After back-to-back last minute wins in the first two games of the season, the New England Patriots wouldn't mind getting an easy win against the New York Giants.
"Don't get me wrong, a win is a win in this league," said linebacker Tedy Bruschi. "But I wouldn't mind winning a game by 14 or 21 points."
Though an easy win would be nice, the Patriots players are not expecting a similar performance from a Giants team that couldn't dig themselves out from a 21-0 first quarter deficit against the Redskins.
"The Giants had a tough game last week, but they're going to be ready to go this week wanting to show the league that they are a real team," Bruschi said. "To let down against a team like this will get you beat."
Giants coach Jim Fassel hopes his players can rebound from what was the most points New York has allowed in one game since 1966.
"The best news about the whole thing is that it is just one game," said Giants Head Coach Jim Fassel. "We have to put that one behind us and put it behind us. You want the guys to be angry about it, but you don't want anybody to go into a shell."
"I'm sure that they're going to be cranking and trying to fix things," said Patriots Head Coach Pete Carroll. "We've got our hands full."
Unfortunately for the Giants, they'll have their hands full with a very hot quarterback in Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe won the AFC's" Offensive Player of the Week" after throwing for four touchdowns and 299 yards against Indianapolis. In two games he has 639 passing yards, five touchdown passes and a quarterback rating of 107.6.
'What I see in Drew is that he's playing about as well as I've seen him play," Fassel said. "He's in rhythm, he's throwing the ball well, and he's making good decisions. The guy is an outstanding quarterback. He doing the things he's got to do to be a winning quarterback."
After his secondary gave up three scoring passes to Washington's Brad Johnson, Fassel is wary of New England's versatile air attack.
"[Washington] went through us pretty good with the passing game," Fassel said. "We're going to play against some outstanding quarterbacks and receivers, but I don't know that there is anybody better than this group. When they are right, they have the weapons. They've got Drew Bledsoe, Terry Glenn, Ben Coates and Shawn Jefferson so they've got guys who can make some plays."
Like the Giants, New England was in a big hole early against the Colts. Though they needed a second half surge to overcome a 21-point halftime deficit, Fassel said his offense would not have an easy time against New England's defense, which has allowed 28 points in each of the first two games.
Despite the high number of points allowed, New England's defense has played big in the second half of both games thus far. Of the 56 points the Patriots have allowed, only 12 have come after halftime. Six of the eight turnovers the defense has created have come in the second half.
"Fans and writers look at the numbers. As a coach you look at the plays," Fassel said. "You look at what's going on in the game, and see some things. I looked at how they played in the game overall, and it looks like they're playing pretty well to me."
