Sportsnaut
As bad as the 2025 season has been for the New York Giants (2-11), it hit rock bottom on Monday night as they were thoroughly dominated and outclassed by the New England Patriots (11-2), 33-15.
The final score is not indicative of how much better the Patriots were than the Giants on Monday night. England raced out to a 17-0 lead with one minute remaining in the first quarter, and outgained New York for the game 395 to 239.
Drake Maye made a strong case for MVP with another strong showing, completing 24 out of 31 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns. His counterpart, Jaxson Dart, who made his return after missing the last two games with a concussion, completed 17 out of 24 passes for 139 yards and one touchdown.
It’s clear Big Blue has major issues and will likely be underdogs in their final four games. But these are the three biggest takeaways for their loss in Foxborough.
The biggest reason why New York trailed 30-7 at halftime was that their special teams were atrocious. On the opening kickoff, Terrell Jennings returned the ball 39 yards to the Patriots 47-yard line. Then, after New England’s defense forced the Giants to punt, they allowed Marcus Jones to score on a 94-yard punt return for the first touchdown of the game.
Then in the second quarter with Big Blue trailing 17-7 on a play that will be replayed all week, Younghoe Koo lined up to kick a 46-yard field goal, but instead of kicking the ball, he kicked the turf, and holder Jamie Gillian was tackled by Jeremiah Pharms Jr.
The miscues didn’t end there, as on the ensuing kickoff following a Drake Maye 33-yard touchdown to Kyle Williams, Gunner Olszeski fumbled the kickoff, which was recovered by Elijah Ponder. To make matters worse, the brutal hit knocked Olszeksi out of the game with a concussion.
It was as bad of a half as you will ever see from a special teams unit, and with the way New York has parted ways with coaches this year, you have to wonder if special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial’s job is safe.
Abdul Carter didn’t play the first quarter, and it was announced that this was a coach’s decision as per ESPN’s Laura Rutledge. Shortly thereafter, reports began to surface that the third overall pick in the draft was once again late to a team meeting.
This was the second time in the three games since Mike Kafka was named interim head coach that Carter has been benched to start a game due to being late. The first time occurred on November 16th when he was benched on the opening drive in the Giants’ 27-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Carter would enter the game in the second quarter and record his first full sack, and was credited with four tackles. But people have...
