Drake May passed for two touchdowns, Marcus Jones returned a punt 94 yards for a touchdown and New England Patriots became the first NFL team to reach 11 wins this season with a 33-15 win over the New York Giants on Monday night.
It was the 10th straight win for the AFC-leading Patriots (11-2), the franchise's longest streak since winning 10 straight games in 2015. Coach Mike Vrabel also became the third coach since 1970 to have a winning streak of 10 or more games in his first season with the team.
May completed 24 of 31 passes for 282 yards with no interceptions.
The Giants (2-11) lost their seventh straight game and third straight since Brian Daboll was fired. Rookie quarterback Jackson Dart returned after missing two games with a concussion but couldn't do much. Dart threw a touchdown pass to Darius Slayton and finished 17 of 24 for 139 yards. Devin Singletary added a touchdown.
Upon returning, Dart played in his usual style. After losing second on the team's second offensive series, Dart crawled to the New York bench and tried to tiptoe up the sideline to gain extra yards. This left him open to clean strike to the middle Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss sent Dart down the field hard. The tackle caused a short fight between several players. There were no flags for Elliss' tackle, but after discussion by officials, Giants tight end Theo Johnson was called for unnecessary roughness for his role in the postgame scrum.
Dart was not scored after the hit and remained in the game until the next game.
The Giants defense started the game well, holding the Patriots to a field goal on their first possession in their first game under interim coordinator Charlie Bullen. Bullen was appointed to the position after Shane Bowen was sacked 12 games into his second season.
It didn't last long.
Trailing 10-0 after Jones returned for a touchdown and made a quick three-and-out that included Ellis' hit to Dart, May used a 36-yard pass to Hunter Henry to set up his touchdown pass to Boutte. New England led 30–7 at halftime, marking the first time since Week 17 of the 2009 season that the Giants scored 30 points in the first half.
Giants coach Mike Kafka decided to bench Giants rookie linebacker Abdul Carter for the first quarter. This is the second time a player with the third overall pick in the draft has been benched for disciplinary reasons. He previously sat out the first series of New York's November loss to Green Bay.
The incident in the second quarter summed up the Giants' poor season. While preparing to attempt a 47-yard field goal, Giants kicker Youngho Koo got caught in the turf. and never missed a beat. Holder Jamie Gillan tried to get up and run but was tackled for a 13-yard sack by Jeremiah Farms. This wasn't the only New York special teams accident. Gunner Olszewski also failed to make a comeback late in the first half after being caught in a tackle by Marte Mapu and Elliss.
