Patriots vs. Giants: Patriots Defense yet Again Takes over in Week 6 Win
Whoever said the best defense is a good offense may need to rethink their position.
The New England Patriots (6-0) faced off against the New York Giants (2-4) at Gillette Stadium for a brisk, fall Thursday night game, where the wind played a large part in the night's outcome. The Patriots came off the field with a 35-14 victory, largely due to the consistent defensive line.
The first touchdown of the game was made by the Patriots' special teams; a blocked punt by Brandon Bolden was snagged by rookie defensive end Chase Winovich, who ran the ball six yards for his first career touchdown.
The tone was set for the evening; the defense and special teams would be the reason New England would climb to their 6-0 lead and remain first in the AFC.
In the locker room after the game, Winovich talked about his first career touchdown, and the last time he had one.
"It was back in high school, so it’s been a while," Winovich said in the locker room via Ryan Hannable of WEEI. "I’ve been planning on throwing it in the stands for a while, so it’s kind of already been accounted for. I didn’t know the fine was quite so steep, but no regrets. The last touchdown that I had was as a runner, as a quarterback running the ball. I probably threw some passes as well, no big deal."
While New England's offense is worse for wear, the defense took to marching the ball up and down the field to collectively force one fumble and three interceptions. As the offense played a disjointed, nearly rhythmless game, the defense picked up the slack time and time again. Linebacker Van Noy’s recovery of Giants running back Jon Hilliman’s fumble in the fourth quarter sealed the deal for continuing the Patriots' historic defensive performance to start the regular season.
Defensive back and captain Devin McCourty spoke highly of the defense after the win.
“I think that’s where our depth showed up," McCourty said. When you get short weeks like this, it’s a lot of walkthroughs, it’s a lot of meeting time. Especially with this game, we weren’t 100 percent sure what they would do because all year they’ve had a lot of guys missing that were a big part of their offense.
"I think that’s a good thing about our team, how it goes down. Jamie [Collins Sr.] took over the huddle, [Ja’Whaun] Bentley comes in, like all of those guys have played a lot of football for us, so we don’t really miss a beat, but it’s tough. We’ve got guys in there that have played a lot of football for us but each guy knows when something happens, you’ve got to step up and be ready to go.”
The Patriots have some much needed rest until they face off against the New York Jets on Monday Night Football on Oct. 21. Hopefully by then the offense and the defense will be in harmony.
