Quick-hit thoughts on the Patriots’ 35-14 win over the Giants: Winning ugly is still winning

The New England Patriots survived their Thursday night game against the New York Giants. It might not have been pretty, certainly not from an offensive perspective, but it doesn’t always have to be pretty. You just need to score more points than the other guys and move on to the next game. And, although there are lots of things to talk about in this game, that should be the main point to focus on after the Patriots’ 35-14 victory.

They won, and moved to 6-0 on the season.

New England’s defense once again dominated its opponent. The Patriots did it a little differently than they have been doing so far, only sacking Giants quarterback Daniel Jones once all night. They did knock him down eight times, though, and also broke up nine passes, intercepted three, returned a fumble for a touchdown, and blocked a punt for another touchdown as well. Overall, they allowed 213 total yards, thanks in part to a 65-yard strike to Golden Tate, the first passing touchdown allowed by the Patriots all season. It took an absolutely perfect throw from Jones and a juggling Tate catch to beat Jonathan Jones for the long touchdown. The defense also only allowed 10 first downs, and kept the Patriots alive when the offense was really struggling in the first half.

About that offense: it was a struggle. Tom Brady had one of the worst interceptions I’ve ever seen him throw. There was no bad read or miscommunication, he simply threw it to where the defender was instead of where Julian Edelman was. Sony Michel looked okay at times running the ball, and seeing him continue to catch passes is a positive development. The biggest bright spot from the offense was the play of Jakobi Meyers, who had three fantastic catches (yes, I’m counting that 1-yard catch). His ability to make a tough catch in traffic was on full display, and, with some more time to work with Brady, could bode well for the future.

Overall, it was a shaky game from an offensive unit that was already missing some players, and saw another one of its key contributors go down: Josh Gordon got hurt while trying to make a tackle on the fumble return for a touchdown by Markus Golden. Let’s hope that the long layover before the next game is enough for him to make it back. Patrick Chung also left the game and didn’t come back. Chung was already banged up, missing last week’s game, and left with a chest injury.

Throw in the fact that Dont’a Hightower left with an injury too (let’s hope it was precautionary more than anything), and those are three key pieces to the Patriots’ success on offense and defense. If any of them are out long term, that could spell disaster for the team as a whole. For now, let’s just hope that they escaped Thursday night with the win and most of their health still intact.

Pat is a host of The Patriot Nation Podcast

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