From a Patriots team perspective, there wasn't much to take from this game as the Patriots' first-team offense played extremely conservative in the plays they called. As we reported on Thursday night, that likely had to do with the Patriots' fear of what Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale would throw at them — and those fears were confounded by the Giants' absurd blitz rate (54 percent). Bill Belichick doubted the Giants would play ball (simple plays, no blitzes) or perhaps he was even told by Brian Daboll that the Giants were going to run what they needed to. Belichick alluded to that the morning after the game.
"Well, with what the Giants were doing, there's a lot of reasons for some of the things that we did just to try to manage the game," Belichick said. "So, just leave it at that."
Translation: We might have been ready to run our starters out there to run some simple plays against a simple defense for a series or two, but we didn't think that would happen so we decided to hold them out. We wouldn't have been able to block what the Giants put out there on Thursday night.
So the Patriots put absolutely nothing out there schematically that is worthwhile talking about. They ran a few outside zone plays that weren't good, but it was too small a sample size to draw any conclusions.
So what are we left with from that game? Concentrating on how players looked and performed with their fundamentals, and it was very much a mixed bag.
Here are our pressure charts, plus/minus ratings and three up/down for both the offense and defense against the Giants"
OFFENSE
GB+/- are my tabulations on each play for impactful good plays, or when they didn't perform up to snuff. Obviously all an educated guess on my account. Dividing by plays gives a rough estimate on how impactful a play was or wasn't in their time. Don't compare players across their position groups, they should be grouped together and will as we get multiple games (QBs are judged different than OL and WRs in terms of how many plays they really impact).
QUARTERBACKS
Bailey Zappe held the ball all day despite a checkdown being open on his first third down out the end zone. He should have called for a safety. He never left the pocket. Overall, Zappe was largely a jittery mess and was made to look worse by all the Giants' pressure against a subpar offensive line. It wasn't all Zappe's fault, but it took him a while to settle down. Had him as a minus-5 in the first half, and even in the second half, so he did get better. Most of his best plays were fairly lucky back-shoulder passes, and his final touchdown was underthrown. He's got a long ways to go. I did think Zappe, as the game went on, reacted well to pressure and he adjusted the protection and routes nicely on the final touchdown. ... Brian Hoyer was OK. Threw a dime to Wilkerson down the sideline and the TD to Thornton was nice, but he had his share of poor throws. The top offense was basically the one play to Wilkerson.
RUNNING BACKS
Pretty no-descript game from all of them, just like training camp. Pierre Strong missed a block for a sack. Going to have to be a lot better there to get on the field.
RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS
Kristian Wilkerson just plays tough and feels like the perfect WR/special teams type player that stays on the roster. ... Tre Nixon had the two backshoulders but also dropped two balls. Needs to catch the ball with his hands more on those outs. ... Thornton was fine in his debut but he needed to fight back for that first ball, missed a block for a stuff and had a penalty. ... Lil'Jordan Humphrey was probably the best all-around player at receiver and had two broken tackles. ... Matt Sokol had tough duty as the only TE and he struggled with his blocking.
OFFENSIVE LINE
They played a lot of people at a lot of different positions so it was tough to get a real good gauge on any of them. ... Cajuste got off to a rough start with two missed blocks in the run game. He's just inconsistent. Looks great on a few plays, but then takes a wrong angle and whiffs. ... Don't ready too much into Cole Strange's rating. I gave him a lot of credit for seeing two T/E stunts coming, and that was generous. Still, not many rookies do that, so it was very encouraging to see him demonstrate that. In general, the goal was to make the line to block for less than 2 seconds on the first group. Tony Mazz could pass block for that long. ... The Bill Murray OL experiment is going to need a lot of time. Does show some toughness at times. ... Thought the best offensive lineman was Will Sherman, which surprised the heck out of me from what he's shown at practice. ... James Ferentz keeps improving. He used to be a total liability. He's solid now.
(Adam Richins for BSJ)
OFFENSE 3 UP
WR Lil'Jordan Humphrey: Played physical and gave the Patriots some pop on the outside.
WR Krisitan Wilkerson: Just a total pro on the field who can be counted on to do his job at all times. Rock-solid.
OG Will Sherman: Was tough and nasty at the point of attack, which was a departure from his slow camp.
3 DOWN
OT Yodny Cajuste: Wasn't terrible but if he's going to push for the starting RT spot, he's going to have to play more consistent in games when things aren't scripted.
OG Bill Murray: Looked like a converted DT playing on the line for the first time in a game.
QB Bailey Zappe: He was way too sped up early in the game and has a tough time letting things develop. Needs to show more touch underneath.
(Adam Richins for BSJ)
DEFENSE
GB+/- are my tabulations on each play for impactful good plays, or when they didn't perform up to snuff. Obviously all an educated guess on my account. Dividing by plays gives a rough estimate on how impactful a play was or wasn't in their time.
LINE
Sam Roberts and Josh Uche combined for a sack in 3.69 seconds which was more the result of good team defense. No one bit on the playaction or the bluff screen to the left side. Daniel Jones couldn't find one of the two scissor routes down the field and had to eat it. Good team defense. ... LaBryan Ray had a run stuff on his first play. He showed up a few more times and it was a good debut, building on what we've seen in practice. Will have to work on defending the run. Most of a sub rusher at this point. ... Roberts was way better in this game than he has been in practice since early on. Had six plus plays, including a half sack, a knockdown and three hurries. Had a few issues against the run, which is normal for a rookie. ... Anfernee Jennings built off his strong camp. Sometimes he wasn't really blocked, but very effective. ... Uche had a few pressures but he still looks soft on the edge against the run. That has to change or welcome to Winovich's Wayward Home for Only Sub Rushers. ... Ronnie Perkins was very weak against the run. He looks big in person but on the field he continues to look small and light.
LINEBACKERS
Mack Wilson showed his pass coverage limitations on back-to-back plays on the first drive of the second quarter where he allowed a third-down conversion and then got sucked up by playaction on the play where Terrance Williams forced a fumble. Wilson was lost and Slaton was wide open as a result. Wilson needs to show he's more than just a straight-ahead guy to get more time. Needs to diagnose quicker. ... Cam McGrone had an awful debut. Looked slow overall, overpursued and missed tackles.
SECONDARY
On the first third down of the second Giants series, Malcolm Butler got muscled off the line and then missed a tackle. Butler didn't pop much and he may be more handsy now than he was the first time with Patriots. ... Shaun Wade, who has fallen down the depth chart in practice, had a terrific game. Outside of one 17-yard play, always seemed to be in tight coverage and showed some nice ball skills. ... Jack Jones nearly picked off two passes. If that's his natural instincts in his first pro game, then look out. Needs to prove he can tackle in the run game, however. ... Joejuan Williams got twisted around on a touchdown and gave up a third-down conversion. Wasn't awful, but wasn't good.
DEFENSE 3 UP
ED Anfernee Jennings: Showed a lot of pop on his rush and may take Uche's spot.
DT Carl Davis: Was a beast two-gapping in this game and the Patriots need much more of that during the season.
DT Sam Roberts: Brought the pressure and held his own in the run game.
3 DOWN
LB Cam McGrone: Hopefully he's one of those who is just slow coming back from an ACL because he doesn't have nearly the quickness and explosion he showed in college before the injury.
LB Mack Wilson: His pass coverage needs a lot of improvement if he's going to get on the field here.
ED Ronnie Perkins: Had a few schemed pressure but his limitations on the edge in the run game are glaring.
Note: Will be providing some film in the next day or so.
