Patriots-Giants film review: How Drake Maye led a dominant effort on Monday Night Football

Every year by late October preponderance of the NFL s contenders are known This year the Patriots were no exception The Pats soared to a - start and earned their contender badge with ensuing wins over the Falcons and Bucs Back then it was hard to argue with seven straight wins Now the Patriots are at in a row and almost every other contender has stumbled around them Bad losses are scattered around the league which has perhaps never been more wide open The Rams became the latest to fall last weekend losing as -point favorites in Carolina So where is the Patriots bad loss Nowhere to be determined Not yet anyway Instead of slumping into their bye Monday night the banged-up Pats put the Giants in a - headlock at halftime and held tight for an -point win Little about the ending was pretty but that isn t the point The Patriots brutalized their opponent in a way the only other AFC club truly competing for the No seed did not while facing another NFC East bottom-feeder Sunday night The Broncos winners of nine straight may not have a bad loss yet but they do not inspire the same confidence the Patriots are right now If there s any question as to why check the latest MVP odds There at the top you will find Drake Maye who led another dominant performance Monday night and bolstered his occurrence for the league s highest honor But he didn t do it alone See Marcus Jones punt return touchdown Christian Elliss bone-crunching hit and a inadequate unlikely heroes along the offensive line Here s what else the film revealed about the Patriots latest win New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye scrambles and throws during the second quarter of a NFL event against the New York Giants at Gillette Stadium Photo By Matt Stone Boston Herald Drake Maye -of- for yards TDs sacks Accurate throw percentage Under pressure -of- for yards three sacks Against the blitz -of- for yards TDs sacks Behind the line -of- for yards - yards downfield -of- for yards TD - yards downfield -of- for yards yards downfield -of- for yards TD Notes There seems to be no rattling him The Giants tried their best sending interior blitzes and then showing blitz before backing out to isolate their edge rushers against the Patriots offensive tackles Maye expertly handled both types of pressure making appropriate pre-snap checks and calmly navigating every pocket He finished without a single turnover-worthy play and beat the blitz with a passer rating in the face of extra rushers Best of all Maye was unbothered playing behind a backup left tackle and left guard focused only the plan and play and hand To that end he took what New York s defense gave him by firing quick accurate strikes His patented deep passes hit too majority notably on his -yard touchdown to Kyle Williams Maye willingness to spread the ball around to players like Williams four catches before Monday night prevented the Giants from effectively keying in on Stefon Diggs as the Bengals did a week earlier and helped the Pats exploit their best matchups on a down-to-down basis Eight Patriots finished with at least one catch Maye did invite one sack but avoided unnecessary punishment his counterpart Jaxson Dart took Major progress from a year ago This encounter was less about dazzling displays of arm strength and more command poise and football IQ a quarterback mature beyond his years whose enhancement is years ahead of schedule Critical areas Turnovers Patriots Giants Explosive play rate Patriots Giants Success rate Patriots Giants Red-zone efficiency Patriots - Giants - Defensive pressure rate Patriots Giants Offense New England Patriots wide receiver Kyle Williams celebrates his touchdown with Stefon Diggs during the second quarter of a NFL challenge against the New York Giants at Gillette Stadium Photo By Matt Stone Boston Herald Meeting plan Personnel breakdown of snaps in personnel of snaps in personnel of snaps in H personnel of snaps in F personnel of snaps in personnel of snaps in personnel of snaps in personnel Personnel production success rate in personnel success rate in personnel success rate in H personnel success rate in F personnel success rate in personnel success rate in personnel success rate in personnel First-down down play-calls run success rate run success rate Play-action rate One of Josh McDaniels best contest plans of the season started with a pass-heavy opening script filled with quick passes designed to alleviate pressure on his patchwork offensive line Swiftly that plan framed chosen of the bulk diverse tape this offense has produced all season with eight different personnel groupings including those with six offensive linemen and run-game wrinkles that featured one direct snap to Rhamondre Stevenson McDaniels diversified his protection plan by supplying help to both offensive tackles via chips double-teams play-calls with cut blocks and occasional misdirection Mike Vrabel s message to Patriots as they go into late bye week This file is auto-generated function d l use strict l querySelector d addEventListener undefined typeof URL d wp d wp d wp receiveEmbedMessage d wp receiveEmbedMessage function e var t e details if t t secret t message t value a-zA-Z - 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