"Boogeyman" Defense, Special Teams Dominant in Patriots' Win Over Giants

The New England Patriots are winning with defense. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

There is something refreshing about seeing the Patriots leaning on their defense, with a huge assist from their punt teams. Combined, they flip field position, ensuring that their offense enjoys decent field position. They have had this capability for a long time, well, at least as long as they've had Kyle Van Noy...

...adding Jamie Collins in the offseason and drafting wildman Chase Winovich, playing the edges in compliment to the heavies on the inside of what may well be the best linebacking corps in the National Football League.

Van Noy scores on a fumble return

On Thursday night against the New York Giants, the defense that collectively calls itself "The Boogeyman" put on a performance that should scare the rest of the offenses on their schedule as much as the legendary living nightmare little frightens children.

Van Noy raced for a touchdown with a fumble forced by Collins and Winovich returned a blocked punt for another score as New England's defense and special teams outscored the Giants' offense, combining with an erratic-but-determined Patriots' offense to run their undefeated record to 6-0 with a 35-14 victory over New York at Gillette Stadium.

As if that wasn't enough, the Patriots' defense also collected three interceptions of Giants' rookie quarterback Daniel Jones, who did manage to throw one deep touchdown pass to receiver Golden Tate for the Giants' offense's only score, a juggling catch over New England slot corner Jonathan Jones, who got a hand on the ball but not enough to knock it away.

The other New York score came on defense, a strip sack of Brady scooped up by linebacker Markus Golden and returned 42 yards to even the score late in the second quarter.

The Patriots' defense and punt return unit are actually outscoring their collective foes on the season 42-27, leading the league in forced turnovers and blocked punts while holding those offenses to an average of 4.5 points per game. Overall, opposing teams have scored 44 points in six games - an average of 7.3 points per game, but have found the end zone on offense just three times in that span...

...the first a one-yard Josh Allen run for Buffalo in week three, the second last Sunday on a 65-yard Steven Sims sprint at Washington and then a 64-yard pass from Jones to Tate on Thursday night, which happened to be the first passing touchdown given up by the Boogeyman all season.

The Giants found no real success on the ground, averaging only 3.2 yards per carry and had an equally tough time through the air, a combination of Jones's overconfidence in his arm and lack of receiving options. In fact, if one to omit his touchdown pass to Tate, the Giants' passing game totaled just 97 yards.

The Patriots' offense, despite having limited options of their own in the passing game, managed 331 yards through the air and 427 yards overall and held the football for a full two-thirds of the game, putting together six drives of over three minutes, four of those covering at least fifty yards.

Even so, New England's offense had a rough go of it early, moving the ball but unable to finish drives with points until running back Brandon Bolden found paydirt from one yard out halfway through the second quarter, set up by rookie receiver Jakobi Meyers' tough 23 yard catch - a gem considering that New England's offense had stalled in ugly fashion on their previous five possessions...

...but found their wheels after that, scoring twice in the second half on identical Brady sneaks, putting together long drives to dominate time of possession. The Giants ran just 18 plays in the second half while New England doubled that total and held the ball twice as long as New York.

To put the numbers into perspective, the Giants managed no sustained drives of three minutes or longer, just one of fifty yards or more (the quick-strike touchdown to Tate) and had no possessions lasting more than six plays. That kind of inefficiency kept the Giants' defense on the field for an astonishing 81 plays that eventually wore down New York's stoppers.

The Patriots will now enjoy ten days off before travelling to New York to take on the Jets a week from Monday - a much needed break to hopefully heal from their many injuries and to try and get the offense on the same level as the defense.

But that may never materialize, as the Patriots' offense has suffered attrition at every level of the unit and are now working on their backup facilities. Good thing New England has a dominant defense to lean on.

Good Stuff:

1. The more Brandon Bolden is incorporated into the offensive scheme, the more value to the team he displays. On special teams, Bolden's haunt for the majority of his career, he forced punt protector Nathan Stupar so deep off the line of scrimmage with an impressive bull rush up the middle that punter Riley Dixon's kick hit Stupar in the back, bounding sideways and right to Winovich, who gathered it in and scored easily from six yards out - while on offense, Bolden scored a touchdown for the third straight game.

2. Tight end Ryan Izzo is proving to be a decent checkdown weapon, showing solid hands and sharp route running - both of his catches resulting in crucial first downs. His pass protection and blocking in general are works in progress, but overall he is proving to be an asset.

3. Rookies Gunner Olszewski and Jakobi Meyers accounted well for themselves in the passing game after being elevated on the depth chart following a game-ending injury to Josh Gordon. Already without Phillip Dorsett, Gordon's knee injury promoted Meyers and Olszewski to numbers two and three, respectively. With injuries piling up like cord wood in the Patriots' pass catching corps - they also lost tight end Matt LaCosse early in the contest - the rooks figure to see more opportunities. Brady had no choice but to target them, and their performances have to give the goat a little more confidence in them.

Curious:

1. Why Daniel Jones seemed obsessed with picking on Stephon Gilmore is somewhat of a mystery. There could be no other reason other than Jones wanting to prove his mettle against the best corner in the league, but the results were predictable as Gilmore defended five throws, two resulting in Patriots' interceptions - one by Gilmore himself and one that he deflected into the waiting arms of linebacker John Simon. Chalk it up as a painful learning experience for Jones, who otherwise has the talent to label himself a franchise quarterback.

Not so good:

1. The New England kicking game continues to be a concern. Replacement kicker Mike Nugent provided some harrowing moments in grooving his extra point attempts barely inside the left standard, then nailing the same post with his lone field goal attempt of the night. To be fair to the embattled kicker was fighting a strong crosswind on all his kicks, with the added disadvantage of holder Jake Bailey facing the laces directly at Nugent on the field goal attempt. Belichick had so little confidence in the kicking game that he opted for three 4th and short running plays instead of sending Nugent on the field for intermediate-range attempts - resulting in disaster on two of them.

2. Gordon and fullback Jakob Johnson left the game with injuries. At present there is no word on Gordon's status other than the team "dodged a bullet" in that his knee injury doesn't appear that severe, but it has been reported that Johnson is headed for the IR, ending his season. That leaves the Patriots without a fullback, which is an essential element in their running game.