It seems the Patriots and Giants were watching the LSU-Alabama game on Saturday night and found themselves so impressed that they decided to do an homage during Sunday afternoon’s game in Foxborough.
The score is 0-0 after 30 minutes with the game’s one scoring chance falling by the wayside when Stephen Gostkowski missed a 27-yard field goal wide left with three seconds to play in the half. This is the first game without any first half points this season, which is pretty surprising given the participants.
We figured the Giants offense would struggle with Ahmad Bradshaw, Hakeem Nicks and David Baas all out of the game, but even with all the injuries you would have thought Eli Manning would make some plays against a shaky Pats secondary. No such luck. Manning is 8-of-18 for 71 yards and the Giants have gained 117 yards overall.
The Patriots have done a bit better, 188 yards, but they have also looked out of sync for most of the game. Gostkowski’s miss blew one good drive, Tom Brady threw a pick on another trip into Giants territory and they’ve converted on just two of their seven third down tries. It’s the first time they’ve been shut out in a first half since 2006. Patriots owner Robert Kraft was at Saturday’s 9-6 LSU win, so perhaps he’s to blame for the total absence of points in this contest.
The MVP so far is Giants punter Steve Weatherford. He’s dropped five punts inside the 20, making himself a contender for this week’s honors as Special Teams Player of the Week and winning the prize for least likely standout player in Week Nine of this season.