There weren’t a lot of people who were hoping to see the Patriots and Giants play more than 60 minutes of football on Sunday and the football gods smiled upon them.
Patriots rookie kicker Chad Ryland missed a 35-yard field goal with seconds to play in the fourth quarter and that made the Giants 10-7 winners at MetLife Stadium. It also meant all involved were spared having to watch two dreadful offenses continue to flail around with little to no success.
The Patriots took over at the 50-yard-line after a good Miles Bryant punt return with a little more than three minutes left in the game and Bailey Zappe converted a fourth down with a pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster to keep the drive going. A Rhamondre Stevenson run moved them even closer, but Ryland’s kick missed by a lot and the Patriots are now 2-9 on the season.
Zappe replaced Mac Jones after Jones threw a pair of interceptions in the first half. He led the Patriots for a touchdown to open the third quarter, but got picked off by Giants safety Xavier McKinney to set up Randy Bullock’s go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick resisted making Zappe the starter after pulling Jones in the wake of his terrible Week 10 interceptions but this feels like it was probably the breaking point for New England’s patience with the 2021 first-round pick. He was 12-of-21 for 89 yards and Zappe went 9-of-14 for 54 yards, so it’s not like there’s a great choice to make either way.
Giants rookie Tommy DeVito was 17-of-25 for 191 yards and a touchdown to lead the Giants to a second-straight win. DeVito lost a fumble, but was still cleaner than his peers from the Patriots and he had a particularly strong connection with Jalin Hyatt. The rookie wideout had five catches for 109 yards on the day.
The Giants won’t play next week, so DeVito will get some extra time to enjoy his mom’s home cooking. The Patriots will have to get back at it at home against the Chargers.
