FOXBOROUGH — What a night at Gillette Stadium.
For the first time since 2022, Monday Night Football came to Foxborough, with the New England Patriots hosting the New York Giants.
Considering the number of injuries the Patriots were dealing with, New England came out and lived up to the next man up mentality, with every player taking advantage of their opportunities. And it was certainly an action-packed game.
So, let’s get into the takeaways from the Patriots’ 33-15 win over the Giants:
1. Marcus Jones does it again
After the punt by the Giants on the opening drive, Marcus Jones picked up right where he left off. The cornerback caught the ball and proceeded to dodge past all New York players, taking it into the end zone for a 94-yard touchdown.
It was his third touchdown this season, with two punt return scores along with one pick-six.
2. Christian Elliss sends Jaxson Dart flying
Having been sidelined for two weeks, the hope was that Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart would protect himself better from big hits. But that was not the case.
In the first quarter of Monday’s matchup, Dart kept the ball and attempted to run for the first down, trying to stay in bounds despite a large number of Patriots defenders rushing right at him. As a result, Christian Elliss delivered a massive hit that sent Dart flying out of bounds.
But because of how far Dart went flying, Giants TE Theo Johnson retaliated and was flagged for unnecessary roughness. Meanwhile, the officials did a good job recognizing that it was a clean hit, not penalizing Elliss.
3. No Abdul Carter in first quarter
Giants star rookie Abdul Carter was missing in action during the first quarter on Monday’s game. He eventually did take the field in the second quarter, recording a zero-yard sack on Maye, but it brought into question why he was sidelined.
According to the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy, Carter was benched for “missing all/part of a team responsibility,” marking his second time in three games under interim head coach Mike Kafka.
4. An MVP pass from Drake Maye & an impressive effort by Kyle Williams
Maye continues to impress this season and had an incredible pass to rookie receiver Kyle Williams in the second quarter. The quarterback sent a perfectly placed ball to Williams, who made a nice effort to snag it and get two feet down in the end zone for a 33-yard touchdown.
Those “MVP” chants at Gillette Stadium only got louder after that.
5. Giants K Younghoe Koo completely misses the football
This was an interesting play to say the least.
Patriots punter Bryce Baringer shanked a punt, giving the Giants prime field position, and Dart got them into field goal position. Younghoe Koo came out to attempt the 47-yard field goal, but nobody was prepared for what happened next.
It appeared that Koo completely missed the ball as he tried to kick it, and as a result, the play was scored as a 13-yard sack for Jeremiah Pharms.
After the play, the broadcast showed Dart on the sidelines, who was seen saying “Oh my God” after this failed field goal attempt.
6. Red zone struggles continue (at the beginning)
On the Patriots’ opening drive, Drake Maye led the team down the field and got them into the red zone with a 1st and goal on the Giants’ six-yard line. But the red zone struggles were present once again.
Maye handed the ball off to TreVeyon Henderson for no gain, followed by hitting the running back for a two-yard pass. Afterwards, the quarterback targeted Diggs in the end zone, but the pass was incomplete, and with that, New England was forced to settle for a field goal. Including this drive, the team had made 42 trips to the red zone, but only came away with 23 touchdowns (per ESPN’s Mike Reiss).
However, New England responded at the end of the first quarter when Maye hit Kayshon Boutte for a three-yard touchdown.
But this issue was present at other moments throughout the game. Specifically in the fourth quarter, the Patriots were forced to settle for a field goal with less than three minutes remaining after Henderson’s run only went for one yard, followed by an incomplete pass to Hunter Henry and then a two-yard scramble by Maye.
Ultimately, the Patriots finished 1-for-5 in the red zone.
7. Patriots finally get an opening drive stop
They’ve finally done it!
While missing some key pieces of the defense, the Patriots truly lived up to the next man up mentality, and they didn’t miss a beat.
The Giants got one first down after Dart hit Darius Slayton for an 11-yard gain. But afterwards, Dart was sacked by Harold Landry for a five-yard loss, followed by a pass by the quarterback to Wan’Dale Robinson for six yards. On the third down conversion, Dart targeted Robinson once again, but only got two additional yards, forcing a punt.
8. Christian Elliss is leaving it all out on the field
Along with his huge hit on Dart, Elliss had another major play that forced a turnover. After Kyle Williams’ touchdown catch, Andy Borregales kicked the ball to Giants returner Gunner Olszewski. As he was running, Elliss delivered a big tackle that knocked the ball loose, and Elijah Ponder recovered.
9. Patriots show the Giants how a fourth down conversion is done
The Giants made an interesting decision at the end of the first half. They initially lined up to go for it on 4th and 1, but it was all just an attempt to draw the Patriots offside. Instead, they took a timeout, and New York decided to punt it away.
Considering they were down by 20 at the time, many were left wondering why this particular decision was made. And what made matters even worse was in their first drive out of the half, the Giants attempted to go for it on 4th and 6, and the pass attempt was unsuccessful, resulting in a turnover on downs.
So, of course, the Patriots had to show them how it was done a bit later, going for it on 4th and 6, where Maye hit Stefon Diggs for 10 yards.
10. Andy Borregales makes history despite iffy night
Considering the Patriots’ issues in the red zone, kicker Andy Borregales was tasked with adding numerous points to the Patriots’ total. And after his fourth made field goal of the night, which was a 23-yard attempt, he officially etched himself in the team’s record books.
Borregales now has 105 points in his rookie season, which is a new franchise record. It was previously held by Stephen Gostkowski, who finished with 103 points in his rookie year.
However, along with making four field goals, Borregales did have a bad miss with his 45-yard attempt, going wide left.
11. Drake Maye almost gets his first 300-yard game this season
So close, yet so far.
Drake Maye had an impressive showing against the Giants, but wasn’t able to quite get over 300 passing yards.
Maye finished 24-of-31 for 282 passing yards and two passing touchdowns.
Follow Patriots Wire on Twitter and Facebook.
