Knee Jerk Reactions to Week 12: Patriots vs. Giants

Things to consider while ending the holiday weekend finding yet another reason to give thanks:

--Oh, I'm thankful alright. For a lot of reasons. Not just because Chad Ryland shanking a 35-yarder moved the Patriots up into the rarefied draft air where you get to sniff Caleb Williams and Drake Maye. But also because he spared America from being subjected to yet another quarter of the modern art masterpiece of ugly football that was this game. And I'm grateful for the irony that hours later, Jake Elliot of the Eagles drilled a 59-yarder through a driving rainstorm to extend a great game between two talented, entertaining teams, which served as a reminder that Ryland's choke job was an act of mercy. While also drawing a yellow highlighter across the terrible decision to release Nick Folk (18-for-18 on attempts under 50 yards, 100% on extra points this season) and replace him with a rookie who is wholly unreliable. 

--But mostly I'm thankful for personal reasons. I not only knew, absolutely knew to a moral certainty Ryland would miss that easy kick like he'd already done so and I was watching the replay in my head, I was hoping for it. It's as if I willed it into existence. I had a deep philosophical discussion with my brother for over and hour on this subject. And we decidedt that not only are done with this year's version of the Patriots, we want to offer them up as ritual sacrifice. We're rooting for every ill to befall a franchise to happen to the 2023 edition of this one in order to appease the football gods so that they may grant us mercy going forward. Because either our 20 years of success or Bill Belichick's hubris in letting it end with Tom Brady the way it did has angered them. It's the most rational explanation for how things can be this bad, and how this team can find so many different and creative ways to shoot itself in the collective foot week after week after miserable week. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of New England, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Monday of November as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent pigskin father who dwelleth in the gridiron heavens. And ask they keep the suffering coming for six more weeks (shudder).

--It's astonishing that an offense can be so thoroughly inept in the modern NFL. But inconceivable that it could look as bad as it did given they had two weeks to prepare. I mean, what did the coaches and players do with the extra time? Travel? Get an early jump on their Black Friday shopping? Catch up on that Classic Literature Reading List they started during Covid but ended up watching Tiger King instead? I owe a lot of people apologies. Beginning with Cam Newton, of whom I used to say I liked everything about him in New England, as long as he wasn't trying to throw a football. Also N'Keal Harry, who at least had the excuse of not being a capable NFL receiver when he didn't produce. As opposed to say, Juju Smith-Schuster, who posted a stat line of 2 receptions on 4 targets for 10 yards and reportedly got into a screaming match with Troy Brown after Bailey Zappe's pass intended for him got picked off:

But more than them, I owe an apology to Matt Patricia. I put all my anger and frustration with Mac Jones last season on him. And believed that Bill O'Brien would come riding in on a Crimson Tide of understanding Jones and the systems he'd run and solve all his problems. And what we gotten is even worse. Appreciably worse, which I never believed was even remotely possible. Consider that the interception Zappe threw came on the same route, into the same triple coverage, as Jones' first pick:

Now feast your bloodshot eyes on Jones' spray chart:

Three attempts of 15 yards or longer, two of them incomplete and the other intercepted. Zero completions of 10 yards or more. O'Brien couldn't have been more conservative if he was running for office in Wyoming. He managed this game like the amendment legalizing the forward pass was repealed. On the second possession, a 3rd & 4 results in a checkdown to Ezekiel Elliot who has to fight for the 1st. Followed by a play action checkdown to Rhamondre Stevenson. The third possession feature another play action checkdown to Stevenson before the interception. The first play on the subsequent drive was a checkdown to Elliot for one yard. 

When asked to throw it outside the numbers, even in the 5-10 yard sweet spot, Jones got the yips. A simple out route by Mike Gesicki turns into a softball pitch from an Unlimited Arc rec league. A basic comebacker by Douglas sails wide. So the whole passing attack ends up being nothing but checks and WR screens.

--But then again, O'Brien may have had no choice. Mac Jones is broken. Perhaps beyond repair. He's jumpy. Skittish. Panics at the first sign of trouble. He's the reason Andy Taylor only let Barney Fife carry one bullet and he had to keep it in his pocket. Because when Jones gets spooked, he gets trigger-happy. On the pick he threw to Bobby Okereke, Isaiah Simmons came off the edge on a corner blitz, unblocked. Demario Douglas was in the backfield and not only didn't pick him up or even chip him, he never read the blitz and got his head around to be Jones' hot route. He simply sauntered upfield on his seam route. So that was bad play design, with no plan for handling a blitz-heavy defense. But there was no excuse for the throw that resulted:

… other than to repeat that Jones is broken. Shook to his core. A guy who can't be trusted to make smart decisions with the ball. A shell of the promising young Pro Bowler he was two years ago. This guy doing the broad gestures of a French pantomime artist to make sure everyone in Met Life knew it was Gesicki's fault he threw a pass into the Giants Gatorade bucket is not the happy, poised rookie who coolly and calmly outplayed Brady in prime time:

We can all have a healthy discussion about what caused his collapse - coaching, offensive line struggles, lack of targets - some other day. For now, we have to acknowledge that he's been pulled from four of his 11 starts, including the last two. And just out of common decency, he needs to be kept safe, warm, comfortable, and as far out of the starting lineup as humanly possible. For his sake, the sake of everyone around him, and of all those children who get exposed to enough terrible images on their screens without being subjected to watching a grown man collapse like a Jenga tower every Sunday.

--Which is not to suggest I think Zappe is the answer to our prayers. He put together a touchdown drive courtesy of some Douglas catch-and-runs and Stevenson power rushes, but it should be lost on no one that he's had every opportunity any backup could hope to be offered to take the QB1 job from Jones and hasn't. He's never outplayed Jones. Not in camp, not in practices, and not in the games where he's come off the bench. And don't fall into the trap of thinking that because he led a touchdown drive that the rest of the team play better in front of him or bring more energy or any of that claptrap. After Jones had played 30 minutes and Zappe 15, their stat lines were almost exactly 2-to-1:

So this wasn't exactly Pedro coming out of the bullpen in Cleveland in the 1999 ALDS. Zappe, like Jones, is a limited athlete who's only being asked to be a game manager who limits his mistakes and he can't accomplish that. But at the moment, he's the QB1 by default. The least bad option. The lesser of two feebles. And as in any election where the choice comes down to which candidate you dislike the least, it's the people who suffer. 

--And there are people on this team who don't deserve all this frustration. Lost in all this is how well they're playing defensively. They've allowed 10 points in back-to-back games, both on the road, and lost them both. Which hasn't happened in the NFL in 30 years. The secondary allowed a few chunk plays, for instance the Giants first possession when Jalin Hyatt was left wide open between the second- (Jalani Tavai) and third (Kyle Dugger) levels of their zone coverage for 29 yards.  And continued their frustrating habit of giving up 3rd & longs, such as the 3rd & 7 to Hyatt when JC Jackson got lost in the wash trying to trail him on a shallow cross to set up the Giants only touchdown. And Hyatt again beating Jackson on a 3rd & 15 Go route. But they more than made up for it with big plays, such as Jackson staying step-for-step with Hyatt to break up a deep Cover-1 beater sideline shot midway through the 2nd quarter. When your opponent touches the ball 12 times and score twice, with a turnover and eight punts, you should expect to fly home happy. But that's not this team's reality

--Particularly good was the Pats defensive front, which not only put a Denver Boot on Saquon Barkley, they generated the best pass rush they've had since losing Matthew Judon. They got to Tommy DeVito six times, and I'm not sure they've had six total sacks since Judon got hurt, which feels like eons ago.

-Davon Godchaux saw more snaps at nose tackle than I can ever remember. And he consistently stuffed a cork into the openings along the interior on either side of John Michael Schmitz Jr (his name is my name too). Christian Barmore continues his ascention, and is probably the best defensive player on the active roster right now. Just after the start of the 4th quarter, with the Giants backed up deep and facing a 3rd & 17, he shoved RT Tryee Phillips back into the pocket like he was Bambi on ice to flush DeVito out of the pocket and settle for a dumpoff pass that forced a punt. He finished with a sack, a TFL and batted a pass down at the line, putting him just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. 

--And it's been especially rewarding to see Keion White develop. He played just over half the snaps, mainly as a hand-on-the-ground DT, but ocassionally in a 2-point stance on the edge. In one sequence, just after DeVito's 41-yarder to Hyatt, White got his pads low and under Andrew Thomas for his first career sack:

Then on the very next play, came back upfield 8 yards to chase down Daniel Bellinger and tackle him from behind. Finally, Anfernee Jennings was probably playing the best ball of his career before getting hurt, with 1.5 sacks and a TFL. I'd shake my fist at the clouds and decry the misfortune that led to him getting hurt were it not for the fact I'm in that aforementioned frame of mind where I want all the bad things to happen. 

--Speaking of which, Demario Douglas continues to be one of the lone bright spots at the skill positions. Therefore, he might be cut down. And because the Patriots are objectively a terrible team, they draw the objectively worst officiating crews. How was this not flagged? 

Did they legalize the Clothesline tackle when we weren't paying attention? Like with DeVante Parker earlier in the year, what does the league think when a guy is removed from a game with a head injury on a play where his head was clearly injured with no call? Just a coincidence? Bum luck? I'm not complaining because I want Douglas back in the lineup. Hell, I'm content to let him ride out the rest of the season so he doesn't continue to do good, productive things that help his team win. It's just that if we're bagging the whole Player Safety is Our No. 1 Priority (registered trademark of the NFL, all rights reserved) thing, it would be nice to know.

--At least Pharaoh Brown answered the hit job on Douglas by pancaking Micah McFadden after grappling with him 10 yards upfield. He might not put up the hugest numbers, and was never even targeted yesterday, but there should be room for a third tight end with that much fight in him on your 2024 roster.

--This Week's Applicable Movie Quote: "All right, so he got shot in the foot, what is it, a big fuckin' deal?" - Tommy DeVito, Goodfellas 

--I can't believe there are six more games like this still ahead of us. At least it will give Mac Jones time to brush up on his communication skills for when he's doing the Alabama games on local radio. 

--I should end by saying I'm grateful to you for reading this far. And apologizing for ever believing this season would work out. Thanks, and please forgive me for being optimistic. It won't happen again.