Ahhh nothing like an implosion on Monday Night Football.

The New England Patriots know all about that. The last time they were on MNF, they couldnt decide on who their QB was with Bill Belichick telling us that was the plan all along to use both Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. The Chicago Bears laughed in the dense fog and said “Thanks” and left Gillette Stadium with their final win of the 2022 season.

It took the Patriots three years to get back on the MNF stage, and oh what a difference this time. They dictated all the terms in a 33-15 win over the hapless New York Giants, who after a plethora of close losses did what bad teams eventually do — they imploded. Think Chargers game right after Christmas for last year’s Jerod Mayo Patriots.

As Giants interim coach Mike Kafka, who now doesnt have a prayer in most eyes of getting the permanent job said, “It just wasn’t a great team effort.”

These Patriots don’t implode,they explode. Monday night they imposed their will. They dictated the terms. They literally pounded the Giants into submission. Hard but legal hits, one by Christian Elliss, pushed by Marte Mapu, that literally knocked Giants return man and former Patriot Gunner Olszewski out of the game. Another by Elliss near the far sideline that somehow Giants rookie QB Jaxon Dart survived.

“We focused on being aggressive and attacking and keeping that mindset,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said. “And I think we did.”

And as Vrabel noted, the Dart played was probably one for Pats QB Drake Maye to take note of in terms of self preservation. Did he look over at his QB?

“I don’t think he needed to,” Maye said. “You heard the hit from the sideline. I think everybody in the stadium knew.”

Everybody watching on ESPN did. The Patriots were on the national stage for the second time in 20 nights but this time with a normal schedule and preparation, they showed the world just how good they really are. They simply did what very,very good teams do. Beat up on the bad ones.

“I don’t know how many wins they’ve had,” Vrabel said of the Giants. “I know they get ahead, and they had Denver beat and had some other teams beat, put a bunch of points and yards up on Detroit and Chicago and all those other teams.

“I think it was about just being aggressive and attacking and trying to keep a competitive stamina throughout the game and a demeanor no matter what happened. And I liked the way we started and would like to have finished a little better. But we’re doing a lot of good things to help us win. And I know there’s some things we can do to continue to improve on.”

And now, after the 13th game, they rest while the rest of the NFL crash into one another.

“I think wanting to win before the bye, want to win every game,” Maye said. “Kind of don’t want to leave off on the bye on a bad foot home, Monday night game. It was important for us to play on Monday night and show up for our fans, and it was a game that we didn’t want to take lightly. I think the guys did that, proud of the guys for that. Bye week is huge. Felt like a long time coming, but we’re here, and we have some important football after the bye week.”

Thus a Monday Night explosion, not an implosion. What a difference three years makes? Try one year.

Absolutely incredible.