Patriots position grades from win over Giants in NFL Week 13

The New England Patriots are in a comfortable position heading into their bye week. Not only are the 11-2 and the owners of the best record in football, they also kept their 10-game win streak alive in impressive fashion on Monday night: hosting the New York Giants at Gillette Stadium, the team of head coach Mike Vrabel celebrated a 33-15 victory that was not as close as the final score would indicate.

The game saw plenty of impressive individual outings, but as a look at our weekly grades shows, it also was well-earned across the board.

Patriots position grades from NFL Week 13

Quarterback: The Drake Maye MVP campaign is officially back on. Against the Giants, in front of a national audience, the Patriots’ second-year quarterback played another impressive game. Lining up behind an offensive line introducing two new starters, Maye looked his usual calm self while spreading the ball around to eight different receivers. On the day, he finished with 24 completions on 31 attempts for 282 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also posted an EPA per play of 0.31 while hitting the 98 percentile with a +15.8 completion percentage above expectation. Regardless off opponent, this was a quality outing. | Grade: A

Running back: The Patriots did lose their third running back early in the game, but Monday was always going to be the Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson show at the position. The pair indeed looked good, with the former gaining 40 yards on 12 carries and the latter putting up 67 on 11. Both also contributed in the passing game, catching three passes apiece for 40 and 19 yards, respectively. And while Henderson gave up a sack in his lone pass protection rep, the overall body of work was a solid one. | Grade: B

Wide receiver: Drake Maye keeps spreading the wealth in the passing game, and his receivers are making the most of the opportunities they are given. Against the Giants, Kayshon Boutte led the group with four catches for 35 yards and a touchdown. DeMario Douglas, Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins each caught three of the passes thrown their way — gaining a respective 33, 26 and 23 yards in the process — while rookie Kyle Williams hauled in a 33-yard touchdown in the second quarter. It was another productive day for a group whose depth continues to be one of its best qualities. | Grade: A

Tight end: Hunter Henry continues to be one of Drake Maye’s favorite targets, and on Monday he hauled in four more catches for a team-leading 73 yards. While a 30-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter was taken off the board by offsetting penalties, the team captain continues to be a crucial and productive part of New England’s passing attack. He also remains heavily involved as a blocker, something that is also true for Austin Hooper. New England’s TE2 went catchless on the night, but he had his hand in New England going above 100 rushing yards on the day. | Grade: A-

Offensive line: Down left tackle Will Campbell and left guard Jared Wilson, the Patriots’ offensive line had an impressive outing against a talented Giants front. Drake Maye was pressured on one third of his dropbacks and sacked three times, but none of those takedowns can be pinned on the group of Vederian Lowe, Ben Brown, Garrett Bradbury, Mike Onwenu and Morgan Moses. Given the circumstances, you could not expect to ask for much more. And, yes, run blocking was more of a mixed bag — five Patriots runs were stuffed for either a loss or no gain — but this was a very promising outing. | Grade: A

Defensive line: Cracks had started to appear in the Patriots run defense lately, but the group had some solid moments against a Giants team willing to run the ball. New York still finished with 4.6 yards on 12 carries, including a 22-yard Devin Singletary touchdown run, but the physicality and competitiveness even without Milton Williams and Khyiris Tonga was positive. The same was true for the group’s pass rush. Quarterback Jaxson Dart was sacked twice and pressured on 36.7% of his total dropbacks. | Grade: B+

Linebacker: On the Giants’ second possession, Christian Elliss made clear that the Patriots came to play when he sent Jaxson Dart flying toward his own bench on a scramble attempt. The hard but legal tackle set the tone, and the rest of the team followed suit. As for the rest of the linebackers, they performed at a high level throughout Monday’s game. Marte Mapu also laid the wood at one point and broke up two passes, while Robert Spillane, Jack Gibbens and game day captain Jahlani Tavai all had good plays as well. An all-around encouraging effort, despite Spillane, Gibbens and Elliss all missing a tackle each on the day. | Grade: A

Cornerback: The Patriots’ top cornerback trio of Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones continues to operate on a high level. Against the Giants, that meant keeping everything underneath and relying mostly on zone. The results showed: outside of a 30-yard catch-and-run touchdown by Darius Slayton against an inverted Cover 2 defense, Jaxson Dart had a hard time pushing the ball down the field. When New England went to man, meanwhile, the Patriots’ cornerbacks dominated and finished with three pass breakups as well as limited damage allowed through the air. | Grade: A

Safety: While the cornerbacks played a strong game, the Patriots’ safety group was not quite on the same level. Make no mistake, the starting duo of Jaylinn Hawkins and Craig Woodson was still A-OK, but it did have some more ups and downs. That was especially true on New York’s first touchdown drive, which ended on the aforementioned Darius Slayton catch-and-run. On that play, Hawkins took a bad angle and missed a crucial tackle — one of two on the day for him. He also was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the previous play. | Grade: B

Special teams: Outside of Andy Borregales sending a field goal wide left and Bryce Baringer shanking a punt that ended up traveling just 22 yards, the Patriots’ special teams impressed against an opponent that could not get out of its own way. The biggest play, of course, was Marcus Jones returning a punt 94 yards for a first-quarter touchdown, but there were other good moments as well. The unit started off with a 39-yard kickoff return by Terrell Jennings, recovered a fumble on a Giants kickoff the second quarter, made four total field goals and three extra points still. It was not perfect, but it was certainly too much for New York to handle. | Grade: A-

There are areas for the Patriots to improve heading into the stretch run of the regular season and toward the playoffs, but they performed at a high level overall against the Giants. Sure, New York has been a disappointing team this year that already fired its head coach, but they still have plenty of talented players capable of making a difference. Against New England on Monday night, however, they could not — in large part because of the Patriots’ stellar effort in all three phases.

How would you grade the Patriots’ performance in Week 13? Do you agree with our assessment? Please head down to the comment section to discuss.