×
×
homepage logo
LOGIN
SUBSCRIBE

Patriots’ Thursday night trend should continue tonight

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Oct 10, 2019

Here we go, another Thursday night classic.

The worst played football usually occurs on Thursdays, and don’t be surprised if the New England Patriots and New York Giants follow that script.

So don’t expect a work of art from the New England Patriots, although a Giant defense full of holes should help them out.

New England is 12-4 on Thursday nights having won their last seven straight the short rest games (non-season openers).

“You’ve got to do a little bit of everything on one day,” Patriots running back James White said. “Try and know your opponent as best as possible, heal your body as best as possible so you can go out there and have a good performance.”

“I think the players have done a good job of trying to get rested, get treatment, get rehab and then be ready to go Thursday night,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said this week. “We certainly have a lot to get ready for with the Giants.”

No they don’t. The G-Men are hurting big time on both sides of the ball, and it doesn’t help that they’re poorly coached. The Daniel Jones shot of adrenalin has worn off, and this just feels like a boring Thursday nighter.

The best attraction for this Thursday night may be the addition of Rob Gronkowski to the FOX studio show.

“He’ll be good, he’ll be good,” Brady said. “He’s been pretty good at everything he’s done.”

We can’t say the same with our picks after a second straight lousy 4-3 week. Here we go again:

PATRIOTS 40, GIANTS 13

Men against boys. It doesn’t help the Giants that they’ll be without their three best playmakers in Saquon Barkley, Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram. But the Patriots could be without their three best playmakers and still win this one with relative ease. But when Eli Manning comes off the bench for mopup duty in the fourth quarter, Belichick runs and hides.

CHIEFS 27, TEXANS 20

Hmmm, the Colts seemed to create a blueprint for beating Pat Mahomes and the KC offense – beat ’em up . Let’s see what old friend/Texans defensive coordinator comes up with. On the flip side, the Texans scored 53 with Watson throwing for over 400 yards. Much easier to do at home than on the road.

TITANS 20, BRONCOS 17

Bounce back game for Tennessee, but really, Marcus Mariota is not distinguishing himself at quarterback and neither is the rest of the Texans offense. But Tennessee overall is a better football team than Vic Fangio’s Broncos, even though Denver surprised the Chargers last week. Texans need this one badly.

VIKINGS 27, EAGLES 23

Minnesota and Kirk Cousins looked really, really good last Sunday. The disclaimer is it came against the Giants and their awful defense. But Minny does had a group of telented players around Cousins. Philly will have to adjust to playing a real NFL football team after picking on the Jets. Tough to do that on the road.

PACKERS 33, LIONS 17

Detroit’s good start was a mirage and now it’s back to reality for old friend Matt Patricia and his defense, which shouldn’t give Aaron Rodgers all that much trouble this Monday night at Lambeau. Pack seems to be back. You get a running game (Aaron Jones, 107 yards vs. Dallas) to go with Rodgers, and that’s trouble for opponents.

RAMS 27, 49ERS 23

A must win for the Rams, who have stumbled the last couple of weeks, giving up way too many points to the Bucs at home and then losing a game thanks to a missed field goal to Seattle. Jimmy G and the Niners are due for their first loss, especially with fullback Kyle Juszczyk, the key to their power game, apparently injured.

SEAHAWKS 18, BROWNS 15

Pete Carroll jumps at the end of this one as well after a Browns’ missed field goal at the buzzer. Richard Sherman’s criticisms of Baker on not shaking hands may have been a little misguided since he actually did, but Mayfield needs to clam up and play. He loves to talk the talk but hardly walks the walk. Sherman’ss right, this isn’t college anymore, Baker, and right now you’re losing more than you win.

LAST WEEK: 4-3

SEASON: 23-13

Tom King may be reached at 594-1251 or tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on Twitter (@Telegraph_TomK).

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

Interests
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *