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42 Beats 22, This Time at Least.
Age didn’t stop Tom Brady and his Patriots from beating Daniel Jones and the Giants.

Bill Pennington
By Bill Pennington
Oct. 11, 2019, 9:24 a.m. ET

It was roughly midway through Thursday night’s game between the Giants and the New England Patriots and the score was tied. Tom Brady, 42, had thrown one interception, and more crucially, had fumbled while being sacked on another play, a mishap that directly led to a Giants touchdown.

Brady, his expression a mixture of irritation and exasperation, sat on the bench cheerlessly shaking his head side to side.

On the Giants sideline, the rookie quarterback Daniel Jones was pacing in front of his bench. Jones, 20 years younger than Brady and with 20 fewer years of N.F.L. experience, had thrown two interceptions and at times looked unsettled in the face of the confusing machinations of a Bill Belichick defensive scheme.

Jones found a seat on the bench and stared toward the field, readying himself — if that was possible — for what was to come next.

After the game, after the Brady-led Patriots scored 21 unanswered points to run away from the Giants in a 35-14 victory, Brady said with a thin grin: “When I was a young player, I was just trying to be on time and not forget my playbook anywhere.”

In the second half on Thursday, Brady steadied himself, completing 14 of 17 passes without another turnover. He scored two touchdowns on one of the game’s simplest and most primitive plays, a quarterback sneak. He was efficient, fundamentally sound, mindful not to repeat the mistakes from the first half.

“Just started grinding it out,” he said.

It helps to recall that in his rookie season, Brady played a tiny portion of one game, completing one of three passes for six yards.

For Jones, his N.F.L. apprenticeship has already included far more learning on the job, and Sunday it showed in his fourth start in place of Eli Manning.

After the game, Jones, who ended up with three interceptions and completed just 15 of 31 passes, looked as if he was still expecting another Patriots lineman to jump into his field of vision, or another New England defensive back to leap unexpectedly in front of one his passes. Things were out of hand for a little while.

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Asked if the game’s environment — all Giants-Patriots games now seem to carry import — coupled with the intricate strategies of the devious Belichick had been a little overwhelming, Jones calmly answered, “I don’t think it was overwhelming, I think it was just bad plays, bad decisions.”

As if the former, recognized or not, does not naturally lead to the latter.

Given the history between the teams, the matchup held plenty of intrigue, and there was an unusual exchange at the game’s conclusion when Brady first approached Manning for a handshake and smile at midfield. They paused for a beat and each knowingly nodded, an acknowledgment that it was a scene that would never again be recreated.

Then Brady found Jones. Their greeting was equally amiable, but not surprisingly, fleeting. It, too, may never be recreated in a regular or postseason game.

If Brady and Jones appeared headed in different directions, it was because they almost certainly are — for this season at least. But fans of both teams ought to be heartened by what they saw Thursday night.

Brady was banged around in the pocket — it was a Giants game after all — and he was knocked out of rhythm for extended periods, especially early. But his poise and wealth of experience served him well, as it has for decades.

Jones was also out of sync for long periods, badgered as he tried to pass and challenged mentally in nearly every passing situation. But he rose to many occasions, throwing a nifty 64-yard touchdown pass that exhibited his field vision and passing touch. Ultimately, he saw the league’s best, and walked away one more start closer to no longer being a rookie quarterback.

And, let’s not forget that Jones had to take the field without the Giants star running back Saquon Barkley, without his team’s best wide receiver, Sterling Shepard, and without one of his favorite targets, the talented pass-catching tight end Evan Engram. All were injured.

In the end, Jones was paying attention to all that went well and all that went wrong. Asked outside his team’s locker room to sum up the chief lesson of the defeat, Jones replied immediately, “To just take care of the ball better.”

Fifty yards down a hallway, Brady, the wise elder, was also keeping it simple.

Asked if the Patriots offense this year has been “good enough,” Brady smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“We’ll see,” he said. “We’re 6-0.”

He paused to add: “So, try to get to 7-0.”

He then bent to pick up a garment bag and walked off into the night.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/sports/patriots-giants.html