Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots crushed the New York Giants at home on Monday Night Football, winning their 10th game in a row with a final score of 33-15. It was a true team win, with the Patriots playing superior football in all three phases of the game.
Let’s get into our lessons learned from the game.
It was clear that the Patriots came out and played with a physical edge on Monday night. The guy leading that charge was linebacker Christian Elliss.
He had a bone-crunching hit on Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart along the sideline that got a big reaction from Dart’s teammates. He also knocked Gunner Olszewski out of the game with a hard hit on the kickoff team in the late first half, which forced a fumble; it was one of three tackles that he had on special teams. He also had a pass deflection to finish the game, which was very fitting based on how well he played.
Marcus Jones is now officially the best punt returner of all time, statistically speaking. He entered Monday night with 74 career punt returns, which left him one short of the threshold to be recognized in the official record books. His 75th career punt return was a pretty good one; he took the kick back 94 yards for his third career punt return touchdown and second of the season.
As a consequence of that runback, plus two more returns totaling 30 yards later in the game, Jones is now the all-time leader in career punt return average.
Jones is simply electric, and a threat to take the ball back to the house every time he touches it as either a punt returner or cornerback. Locking him down might end up being one of the best moves the Patriots made in the last few years.
I mentioned the punt returns by Marcus Jones and the fumble caused by Christian Elliss, but that wasn’t the only edge that the Patriots had on special teams. They also got a good return by Terrell Jennings on the opening kickoff, before he left the game with a head injury.
Andy Borregales also went 4-for-5 on his field goals (even though his miss was pretty bad). The best, and most hilarious play, however, came courtesy of Giants kicker and one-time Patriot Younghoe Koo. While attempting a field goal trailing 17-7 in the second quarter, Koo simply kicked the ground instead of the ball. Their holder had no idea what to do, and was taken down for a loss of 13 yards and a turnover on downs by Jeremiah Pharms Jr.
The Patriots were not perfect in the kicking game — Borregales’ miss plus a Bryce Baringer shank stand out as negatives — but they were still very good. Especially in the playoffs, the Patriots need every edge they can get. Being able to have an edge...
