The New York Giants played the New England Patriots surprisingly close for much of Thursday night’s game, and that was almost exclusively due to their solid performance on defense. They still made plenty of mistakes, however, and Jabrill Peppers was responsible for one of the biggest. To his credit, the star defensive back is not hiding from that.
When the game was tied 14-14 in the second quarter, Peppers missed a key tackle on 3rd-and-6 that would have likely resulted in the Patriots having to punt with more than two minutes remaining in the half. Instead, they strung together a few more plays and scored a touchdown to go up 21-14 at the break.
Peppers was ripped on Twitter for the mistake, and he owned up to it in a funny tweet after the 35-14 loss.
Smh you’re absolutely right, cost us 7 pts. Can’t happen.. even though I think he dipped his uniform in something slippery https://t.co/pvAQmRMgmW
— JP (@JabrillPeppers) October 11, 2019
James White was the one who managed to slip out of Peppers’ grasp, and the veteran running back has made a career of doing that to defenders. Still, those types of plays are particularly game-changing when you’re going against a far superior opponent.
The Giants had Tom Brady frazzled for much of the night and were able to stay in the game with an interception and a fumble return for a touchdown. Peppers expressed confidence in New York’s defense improving when he spoke with reporters after the game, but he alluded to his crucial mistake.
“We made a lot of plays on the ball. We just have to limit the big plays, missed tackles,” the former first-round pick said. “I think you guys will start to see a defense that the Giants are accustomed to.”
The final score made the game look like a blowout, but there were some encouraging things for the Giants. Had they not been going against a defense that is allowing an astonishing 8.0 points per game and can’t even find use for a Pro Bowl defensive end, they may have actually had a shot.
