New England Patriots
The Giants are a bit more intriguing than their 2-10 record suggests.
The Patriots are back in primetime this week, playing their first “Monday Night Football” game in three seasons. But their opponent still might not be ready for primetime.
The Giants come into Foxborough with a record that’s inverse to the one the Patriots have, sitting at 2-10. So, Monday should provide a golden opportunity for the 10-2 Patriots to extend their win streak to 10 games.
But New York is a bit more intriguing than its 2-10 record suggests. So, let’s take a closer look at this Giants team and what to know about them ahead of Monday night.
Their rookie quarterback is back, and he’s pretty good.
Jaxson Dart will be back under center for the Giants when they take on the Patriots on Monday. He missed the last two games due to a concussion, taking a couple of hard hits in their Week 10 loss to the Bears.
Just like Drake Mayde did for New England last season, Dart has given New York some hope in a lost year. Dart has been one of the league’s top dual-threat quarterbacks, throwing for 1,417 yards, 10 touchdowns, and three interceptions while rushing for 317 yards and seven touchdowns.
In terms of Dart’s passing profile, he’s been at his best when he’s attacked the intermediate part of the field. He’s completed 56.1 percent of his passes 10-19 yards down the field for 417 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception with a 113.6 passer rating.
Dart hasn’t been afraid to air the ball out this season, either. His 8.7 average intended air yards per attempt is the seventh-best mark among quarterbacks who’ve started at least half of their team’s games, per Next Gen Stats.
Interim head coach Mike Kafka has been bold.
Shortly after Dart entered the league’s concussion protocol in their loss to the Bears, the Giants opted to move on from head coach Brian Daboll. They tabbed offensive coordinator Mike Kafka to be the interim and while he’s gone 0-2, it hasn’t been a terrible two games.
Kafka has helped the Giants play a pair of competitive games against respectable Packers and Lions squads, losing in overtime at Detroit last week.
And in Kafka’s two-game tenure, he’s already made a few brash decisions. His first move was to make third-string quarterback Jameis Winston the starter in Dart’s absence over second-string quarterback Russell Wilson. Even though Winston didn’t get a win, that decision seemed to pay off. Winston threw for 567 yards and scored four total touchdowns over those two games.
Earlier this week, Kafka made the decision to fire defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. That’s a rare move for an interim coach to make in the middle of their tenure, but Kafka asserted that it was his call.
As it pertains to Monday’s game against the Patriots, though, Kafka has been an aggressive play caller over the last two weeks. He notably ran multiple trick plays in the Giants’ loss to the Lions, running a double pass play for a touchdown before wide receiver Gunner Olszewski threw a touchdown pass to Winston.
So, the Patriots should probably be on alert on Monday.
The offensive talent around Dart hasn’t been great, largely due to injuries.
If it weren’t for injuries, the Giants might have had one of the more promising offenses in the league this season. But second-year wide receiver Malik Nabers tore his ACL in Week 4, and rookie running back Cam Skattebo suffered a season-ending ankle injury in October.
The offensive help beyond those two has been pretty lackluster. Neither of their other two running backs (Tyrone Tracy, Devin Singletary) is rushing for four yards per carry this season.
Wan’Dale Robinson has provided some promise at wide receiver, though. The fourth-year wideout has 66 receptions for 794 yards, ranking 10th in both. He also has 10 touchdowns. Second-year tight end Theo Johnson has also been a good red zone threat, logging five touchdown grabs.
As for the protection, the Giants rank 13th in pass-block win rate and 22nd in run-block win rate. Pro Football Focus ranks the offensive unit as the 15th-best in the league. So, it isn’t bad, but there is room for improvement.
The Giants might have one of the game’s best groupings of pass rushers.
The Patriots’ first game without Will Campbell will provide them with a tough test.
New York has a handful of pass rushers who can put Maye under duress on Monday. Edge rusher Brian Burns is second in the league in sacks (13). Rookie edge rusher Abdul Carter has 38 pressures (22nd at the position) and is 14th among edge rushers in pass rush win rate. Kayvon Thibodeaux has missed the last couple of games with a shoulder injury, but the edge rusher has 2.5 sacks this year after logging 17 sacks in the last two seasons.
Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence might be the best player of the group. While he doesn’t have a sack this season, Lawrence is often getting double-teamed and has still generated 25 pressures this year. PFF has graded Lawrence as the fourth-best pass rusher among defensive linemen this season as a result.
But their defense still isn’t that good.
Even with a pass rush that can put pressure on the quarterback, the Giants’ defense has been among the league’s worst this season.
New York ranks 30th in total yards (385 yards allowed per game) and scoring defense (27.8 points allowed per game) this season. The Giants’ defensive DVOA also ranks 29th, so it flat out isn’t a good unit.
That’s why it wasn’t much of a surprise that the team opted to move on from Bowen this week. The Patriots will hope to avoid the dead-cat bounce with outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen in his first game as interim defensive coordinator.
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