It’s not the Super Bowl or even Week 17, but the New York Giants once again stand in the way of the New England Patriots’ pursuit of perfection.
New England brings their flawless 8-0 record to MetLife Stadium Sunday in what appears to be a mismatch against the inconsistent 5-4 Giants.
New York, however, have mostly been an unsolved riddle for Patriots coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady dating back to 2007.
That season, New England went on the road to beat the Giants in Week 17 to cap a historic 16-0 regular season campaign, but it took a fourth quarter comeback in what was arguably their most challenging win all year to accomplish the feat.
The Patriots then went on to lose to the same New York team in the famous Super Bowl, ultimately falling one victory short of unparalleled perfection.
Four years later, the Giants shattered New England’s hopes again when they claimed a regular-season meeting to snap the Patriots’ 31-game regular-season home win streak with Brady in the lineup, before defeating them in the Super Bowl with another last-minute win.
While New York has had unprecedented success against Belichick and Brady and ghosts of the past remain, recent history shouldn’t influence Sunday’s encounter.
A major factor in those Giants’ wins was their ability to get pressure on Brady, who was sacked 10 times and often under duress in the four contests.
Though New England’s offensive line has dealt with injuries all season to deplete their depth, New York’s pass-rush has been underwhelming.
No longer boasting stalwarts like Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck on the defensive line, the Giants have managed an NFL-worst nine sacks.
“Different teams from those games,” New York quarterback Eli Manning said. “A lot of new faces on their team and our team. You can look at the way the game was called a little bit or just a theme to what was going on, but not much in X’s and O’s. It’s a game. We’ve got to go out there and play well.”
Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul has the talent to make a difference though and showed flashes of his 2014 form – when he registered 12.5 sacks – last week in his first game back since blowing off parts of his hand in a fireworks accident.
Unless they pressure Brady, the Giants’ defence, which allows a league-worst 429.4 yards per game, will struggle to contain the NFL’s top offence. Where the Giants’ unit does excel is in forcing turnovers as they’re tied for the most in the league with 20 takeaways (13 interceptions, seven fumbles).
Brady has lost four straight times to only one opponent in his career, the Denver Broncos from 2005-09.
