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Week 10 Patriots vs Giants Social Commentary: "The Giants are the Patriots' Ninkovich"

Social media was off the hook on Sunday's come-from-behind victory by the Patriots!

By Rich Hill
Elsa/Getty Images

Ronda Rousey lost. The Broncos lost at home. The Bengals lost at home. It was a weekend for upsets and it was a by-the-seat-of-your-pants victory by Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and the rest of the Patriots. It was a great win over the New York Giants and the emergence of Malcolm Butler as a legitimate #1 cornerback (and Logan Ryan as a fairly dominant #2 cornerback) can't be understated.

Y'all had fun with this game.

Apparently Jonathan Kraft, son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, was jawing off the ear of Roger Goodell prior to the game. Kraft said it had to do with digital media, of which Kraft is the committee head, but the communication seemed fairly animated. I don't know how worked up someone can get over Twitter.

Oh wait. Yes. Yes I do.

I think Bill Belichick has done his job as a football icon when he has Patriots fans glued to their screens to await the outcome of the opening coin toss. Teams aren't electing to receive the opening kickoff anymore, thanks to Belichick's trend, so the coin toss actually impacts the double-whammy opportunity around half time.

And yes, Ernie Adams' coin toss calculations must be malfunctioning, or he forgot to factor in the change in temperature, or the moisture, or the moon's impact on the tides, or whether Jupiter is in the fourth orbit of Neptune's heart. The Patriots are losing the coin tosses and I have to blame someone.

Two things on this one.

First, Rob Gronkowski really needs to keep his arms at his sides as he stems his routes. He's getting called 100% of the time he pushes off with an arm extension. They usually aren't even plays where he's the primary target and that hurts the rest of the offense. These are real penalties and Gronk needs to get it under control since his four offensive pass interference calls are double what the #2 player has.

And it doesn't matter that the officials aren't calling the push offs on other players. They're watching Gronk and Gronk needs to be aware that he can't give the officials any room to make that call. He needs to be more subtle.

Second, if the officials are calling these push offs on Gronk so tightly, why the heck are they ignoring all of the penalties that are happening every single time Gronk or Scott Chandler get down the field? Defenders aren't allowed to go through the receiver's back to make a play on the ball and they're bear hugging the Patriots tight ends well before the ball arrives.

Linebackers are pinning their arms. Safeties are hitting their head. Cornerbacks are riding their backs like children. Call it evenly, umpire. This is ridiculous.

Week 1 starting line-up:

QB: Tom Brady

WR1: Julian Edelman

WR2: Danny Amendola

WR3: Aaron Dobson

TE: Rob Gronkowski

RB: Dion Lewis

LT: Nate Solder

LG: Josh Kline

C: David Andrews

RG: Tre Jackson

RT: Sebastian Vollmer

Week 11 starting line-up:

QB: Tom Brady

WR1: Danny Amendola

WR2: Brandon LaFell

TE1: Rob Gronkowski

TE2: Michael Williams

RB: LeGarrette Blount

LT: Sebastian Vollmer

LG: Shaq Mason

C: David Andrews

RG: Josh Kline

RT: Cameron Fleming

So Brady, Gronk, and the rookie Andrews are the only real consistencies since the opening week. Hopefully no one else gets hurt.

I hate this I hate this I hate this I hate this.

From Jets fan, NBC Sports writer, and good friend Corey Griffin. Rob Ninkovich gives the Jets fits every single match-up, just like Jamie Collins lives inside the head of the Colts.

But in order to beat Ninkovich, you have to be Ninkovich and the veteran defensive end's sack of Eli Manning that forced the Giants out of field goal range was one of the most important plays of the game. Nink had a rough end to the 2013 season and he wasn't very good for most of the 2014 year, but he seems to have found some extra juice this year. He's playing as well as he ever has.

The pass interference calls against Malcolm Butler and Patrick Chung on third down were absolutely wild. You know it's a bad call when the receiver doesn't even look for the flag and kind of quietly just walks back to the huddle, like Shane Vereen did. These were absolutely bogus.

Alternate headline: The Patriots with the Pick on the goal line

He's the greatest kicker in the league and has been for almost the past decade. That's pretty crazy.

How did everyone feel when Gostkowski lined up? To be quite honest, I felt pretty confident. Anything within 55 yards and I think he has over a 75% chance of making it. Anything with 45 and I think it's a 90% chance. Anything else is automatic.

That's some serious comfort.

While Tom Brady was further cementing his legacy as one of the greatest competitors in the history of the league, his archrival was fading away into nothingness in Denver. I hate to see Peyton Manning as a shell of himself. In a game where he set the all time record for passing yards, Manning had no joy. He hated every moment of it and he knew that he was done. He's one win away from passing Brett Favre for all time wins, so Manning isn't going away until he gets that mark.

I want Manning to have a standard 200 passing yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception day. Those are under the radar, not good enough to win, but not bad enough to outright sink the team days. I don't like hearing that Manning is getting benched. Especially not against the Chiefs.

Oh. Oh no. The Broncos just lost to the Chiefs. Is their quarterback good anymore? Where's Trent Dilfer? DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY DUCT TAPE?!

Ugh. We'll just have to wait. Until then, take it away, Bill!

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