Patriots eyeing 10th straight win in Monday night matchup against Giants
FOXBOROUGH Mass AP The Patriots have the best record in the NFL haven t lost in two months and have only a matchup with one of the league s worst teams standing between a th consecutive win and their bye week But that doesn t mean the Patriots - are taking anything for granted heading into Monday night s battle with the New York Giants - Part of the reason is that New England will enter the championship with two starters missing on an offensive line that has been of the league s durable stable this season Rookie left tackle Will Campbell left last week s win over Cincinnati with a knee injury that has since landed him on injured reserve Left guard Jared Wilson will also be out this week with an ankle injury The group of Campbell Wilson center Garrett Bradbury right guard Mike Onwenu and right tackle Morgan Moses have started of the first games this season The lone deviation from that quintet had been in Week when Ben Brown started in place of Wilson who was inactive with ankle and knee injuries We ve got to prepare the right way because this is a damn good defense and everybody knows it Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs revealed Everybody in the league has seen it They were just in a dogfight last week with a real good group It s going to be key for us being on the top of our challenge The Giants enter as losers of their last six but have revealed a little traction over two games under interim coach Mike Kafka The Giants coming off a - overtime loss to the Detroit Lions are also expected to have a limited new wrinkles this week after Kafta fired former defensive coordinator Shane Bowen and elevated outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen to the job on an interim basis Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart is also expected to be back after sitting out the past two games after suffering a concussion on Nov at Chicago Dart started the week still in the concussion protocol but was a full participant when the crew had its first walkthrough Kafka reported a final decision of his availability was still pending Giants receiver Wan Dale Robinson stated Dart has stayed in the mix while he s been sidelined He s preparing each and every day Robinson noted Even whenever he was informed that he wasn t playing he was still acting like he was preparing to play I just think that just goes to show his maturity and him just being a pro Familiar adjustments Vederian Lowe replaced Campbell when he went down against the Bengals with Brown again taking Wilson s spot They are both expected to fill those spots again on Monday with tackle Marcus Bryant also mixing in as needed The good news for the Patriots is both Brown and Lowe have ample starting experience Lowe started games at left tackle last season and Brown logged starts at center in after David Andrews went on injured reserve Bryant has appeared in all games this season It s not the same five but it s five we ve been working together all year Bradbury declared It s not panic It s just move on next man up Art of the sneak There were several plays Patriots quarterback Drake Maye craved to have back in last week s - win over the Bengals One was failing on a third-down quarterback sneak with the Patriots leading - early in the fourth quarter They wound up getting a -yard field goal but Maye declared that can t be the norm I ve got to find a way to get in that s the biggest thing I wouldn t say it s art It s a mentality Maye commented If I ve got to flip the switch or I ll do various smelling salts or do something I think you try to get in the end zone on the I ve been fruitful sometimes this year on QB sneaks I did a lot of them in college on the -yardline Just have to find a way Giants have tied a dubious NFL record for blowing leads The Giants led Detroit - with minutes left last weekend and lost - in overtime That tied the NFL single-season record with five defeats when leading by or more points and led to the firing of Bowen Linebacker Brian Burns reported he and his teammates haven t stepped up in specific of the moments that mattered preponderance It was one play here one play there Burns declared citing long touchdown runs by Jahmyr Gibbs You ve got to be tight on all cylinders playing a guy that dynamic That s where we failed in that aspect and those critical downs and that s what we have to be better at The offensive line has been one of the sparse bright spots for New York For everything that has gone wrong with the Giants this season their offensive line has exceeded expectations Journeyman quarterback Jameis Winston who started in place of Dart the past two weeks was not sacked by the Lions until the final play of the meeting and that has paved the way for a rushing offense that now ranks ninth in the league We re physical up front I think we use good technique and I would say we re pretty athletic left tackle Andrew Thomas noted We have a veteran group and getting more snaps together just watching film getting more practice reps I think it helps us
