This Week
The New England Patriots visit the New York Giants Saturday evening at 8:15 p.m. at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands of East Rutherford, NJ. It is the final game of the regular season and the Patriots are looking to become the first NFL team in 35 years to finish the regular season undefeated.
The Patriots are 7-0 on the road this season, 3-0 against the NFC East and 3-0 in interconference games. The Giants are 3-4 at home, 3-0 against the AFC East and 3-0 against the AFC.
Here are the rosters for the Patriots and the Giants.
The Line/Prediction
As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo Sports is Patriots -13.5. The over/under is 46.5.
My prediction is Patriots 35, Giants, 14 . Give the points and take the over. I am 9-6 against the spread and have called the over/under eleven out of fifteen times in 2007.
Tickets
The Giants are reporting the game as a sell out, although many Giants fans are selling off their tickets.
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here. Many times tickets are released in the last 48 hours prior to the game.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to have tickets and you are going to the game make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from The Weather Channel.
Due to construction on a new Meadowlands Stadium, unless you have a premium parking pass there is no parking available at the Meadowlands facilities. You must park in the satellite lots and take the shuttles to the game.
There is NO TAILGATING IN THE SATELLITE LOTS.
Here is all the parking info you will need for the game, this link includes directions to Giants Stadium as well as prohibited items. Here is a Giants Stadium seating chart.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
The NFL Network holds the broadcast rights to the game but is simulcasting it to the nation along both the CBS and NBC television networks as the Patriots try to become the first undefeated NFL team in 35 years. The play-by-play duties will be handled by Bryant Gumbel with Cris Collinsworth doing game analysis.
It is the first time a NFL game has been broadcast on three major networks simultaneously. Super Bowl I on January 15, 1966 between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers was broadcast by both NBC and CBS as both held rights to the game through their separate leagues prior to the merger.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.
It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak, Pete Brock and Andy Gresh and the pregame show at 5 p.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots radio call is available on Channel 126, the Giants radio call is available on Channel 123.
The game can be heard nationally on Westwood One. Don Criqui and John Dockery will call the game.
Last Week
The Patriots beat the Dolphins 28-7 at home to become the first NFL team ever to start a season 15-0. The Giants won on the road 38-21 against the Bills to improve to 10-5.
History
This is the 8th meeting between the two teams since 1970.
The Patriots hold a 4-3 series edge and have won the last three regular season games dating back to 1996.
The seven previous games in this series have been played in five different stadiums. They are Harvard Stadium, the Yale Bowl, Giants Stadium, Foxboro Stadium and Gillette Stadium.
Connections
- Patriots head coach Bill Belichick spent 12 seasons on the Giants’ coaching staff, and was the team’s defensive coordinator for their victories in Super Bowls XXI and XXV.
- Patriots defensive line coach Pepper Johnson was originally drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 1986 NFL Draft. He won two Super Bowls and twice earned Pro Bowl honors during his career with New York, which spanned from 1986-92.
- Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin was the head coach at Boston College from 1991-93 and also served as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at the Heights (1981-83). Coughlin was also the wide receivers coach on the Giants’ coaching staff while Bill Belichick was also on New York’s staff (1988-90).
- Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride is a native of New Haven, CT.
- Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was born in Whitinsville, MA. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Springfield College, where he was a two-year starter at wide receiver. He was the defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach at UConn (1987-91).
- Giants quarterbacks coach Chris Palmer began his coaching career at UConn, where he led the defensive line and wide receivers (1972-74). He later served as head coach at Boston University from 1988-89 and spent four years with the Patriots – first as a wide receivers coach (1993-95), then as a quarterbacks coach (1996).
- Giants linebacker Zak DeOssie is a native of North Andover, MA. Zak is the son of Steve DeOssie, who finished his NFL playing career as a linebacker and long snapper with the Patriots in 1994 and 1995.
- Giants guard Grey Ruegamer played in 33 games for the Patriots over three seasons from 2000-02. He signed by New England on Nov. 16, 2000 and played in the squad’s Super Bowl XXXVI victory over St. Louis.
- Giants guard Chris Snee attended Boston College and was selected by the Giants in the second round of the 2004 draft.
- Giants punter Jeff Feagles, a 20-year NFL veteran, was originally signed as a rookie free agent by the Patriots on May 1, 1988. He was waived on May 24, 1990. Since he entered the league with New England, Feagles has not missed a single game, seeing action in a league-record 304 consecutive contests.
- Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas and Giants defensive end Justin Tuck are cousins.
Other News
This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Giants. You can also see what New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin had to say about the game in a conference call with the New England media.
This is Tom Brady’s 110th consecutive start. It is the third longest streak among NFL quarterbacks behind only Peyton Manning and Brett Favre. He is 85-24 in his career during the regular season.
Brady is 40-14 as a starter on the road in the regualr season for his career.
Here is the injury list for the game.
The Patriots are the first 15-0 team in NFL history. They have won an NFL record 18 consecutive regular season games dating back to last season. With a win on Sunday the Patriots would break the NFL record streak of 18 consecutive games the club set in 2003 and 2004. That was part of an overall 21 game win streak that set an all-time pro football record.
The 15 wins is tied with the 2004 Pittsburgh Steelers, 1998 Minnesota Vikings, 1985 Chicago Bears and 1984 San Francisc0 49ers for the most wins in one NFL season.
The Patriots are +15 in turnover differential.
Tom Brady has 48 TD passes just 1 from Peyton Manning’s record of 49.
Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss has 21 TD catches just 1 TD catch shy of Jerry Rice’ NFL mark by a wide receiver of 22 in a season.
The Patriots set the NFL record for most TD’s in a season with 71. They also set the NFL record for point differential in a season and are now +312 breaking the old record of +292 set by the Chicago Bears in 1942. To put this in perspective, with one week left 14 NFL teams have failed to score 312 points the entire season.
The team needs 6 points to set the all-time record for most points in a season.
Since Belichick became coach in 2000 the Patriots are 27-6 in December. They have won 13 of the last 14 games they have played in December.
With a win on Saturday the Patriots will become the 4th team in the 88-year history of the NFL to finish the regular season unbeaten and untied joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins (14-0), 1942 Chicago Bears (11-0) and the 1934 Chicago Bears (13-0).
The Patriots defense is tied with Tampa Bay for fewest points allowed this season with 239. They will attempt to finish the season in the top two of fewest points allowed for the fourth time in five years.
Since 2000, the Patriots are 19-3 in games played after Christmas Day. They are 12-2 in the post season and 7-1 in the regular season.
The Patriots set a franchise record last week in total net yards for a season when they finished the game at 6,190 through the first 15 games. The previous team hight was 5,965 yards set in 1978. The team also set a franchise record for most first downs in a season, they now have 366 first downs breaking the old record set in 1994 of 348.
Laurence Maroney’s 59 yard TD run was the longest rush by a Patriot player since 1998 when Sedrick Shaw ran for 71 yards against the New York Jets. Maroney averaged 11.1 yards per carry last week (156 yards on 14 carries) it is the 3rd highest average yards per carry in a game in team history with a minimum of 10 rushes behind only Sam Cunningham’s 11.4 set at Buffalo in 1974 and Larry Garron’s 11.6 set against the Bills in 1961.
News from this weeks opponent:
The Giants are in the playoffs as a NFC Wild Card participant and they have the fifth seed in the NFC. They will play at Tampa Bay next weekend. The Giants lost in the Wild Card round last season.
The Giants defense leads the NFL in sacks with 52, New England is second with 46.
The Giants are the Patriots second least frequent opponent that entered the league prior to the last round of expansion which began in 1995, with the entry of the Jaguars and the Panthers.
This is the Giants first regular season home game vs. New England since December 21, 1996.
The Giants are rated as the 15th best offense and 6th best defense in the NFL based on yardage. If you do it based on points which is a better indicator both the offense and the defense are ranked 14th in the league.
The Giants are -9 in turnover differential.
The Giants ended the Denver Broncos unbeaten season in 1998 when they beat them at the Meadowlands 20-16 on a last minute touchdown.
Next Week
The Patriots will have a bye week and they will wait to see who and when they play the weekend of January 12-13, 2008.
