The New England Patriots’ smallest wide receiver is leaving behind a few pretty big shoes to fill.
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That left room for Brady, who hit Danny Amendola three times for 32 yards on the winning series. This is the fourth time this season Tom Coughlin’s team has had a win within its grasp and let it slip away – just like they did with Dallas, Atlanta and New Orleans.
Just as Stephen Gostkowski was lining up for his 54-yard game-winning field goal attempt, one of the passengers made a decision to get out his phone and record everyone’s reaction to the kick.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick during the game against the NY Giants at MetLife Stadium. And when they needed to get into field goal range, Amendola got the yards after the catch that the team needed. It was tough as it was, but it would have been an even tougher kick. In a great game they could have, they would have and they should have walked away victoriously.
-Quarterback Tom Brady knows that losing Edelman to a broken foot – the 100-catch machine reportedly underwent surgery November 16 for a Jones fracture suffered in the win over the Giants and will miss at least 6-8 weeks – isn’t something the Patriots will simply gloss over in the next-man-up-philosophy.
“Watching film and watching Brady over the years, this is exactly what he does”, said Ayres. “And on offense I thought we just did enough”.
Edelman’s absence though isn’t really the end of the world for the team, as Brady still has several options at his disposal, including Brandon LaFell and Rob Gronkowski. Danny (Amendola)’s role has been very different than Julian’s was for us. Amendola has 40 catches this season and he has already doubled his numbers from previous year and now has the chance to step up for the final stretch of the season for the Patriots. Hopefully at a few point we can get a few guys back. After that he was able to accomplish little against Butler, who has morphed from a Super Bowl hero into a legitimate National Football League starting corner.
Eli Manning completed 24 of 44 for 361 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions. And while New England did win the game, an injury to Julian Edelman left them with one fewer weapon in their offense. Excluding the 2011 season where he only played one game, all those marks were career-lows. And the two showed impressive competitive spirit and sportsmanship throughout.
I realize most people will say that I am drawing attention to this game because the Pats won. We saw that on Sunday – with Edelman out of the game, the Patriots became more predictable. “It’s kind of like being on a baseball team where everybody’s got a hit, and you can’t wait to get up there and get a hit, too”.
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Here are a couple other quick takeaways from the game.
