Special teams has been an adventure for the Giants all season, and the unit had a first half to forget during Monday night’s 33-15 loss to the Patriots.
After the Patriots put three on the board on the opening drive of the game, New York’s offense went three-and-out, before allowing Marcus Jones to take a punt 96 yards to the house to quickly make it a 10-0 ballgame.
The Giants were able to weather the storm and appeared to settle in early in the second.
Jaxson Dart capped off a strong drive by connecting with Darius Slayton for a 30-yard TD to get them on the board, then the defense responded by forcing a quick three-and-out.
The rookie QB drove the offense down the field again and New York was ready to put more points on the board, but Younghoe Koo pulled up on a 47-yard field goal attempt, and instead it instead resulted in a turnover on downs.
“As I was driving to it the bottom of the ball was slipping so I pulled up on it,” Koo said.
“It was just a tough bounce right there,” Kafka added.
Younghoe Koo’s foot gets caught in the turf and the Giants’ field goal attempt goes awry pic.twitter.com/lTacjZZI5n
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) December 2, 2025
Tough bounce or not, it ended up costing the Giants even more points, as the Patriots went and scored a touchdown, then Gunner Olszewski was walloped and fumbled the ensuing kickoff, backing the defense up deep in their own territory.
New England added another field goal to make it a 27-7 ballgame.
Add up those costly mistakes and that is a 13-point swing in favor of the Patriots.
Certainly a night to forget for Michael Ghobrial and his unit, though, Kafka put the blame on the team as a whole after they suffered their seventh consecutive loss.
“It just wasn’t a great team effort,” Kafka said. “All three phases of the game everyone has to step up, everyone has to clean up their part of the game — it’s never just one phase, it’s never just one player, we all have to do a better job.”
