By Alex MacDougall
BU News Service
This week the Patriots took on a team that many fans would wish rather didn’t exist– the New York Giants.
While the team doesn’t play in the same conference as the Patriots (meaning they only play each other in the regular season every four years), fans are still haunted by memories of losing the Super Bowl twice to this team, including in 2007, when Eli Manning and the Giants dashed the Patriots’ hopes of an undefeated season. But that was almost 12 years ago, and the Giants have a new quarterback, Daniel Jones. It was time for the Patriots to put history behind them.
The game started off as a defensive struggle, with both quarterbacks trading interceptions with one another, and the first score of the game came from a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown by New England’s Chase Winovich. The Patriots would score again after a short drive following another interception, but the Giants would answer right back with a 64-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Golden Tate.
The Giants then managed to tie the game with another defensive score, this time a 42-yard fumble recovery after sacking Tom Brady. But the future hall-of-famer was unnerved, and responded by leading his team on a scoring drive to pull ahead before halftime.
The game would remain close in the start of second half of the game, with both teams continuing to commit defensive turnovers, and the Patriots missing a field goal and turning the ball over on downs. But with less than nine minutes remaining in the game, the Patriots began finally to pull away after the Giants running back Jon Hilliman fumbled the ball and was returned by the Patriots’ Kyle Van Noy for a touchdown.
Shortly after, the Patriots would score again, this time on a Tom Brady touchdown run, and ended up winning the game by a deciscive score of 35-14, bringing their record to 6-0 for the season. Brady also passed Peyton Manning, his old rival, for second all-time in total passing yards.
As the midseason mark soon approaches, the Patriots seem poised to go into it undefeated. Their next game comes Monday night against the New York Jets, a team the Patriots already soundly defeated once before, and then against the Cleveland Browns, who are, well, the Cleveland Browns. Unless a major upset in either game is to occur, the Patriots should find themselves with a perfect run for the first half of the 2019 season.
