FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Giants finally looked like one of the NFL’s worst teams for a full game.
After a series of heartbreaking fourth-quarter blown leads that led to the firings of head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Shane Bowen and masked (to some) the larger issues at play, the Giants fit the mold of a tanker haplessly playing out the stretch Monday night in a 33-15 loss to the Patriots.
The Giants (2-11) allowed 30 points in the first half for the first time since the 2009 season finale, leaving a restless bye week ahead.
The Patriots (11-2) showed that the Giants’ hope of matching their one-year turnaround with a new coach and a stud young quarterback feels more like a pipedream than reality.
In fact, the only time that the Giants showed any real fight in interim head coach Mike Kafka’s third game at the helm was when Theo Johnson drew an unsportsmanlike penalty for charging into Christian Ellis after Ellis leveled a scrambling Jaxson Dart on the sideline.
Dart, who was making his return from a concussion and promised to be more judicious in the hits that he takes, tiptoed down the sideline while chasing a first down and gave Ellis the opportunity to get the clean shot.
Drake Maye (24-of-31 for 282 yards and two touchdowns) outdueled Dart (17-of-24 for 139 yards and a touchdown) in a battle of quarterbacks that the Giants coveted in the last two draft classes.
The home crowd chanted “M-V-P” at Maye.
