Patriots vs. Giants: By the Numbers

Taking a closer look at some numbers that stood out from the New England Patriots 27-26 week ten victory over the New York Giants.

90.9%

Passing percentage for Tom Brady on throws targeted to Danny Amendola yesterday (10 for 11). For the year, the pair is at 83.3% (40 for 48). Amendola and Edelman are vastly different players, but it’s clear that Brady already has an immense amount of trust in Amendola, and the two are very much on the same page. That percentage will certainly decline as Danny’s targets increase, but it is a strong number to work off of.

2/9, 5 yards

Malcolm Butler’s cover stats following the touchdown by Odell Beckham Jr. on the second play of scrimmage. He finished with three pass break-ups, and was constantly smothering the Giants’ young star. Butler’s pass break-up in the end zone with just over two minutes left was perhaps the key play of the game and reminiscent of Sterling Moore’s break-up from the 2011 AFC Championship game.

3.18

Yards per carry that the Patriots allowed on the ground to Giants running backs. While the passing defense struggled, the run defense helped get the Patriots back into the game. As crazy as it seems, the Patriots may have benefited from playing behind. The Giants simply could not pick up large chunks of yardage on the ground to kill the clock. That’s not something that we had seen this year, but was an interesting twist. The Giants had just two rushing first downs the entire game.

6

Lead changes in this game. It was also tied twice. There’s just something about when these two teams meet… fortunately for Patriots fans, they were the team able to take the lead for the final time in this one.

20%

The Giants’ red zone efficiency on offense. The Patriots’ defense was able to hold New York out of the end zone the entire second half, which provided the offense enough time to get back into the game after the unit became stagnant following the Julian Edelman injury.

5