Few groups in all of sports activities are as intertwined because the Giants and New England Patriots.
Over the previous 4 many years, the Giants and Pats have battled in instant-classic Tremendous Bowls, employed the identical big-name coaches and, most just lately, sought the identical younger franchise quarterback.
Together with the playoffs, the groups have cut up their all-time head-to-head conferences, 7-7, with the Giants profitable the newest bout in 2023.
Earlier than then, right here’s a glance again on the historical past of Giants-Patriots.
BILL AND BILL
Lengthy earlier than he was main the Patriots’ dynasty, Invoice Belichick rose to acclaim as a Giants defensive guru working underneath Invoice Parcells.
Belichick was a part of the Giants’ defensive teaching employees from 1979-90, together with being their defensive coordinator from 1985-90.
Parcells was there for nearly all of these years, together with because the Giants’ head coach from 1983-90.
Collectively, Parcells and Belichick helped lead the Giants to victories in Tremendous Bowl XXI after the 1986 season and Tremendous Bowl XXV after the 1990 season.
Lawrence Taylor, Carl Banks and Harry Carson had been among the many all-time greats to thrive underneath the pair.
Notably, Tom Coughlin was the Giants’ huge receivers coach from 1988-90 and was subsequently additionally a part of the employees that received Tremendous Bowl XXV.
Parcells briefly retired after his second Tremendous Bowl win, solely to return because the Patriots’ head coach in 1993.
Belichick additionally left the Giants after the 1990 season, serving because the Cleveland Browns’ head coach from 1991-95 in what was largely an unsuccessful tenure.
He reunited with Parcells in New England for the 1996 season because the Pats’ assistant head coach and defensive backs coach. The duo helped convey the Patriots to Tremendous Bowl XXXI, the place they misplaced to the Inexperienced Bay Packers.
And whereas Parcells and Belichick each left after the 1996 season to hitch the Jets, Belichick’s one-year stint as a Patriots assistant helped him land their head teaching job in 2000.
“When Parcells left after the Super Bowl, we decided to clean house, and I met with Bill [Belichick],” Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft advised Sports activities Illustrated in 2017. “Now, we had just started this era of the salary cap a couple years earlier, and to understand the salary cap was to understand value.”
Kraft continued, “The one thing he said to me when he left was, ‘You should sign [wide receiver] Troy Brown. Great value there.’ I remembered that. Here was a guy on the other side of the ball, and Bill knew how important he was. And he turned out to be right.”
SUPER BOWL XLII
By 2007, the Patriots had lengthy been the category of the NFL.
They received three Tremendous Bowls underneath Belichick and Tom Brady from 2001-04, however the 2007 group was totally different.
After a busy offseason headlined by the acquisition of celebrity receiver Randy Moss, the Patriots shortly established themselves as a superteam with an opportunity to ship the NFL’s second undefeated season — and the primary because the league switched to a 16-game schedule.
Brady grew to become the primary quarterback to throw 50 landing passes in a season. Moss set an NFL report, too, with 23 landing receptions.
The Pats had been 15-0 once they visited the Giants for the regular-season finale. The Giants, then coached by Coughlin, had been locked into the NFC’s fifth seed, however they performed their starters anyway.
Whereas the Patriots emerged with a hard-fought 38-35 victory, capping their good common session, the slugfest proved to be the leaping off level in Giants’ run to the Tremendous Bowl.
Tremendous Bowl XLII marked a rematch of that sport, however this time, the Giants’ swarming protection held New England’s historic offense in verify. A cross rush led by Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck sacked Brady 5 instances.
Nonetheless, the Patriots took a 14-10 lead with 2:42 left within the fourth quarter on a Moss landing.
That set the stage for Eli Manning to steer the Giants on an epic game-winning drive, highlighted by David Tyree’s famed helmet catch and Plaxico Burress’ game-winning landing reception.
The underdog Giants received, 17-14, and Manning was named Tremendous Bowl MVP, whereas New England completed 18-1.
Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin after Tremendous Bowl XLII. (Picture by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Picture by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
SUPER BOWL XLVI
The Patriots obtained their probability for revenge once they met the Giants in Tremendous Bowl XLVI after the 2011 season, however that sport performed out eerily equally.
The Giants cross rush proved disruptive from the beginning. On the Patriots’ very first offensive snap, Brady was flagged for intentional grounding in the long run zone — leading to a security — after Tuck supplied stress.
However as soon as once more, the Patriots led late within the fourth quarter. They had been up 17-15 when receiver Wes Welker dedicated a expensive drop with 4:00 remaining, finally forcing the Patriots to punt.
That, once more, set the stage for a Manning game-winning drive.
After Belichick urged his protection to not let Hakeem Nicks or Victor Cruz beat them, Manning opened the possession with an ideal 38-yard completion to Mario Manningham, who tapped his toes alongside the sideline earlier than going out of bounds.
That was the primary of three completions to Manningham on that nine-play, 88-yard drive, which ended with Ahmad Bradshaw falling into the top zone for the game-winning rating.
The Giants received, 21-17, and Manning was named Tremendous Bowl MVP once more.
COACHING CAROUSEL
The Giants haven’t approached that degree of rivalry since that Tremendous Bowl victory, although the Patriots ties continued in years that adopted.
Because the Giants looked for a brand new head coach after the 2019 season, Belichick gave them a robust suggestion for Joe Decide, then the Patriots’ particular groups coordinator & huge receivers coach.
The Giants employed Decide, however he went simply 10-23 within the position and was fired earlier than the top of his second season.
Brian Daboll additionally got here from the Belichick teaching tree, having labored for the Patriots in a wide range of roles from 2000-06 and once more from 2013-16.
After the Giants fired Daboll this month, Belichick — now the top soccer coach on the College of North Carolina — launched a press release saying he wouldn’t pursue an NFL return.
FOR DRAKE’S SAKE
The final time the Giants and Patriots confronted one another, the Tommy DeVito-led Giants eked out a 10-7 win at MetLife Stadium in Week 12 of 2023.
That proved to be consequential, because the Pats completed 4-13 and with the No. 3 choose within the 2024 draft, whereas the Giants completed 6-11 and with the No. 6 choose.
The Giants wished to draft quarterback Drake Maye out of UNC, they usually supplied the Patriots a haul that included the No. 6 choose and a 2025 first-rounder in an effort to transfer up three spots.
However the Patriots determined to remain at No. 3 and take Maye themselves, and that call retains wanting higher and higher.
After an up-and-down rookie season, Maye is the driving pressure behind the Patriots’ resurgence this yr. With a 71% completion proportion, 3,130 passing yards and 23 whole touchdowns, Maye is squarely within the MVP combine.
The Giants, in the meantime, now have a promising younger quarterback of their very own in rookie Jaxson Dart. They will surely welcome a trajectory like Maye’s — progress in yr one, profitable in yr two.
Monday’s sport marks the Giants’ first time dealing with Maye, who didn’t play within the groups’ preseason assembly in August.
Dart began that sport earlier than giving option to DeVito, who impressed a lot with three landing passes that the Patriots claimed him in August after he did not make the Giants’ roster.
That’s proper — even Tommy Cutlets holds a spot within the Giants and Patriots’ storied mutuality.
