New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman (11) runs the ball against Washington Redskins inside linebacker Keenan Robinson (52) in the second half at Gillette Stadium. During the final stanza, Brady found Amendola five times, including three times on the game-winning field goal drive. However, Edelman’s injury will definitely be a huge blow for them considering that he is one of Tom Brady’s most reliable targets.
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“It’s usually more of that situation that is more common, to have guys whose production in the play is a function of what somebody else is doing in the play – really team defense”, said Belichick. But the ball slipped through the arms of Hosley and went right to LaFell, who maintained his concentration to complete the catch.
Each of his teammates and coaches had the ultimate faith that even though the kick was far from a gimme, that the kicker would live up to the New England slogan of Do Your Job. And when they needed to get into field goal range, Amendola got the yards after the catch that the team needed. Osweiler came in for Manning in the third quarter against Kansas City and threw for 146 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
“They played great”, Brady said of a Giants team that sacked him three times. “We had our chances to win and we didn’t win”. His loss comes a week after running back Dion Lewis was knocked out for the season with a torn ACL; the Patriots have also been shuffling their offensive line to cover for injuries to Sebastian Vollmer, Marcus Cannon, Bryan Stork, Nate Solder and Ryan Wendell.
I said the Giants should get to Tom Brady, and they did. He is their Mr. Clutch at the moment, and with Julian Edelman on the mend, the Pats will have to lean on Danny a few more. He was certainly helped out by a dropped Landon Collins interception to start the drive, but Brady was calm and collected as he moved the offense down the field for the victory. There’s nothing that’s really seamless when you lose a great player.
Beckham may have come up short on that play, but the young receiver has been excellent this year.
Realistically, if prior to the game, fans of Big Blue were given a scenario where the NY Giants led the New England Patriots with under two minutes left in the game, they would have signed up for it right then and there.
However, it’s vital that the Bills, one, get to Brady before he gets rid of the ball, and, two, do whatever they can to keep him and his inexperienced pass protectors off-balance with a variety of pressure packages and line stunts that exploit the vulnerabilities of his protection. And the two showed impressive competitive spirit and sportsmanship throughout.
“I mean I caught it. I trust in my hands”, he said. “We’re both out there on the field, playing the same game we love, and both out there competing”.
“He’ll rough me up, and I’ll rough him up”.
“You’ve just got to try to figure out different ways to get it done”. To his credit, Beckham took full responsibility, not only for the play, but for the loss, in his post-game comments.
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There are many players who stepped up in a big way for the Patriots in this one, and I could name many stars who were incredibly important to this performance. He hit from 37, 38, 53 and 29, extending his team-record streak to 27 without a miss.
