FOXBOROUGH — The Giants faced no worries about squandering a lead this time around.
In a display that could only be described as a debacle, Joe Schoen’s beleaguered squad, guided by temporary leadership across the coaching staff, suffered a humiliating 33-15 defeat to the New England Patriots during Monday Night Football at Gillette Stadium.
Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, returning after a concussion, was brutally hit by Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss during an early scramble, setting a grim tone for the game.
This severe loss marked the Giants’ seventh consecutive defeat, casting a shadow over Schoen’s upcoming bye week press conference on Tuesday—provided he remains the general manager by then.
As it turns out, collapsing with multiple double-digit leads, as they did under former defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, wasn’t the worst-case scenario.
In their first outing since Bowen’s dismissal, the Giants (2-11) surrendered 30 points in the first half alone and allowed a staggering 269 yards, with interim play-caller Charlie Bullen stepping in as outside linebackers coach.
The Patriots’ 30 points, which included a 94-yard Marcus Jones punt return for a touchdown, were the most first half points allowed by a Giants team since the final game of the 2009 season, a span of 256 regular season games.
The indignity didn’t stop there.
Kicker Younghoe Koo jammed his right foot into the grass on a second quarter field goal try and never even swung his leg to attempt the kick as punter Jamie Gillan got walloped.
Rookie edge rusher Abdul Carter was benched for the entire first quarter for reportedly being late to a meeting — his second disciplinary benching in three weeks.
Interim head coach Mike Kafka waved the white flag at 27-7 with 1:13 remaining in the 2nd quarter and 4th and 1 on the Giants’ own 35 yard line by punting.
Patriots MVP candidate Drake Maye completed 24 of 31 passes for 282 yards, two touchdowns and a 126.0 passer rating. Seven different Patriots receivers made at least three catches.
Edge rusher Brian Burns sat alone on the bench for a long time after the rest of his team had trotted to the visitors’ locker room at halftime. It was easy to understand why:
This is a despicable product — for a national network like ESPN that has to televise it and for a fan base that has to watch it.
How can the Giants organization let Schoen run the search to find Brian Daboll’s replacement in good conscience?
The Giants are 0-8 on the road this season. They extended their franchise record road losing streak to 13 straight games dating back to an Oct. 6, 2024, win in Seattle.
Last season, they set a new franchise record with 10 straight losses overall.
Schoen now has a 3-22 record (.120) in the Giants’ last 25 games, a 5-25 record (.166) in the last 30 games, a 5-17-1 record (.217) against NFC East opponents, a 2-14-0 record (.125) against the Eagles and Cowboys and a 20-43-1 overall record (.313) in four regular seasons.
Schoen’s Giants were the first NFL team officially eliminated from the playoffs for a second straight season after last week’s loss in Detroit.
And they were a laughingstock on Monday night. Again.
The Giants organization has to have higher expectations than this.
There is only one thing to do, and that is to fire Schoen and get on with finding an entirely new regime to lead them into the future.
Because the team that played Monday night didn’t even belong on an NFL field.
