Pats @ Giants First Half Thoughts

As the New England Patriots head into the break trailing 17-10 to the New York Giants, here are some thoughts from the first half of action.

Strong Start- The Giants won the toss and elected to deffer to the second half. That gave the Pats the ball to start the game. New England looked strong on their opening drive as they marched 80 yards down the field for a touchdown. Running back LaGarrette Blount did most of the heavy lift on the drive, while quarterback Tom Brady found tight end Scott Chandler in the back of the end zone for a one-yard touchdown to cap it off.

Edelman Injured- As the Patriots were driving deep in the Giants zone, to start the second quarter, wide receiver Julian Edelman came up lame on a third down competition. He appeared to have his ankle rolled up on by a linebacker as he was tackled on the play. Edelman left the game mid drive to be taped up and ended up heading into the locker room for further evaluations. He did not return to the field and is listed as questionable with a foot injury.

Second Quarter Rut- After scoring on a long opening drive and then charging down the field to end the first quarter, the New England offense struggled to get anything going in the second quarter. The Giants' porous defensive line started bottling up the run and the loss of Edelman in the passing game seemed to throw off the Pats' attack.

Struggling Secondary- The New England secondary, which has been the team's Achilles heal all season long, is doing is best job to lose the game so far. The problems started on New York's second offensive play of the game as top corner Malcolm Butler got torched by receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who caught the pass, avoided a poor tackle attempt by safety Devin McCourty and took the ball to the house for an 87-yard score. Slot corner Justin Coleman has been bullied by Giant quarterback Eli Manning through the first two quarters, getting beat at least four times and yielding a touchdown on a play he fell down on as well. Corner Logan Ryan was only targeted once in the first half but it was a big play as receiver Rueben Randle went over the top on the usually sound defender and made a big yardage catch. Going into the game, the only area that the Giants seemed to have the edge and ability to exploit was the match up between their receivers and New England's secondary and so far they're winning outright. New York receivers have accounted for 180 yards through the air so far.

Kicking Off To Start- New England needs to step up and make a big defensive stop as they are forced to kick the ball to the Giants to start the second half. They need to get the ball back to their offense early in the third.