of the offensive line.
Primarily based on his and his teammates’ response and postgame temper, Campbell’s knee harm regarded like a worst-case state of affairs when he was carted to the locker room in the course of the third quarter of the win over the Bengals. Seems he suffered an MCL sprain, which is much from the worst consequence however has landed him on injured reserve, that means he’ll miss a minimum of 4 video games.
Couple his absence with the probability that rookie left guard Jared Wilson misses just a few weeks with an ankle sprain, and the essential duty of defending Maye’s blindside falls to deal with Vederian Lowe and guard Ben Brown, who aren’t precisely the second coming of Leon Grey and John Hannah.
The Giants have received two video games, which means that they don’t do a lot of something properly. That’s principally true. Their offense has been sporadically competent, relying on who’s wholesome, however their protection has been porous, rating thirtieth total (385 yards per sport), and final in opposition to the run (157.2 yards per sport). During the last six video games, they’ve allowed a median of 30 factors, together with 34 to the Lions in an extra time loss final Sunday.
However one factor the Giants’ protection can do very properly, with consistency and ferocity, is get after the quarterback. Generally it looks like it’s the one factor it needs to do.
Burns, an out of doors linebacker finest identified round right here for surviving a Mac Jones low-cost shot when he was with the Panthers, has 13 sacks and 21 of the Giants’ 48 quarterback hits. He’s a menace to opposing quarterbacks, and he has assist from the likes of Kayvon Thibodeaux, Dexter Lawrence, and rookie Abdul Carter, who has only a half-sack however is second to Burns with 12 QB hits.
Andy Borregales: I’ve been kicking myself, so to talk, all week for failing to offer the Patriots rookie a salute in my postgame evaluate after his stellar efficiency in opposition to the Bengals.
So think about this a mandatory make-up name, in addition to a realization on why I missed his career-high 4 discipline objectives (in 4 makes an attempt), which proved important within the 26-20 win:
There wasn’t a lot suspense. I simply form of anticipate him to return by now.
That religion helps Borregales’s outstanding quantity of progress from the Week 2 win over the Dolphins, when he missed a pair of additional factors, the form of rookie kicker errors that may rapidly have followers pining for the Greatest Unemployed Veteran Kicker.
Since lacking the 2 additional factors in opposition to the Dolphins, the sixth-round choose has made all 31 makes an attempt. since. He’s additionally hit 19 of 21 discipline aim tries this season, lacking the primary try of his profession (a 40-yarder within the Week 1 loss to the Raiders) and a 45-yarder in Week 11 versus the Jets.
Borregales was named AFC special teams player of the week for his efforts in Cincinnati, when he made a 41-yarder within the ultimate minute of the primary quarter, a 45-yarder late within the third, a 19-yarder rather less than six minutes left within the sport, and most crucially, a 52-yarder with 1:51 to go.
The 23-year-old Borregales — who was born on Jan. 2, 2002, a month and a day earlier than Adam Vinatieri’s profitable 48-yard discipline aim in Tremendous Bowl XXXVI — has 90 factors this season. That places him properly inside placing distance of the Patriots’ rookie document, held by Stephen Gostkowski, who tallied 103 in 2006.
Stefon Diggs: By all accounts, the sometimes mercurial receiver has been a model team player this season, partly, I believe, as a result of coach Mike Vrabel and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels let him have his say. Diggs has been completely happy to see different receivers have their moments, they usually have — 4 totally different Patriots go catchers have had a 100-yard efficiency within the final 4 video games. Diggs was one among them, with 9 catches for 105 yards in opposition to the Jets. Given the Patriots’ downgrades on the offensive line, this should be per week the place his savvy route-running and skill to get open rapidly are of nice worth to Maye, who’s going to must rid of the ball in a rush for his personal sake.
The flashback
Nope, not diving into these two Tremendous Bowls in the present day. Yeah, these two, between these groups. You’ll be able to revisit these by yourself time, if it’s not nonetheless too quickly. (It’s nonetheless too quickly.)
As a substitute, let’s check out a, uh, significantly less-devastating matchup between the Patriots and Giants, one which occurred late in one other season when the Patriots ended up within the Tremendous Bowl.
On Dec. 21, 1996, on a cold (26 levels at kickoff) Saturday afternoon on the Meadowlands, the Patriots rallied from a 22-0 halftime deficit to beat the Giants, 23-22. The victory within the regular-season finale secured a first-round playoff bye for Invoice Parcells’s crew.
The Patriots pulled off the comeback with two fourth-quarter landing passes from Drew Bledsoe, who discovered his fastball within the ultimate body after spraying passes throughout East Rutherford, N.J., within the first half.
Trailing, 22-3, coming into the fourth, the rally started with a 26-yard landing strike from Bledsoe to rookie receiver Terry Glenn. That catch, which got here on third and a couple of with 12:20 remaining, was one among Glenn’s eight receptions within the sport, for 124 yards.
The second landing got here simply 1:11 after Glenn’s, when David Meggett returned a punt 60 yards for a rating, slicing the Giants’ result in 22-17.
The Patriots lastly seized the lead, the sport, and that playoff bye on what most likely was their final probability. With 1:23 left, Bledsoe fired a 13-yard TD strike to tight finish Ben Coates — who as normal caught the ball regardless of having a number of hapless defenders draped on him. Coates dragged two Giants the ultimate 5 yards to the tip zone, capping a comeback that delighted the younger Patriots.
“We’ve got the guts of a lion,” mentioned third-year defensive finish Willie McGinest. “We struggle. We struggle till our opponent is down and out. I’ve by no means seen this staff so completely happy. We’ve achieved each aim we’ve got down to accomplish thus far.”
It have to be famous {that a} significantly unsung Patriot (on the time) made probably the greatest catches you’ll ever see on the profitable drive. On third and 13 from the Giants’ 42-yard-line, Bledsoe fired a go over the center to backup receiver Troy Brown.
The go was behind him, and as Brown — now an offensive assistant with the Giants — reached again, he slipped, plucking the ball out of the air whereas on his again. 13-yard achieve, first down … and a play Patriots followers who noticed it dwell can nonetheless see clearly of their minds all these years later.
“No person is aware of who Troy Brown is,” mentioned Bledsoe. “However I’ve been saying all alongside the man can catch something.”
That certain was confirmed repeatedly within the years to return.
Grievance of the week
Each staff endures impactful accidents. Each participant does in some unspecified time in the future in a profession. As Vrabel famous Friday, “The harm fee within the NFL is one hundred pc.”
However it’s a bummer that one of many inevitable cruelties of their career is beginning to meet up with a number of Patriots.
As famous earlier, the accidents to Campbell and Wilson on the left facet of the offensive line are going to have some impact. It’s only a matter of how a lot. Particular groups ace Brenden Schooler acquired knocked out of the Bengals sport with an ankle harm. Khyiris Tonga, one of many free agent finds of the season, is coping with a chest harm, and the defensive deal with who moonlights very properly as a short-yardage blocking again was missed in each regards in opposition to the Bengals.
And Williams’s absence — he suffered a high-ankle sprain in opposition to the Jets — is perhaps essentially the most damaging of all.
Prediction, or if Eli Manning belongs within the Corridor of Fame, so does Jim Plunkett . . .
TreVeyon Henderson breaks a few lengthy ones in opposition to the league’s worst run protection because the Patriots draw back late. Perhaps they are going to even work out learn how to rating from the 1 this week. Patriots 34, Giants 24.
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