EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — The Patriots ended the preseason with a 22-20 win over the Giants. It wasn’t a great day for Cam Newton, while it was for Mac Jones and others.
Offense:
The Pats mustered a field goal their first time out, with Cam Newton, as Damien Harris led the team downfield but it became fourth down after two straight incomplete passes to Jakobi Meyers and Nelson Agholor. Nick Folk made his first field goal of the preseason, as Quinn Nordin’s struggles have seem to have lost him a starting kicker job.
Newton was unsuccessful in his second drive, as he was picked off by Blake Martinez just a couple plays in.
Mac Jones then took over, but Rhamondre Stevenson put them in field goal range as Jones was sacked on third down to set up a field goal. Nick Folk made it for his second completion of the night.
They punted on their fourth drive, and the fifth drive ended the first half after just two plays.
New England kicked off the second half on fire though, as a 27-yard pass from Jones to Wilkerson and an 18-yard rush by J.J. Taylor led them downfield, and Jones would hookup with Isaiah Zuber for a 17-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion was no good however, as Stevenson was stopped in his tracks deep in the backfield.
They followed that drive up with another touchdown, as it only took four plays to get into the end zone. A 30-yard pass to Devin Asiasi and an 11-yard run from Stevenson set them up nine yards away from the end zone. After an incomplete pass in the end zone that Zuber nearly hung on to, Jones handed it off to Stevenson for a nine-yard touchdown on the ground to put the Pats up 19-6, for Stevenson’s fifth touchdown of the preseason.
Brian Hoyer took proceeded to take over, as he completed a series of short passes before Quinn Nordin made his first field goal of the night to make it 22-14.
With 27 seconds left in the preseason, Quinn Nordin attempted a 54-yarder and missed.
STATS:
- QB Cam Newton (Starter): 2-5, 10 YDS; 1 INT
- QB Mac Jones: 10-14, 156 YDS, 1 TD
- QB Brian Hoyer: 9-10, 73 YDS
- RB J.J. Taylor: 9 CAR, 76 YDS; 2 REC, 13 YDS
- RB Damien Harris: 4 CAR, 29 YDS
- RB Rhamondre Stevenson: 5 CAR, 23 YDS, 1 TD; 2 REC, 17 YDS
- WR Kristian Wilkerson: 4 REC, 72 YDS
- WR Isaiah Zuber: 4 REC, 50 YDS, 1 TD
- WR Tre Nixon: 2 REC, 11 YDS
- WR Jakobi Meyers: 1 REC, 6 YDS
- WR Nelson Agholor: 1 REC, 4 YDS
- TE Devin Asiasi: 4 REC, 50 YDS
- FB Jakub Johnson: 1 REC, 2 YDS
Defense:
It was the pass rush that limited Daniel Jones and the Giants’ offense early, as the Patriots had five quarterback hits and two sacks (Josh Uche; Ja’Whuan Bentley, Deatrich Wise Jr.) after just two drives.
The Gmen worked their way downfield on their third drive, as after a penalty from Michael Jackson Sr., they were in the red zone. But on third down with just one yard to go, Daniel Jones tossed it right into the hands of D’Angelo Ross.
Mike Glennon led the Giants to a touchdown in the third quarter, after New York missed a field goal on the previous drive.
With eight seconds to go, the Glennon found Damien Willis in the end zone. Shaun Wade, who was covering Willis, failed to cover him as he fell down when Willis caught it. But, Wade made up for it, contesting the two-point conversion and forcing an incompletion to capture the 22-20 win
Notes/Thoughts:
- Deatrich Wise Jr., Matt Judon, Christian Barmore, and Ja’Whan Bentley, and most notably Josh Uche were all a force on the pass rush
- Josh Uche is likely setting himself up for a breakout year
- The pass rush is going to be legit this season
- Mac Jones continues to make the starting quarterback a question
- J.J. Taylor had another stellar day both punt returning and on the ground — hard to repeat last week’s fantastic performance
- Quinn Nordin will likely be cut after a strong start, but an ugly finish to his preseason/training camp
- Devin Asiasi showed what he can do
(Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)