New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots shined bright on Monday Night Football
New England took care of business in their matchup with the New York Giants — laying down a pretty significant beating on their way to a 33-15 victory that has them within one game of winning the AFC East.
I’ve got your takeaways:
Drake Maye is the 2025 NFL MVP.
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor essentially unlocked the door for him with their unfortunate performances on Sunday, and the sophomore quarterback kicked the thing off its hinges on Monday.
Maye finished with 282 passing yards and two touchdowns — bringing his yearly total to 3,412 and 23, respectively. Maye leads the NFL in passing yards, completion percentage (71.5%) and quarterback rating (112.3) — with the club’s impending division title all that is left to essentially seal the race in his favor.
If you haven’t gotten your tickets in now, it might be too late.
Maye’s early struggles have been a major theme throughout this series, but there have been slow improvements.
Maye put together his best opening drive performance of the season, which was aided by a heavy dose of Rhamondre Stevenson and quick concepts for Stefon Diggs and TreVeyon Henderson.
New England knows it can’t afford to play from behind, and is helping the second-year signal-caller settle in through schemed targets and an improving running game. Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels deserve a ton of credit for their role in that growth.
The Patriots lost two key attributes during their years-long playoff drought— speed and physicality.
TreVeyon Henderson and Kyle Williams have brought that speed element, having already been clocked as the franchise’s second- and third-fastest players since NextGenStats were introduced in 2018. Harold Landry III and Christian Elliss added the physicality on Monday — as both laid tremendous hits on Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart.
Elliss then added another bone-rattling hit to old friend Gunner Olszewski — knocking him out of the game and the logo off of his helmet.
It’s been a while since this team looked this good, and it starts with being fast and physical.
Williams hasn’t been the most efficient wide receiver on the team, but his raw talent has always been tantalizing enough for people to clamor for more playing time and more targets for the rookie.
The Patriots finally got him involved in the vertical passing game, and were rewarded with a wonderful touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone. Kayshon Boutte and DeMario Douglas have both come a long way and continue to develop nicely, and suddenly the young talent in that receiver room isn’t anything to shake a stick at.
*insert Paul Rudd gif*
Giants linebacker Brian Burns refused to return to the locker room at halftime.
If that isn’t taking someone’s will, then I don’t know what is…
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