The New York Giants and New England Patriots will provide the caboose for NFL Week 13 when they meet on Monday Night Football. Can the 2-10 Giants pull off an upset of the 10-2 Patriots? Let’s see what the Big Blue View staff thinks in this week’s NFL staff picks and predictions.
Chris Pflum
Season record: 104-60-1 (63.0%)
The Giants are 2-10 and are dealing with injuries to some of their best players on offense and defense. And yet, they’ve also proven over the last 12 weeks that they can play with the best in the NFL. Last week I said that the Giants had a real chance to win against the Lions, and was promptly told I was out of my mind. Well, the Giants never trailed in regulation and led by 10 for stretches against a team favored by 13.5 on the road.
I won’t predict a win this week either, but this game has the potential to be a sneaky upset. The Patriots will be without LT Will Campbell, LG Jared Wilson, and DT Milton Williams — and possibly NT Khyirsis Tonga. The Giants, meanwhile could be in for a bump with the return of Jaxson Dart. We’ve never seen him playing for a coach who’s trying to win, as opposed to not get fired. Also, I do like the sound of reports that the defense has been practicing as a unit, going back to the basics, and working on fundamentals.
I’ll pick the Pats for this game l, but I can’t say I’d be surprised if the Giants come away with an upset. The Giants never make anything easy, and a 5-0 run to end the season would certainly make the coaching search interesting.
Pick: Patriots
Tony DelGenio
Season record: 112-68-1 (62.0%)
A 2-10 team on the road against a 10-2 team. The road team making history with a series of fourth quarter collapses, a defense that can’t stop the run, a secondary with its best corner still out with a knee injury, a linebacking corps with no one playing well, and an interior defensive line whose best player has aggravated his elbow injury. This could get ugly.
Drake Maye has shown everything you want in a franchise QB. He might be the MVP. The Pats’ passing offense under Maye has been potent (5th in points, 8th in yards per game), and their defense solid, especially in pass coverage. Still…the left side of the Pats’ OL is out, including star first round pick Will Campbell. Their run defense is nothing special. Their DL is banged up too. New England has built its 10-2 record against the easiest schedule in the NFL (.346 opponent win %). Yes, there have been two signature road wins, in Buffalo and Tampa Bay. The other wins were over LV, MIA, CAR, NO, TEN, CLE, ATL, NYJ, and CIN.
The Giants are probably the scariest 2-10 team in the history of the NFL…and not just to their own fans. If NFL games were only three quarters long they’d be Super Bowl contenders. No one will be surprised if they’re leading after three Monday night and then Maye torches them in the fourth quarter. But I choose to have hope. The Giants’ offense is a challenge for any defense (imagine that!), and Jaxson Dart replacing Jameis Winston shouldn’t change that. Mike Kafka has done a good job calling plays, and while I don’t expect the defense to turn on a dime just because Charlie Bullen has replaced Shane Bowen, I do expect that he’ll call a more aggressive, less predictable defense with less soft coverage and show Maye some things that aren’t on tape. I originally picked the Pats in Tallysight, but I’m changing my mind. For once this season, the Giants are not the turkey.
Pick: Giants
James Hickey
Season record: 107-73-1 (59.0%)
In many ways, the Giants organization will look across the field Monday night and see what the possibilities for next year hold. Because at this time last year, New England was in the midst of a lost season with changes on the horizon and the signs they had a franchise quarterback if they built it right around him. The key to that was the hiring of Mike Vrabel. And as we look at the landscape of coaching candidates for the Giants, there is no slam dunk candidate currently out there like Mike Vrabel.
Which brings up to Mike Kafka who is putting his imprint on the organization in moves big and small. The big is of course the long-overdue dismissal of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. But it should not be overlooked that Jude McAtamney was let go this week as well— from the outside, it feels like a message of accountability when it comes to on-field performance.
If he was not with the Giants, Kafka would be on the top of all lists to be the next coach next to the Chris Shula’s, Steve Spagnuolo’s, and Mike McCarthy’s. He changes that by winning games and he has that opportunity with the way the schedule breaks (according to Sharp Football Analysis, the strength of schedule for the Giants the rest of the season in the 18th hardest; up until this week it had been 29th).
This would be a signature win for the candidacy of Mike Kafka to be the next Giants head coach. With a banged up Pats offensive line and a defense I expect to be more aggressive under Charlie Bullen, he gets the win on one of the league’s biggest stages.
Pick: Giants 31, Pats 17
David Hartman
Season record: 89-58-1 (61.0%)
Another week, another blown double-digit lead on the road, and another coach firing. Such is the life of the 2025-2026 New York Giants.
Can Big Blue snap its six-game losing streak on Monday night at Foxboro, and in the process end New England’s league-best nine-game winning streak? I think they can, but even if they’re up 14 going into the fourth quarter, I wont be confident that they will.
Despite the opposite momentum for both teams, there are actually some factors in New York’s favor. New England standout rookie left tackle Will Campbell went on IR after getting hurt last week, and they’re also likely going to be without starting left guard Jared Wilson. They already had protection issues, with 37 sacks allowed (sixth-most in the NFL) and I expect new DC Charlie Bullen to dial up more pressure. As well as he’s played this season, Drake Maye has been throwing picks lately (four in his last five games), and his completion percentage has dropped from earlier in the season.
Jaxson Dart will be back under center for Big Blue, which is another plus. How much he’ll run remains to be seen.
The Giants continue to play hard and they’ve made a habit of hanging with better teams. I think they’ll do it again. But they keep finding ways to lose and it’s hard to pick against that. I want to take the G-Men, but I just can’t get there.
Pick: Patriots
Valentine’s View
Season record: 116-64-1 (64.0%)
This is a place I feel like I have been in far too often with the Giants in recent years. I think they can win on Monday night against the 10-2 Patriots. There is no chance I am actually going to pick them to do that.
The Giants are competitive week after week. They are playing hard for interim head coach Mike Kafka, and playing better offense than they have a right to considering the injuries they have suffered. If they could have played even competent defense defense this season they could have six or seven wins. But, they haven’t, and they don’t.
Jameis Winston did a great job the past two weeks, but maybe the Giants get a bump from the return of Jaxson Dart. Maybe there is at least some modest improvement in the defense with interim coordinator Charlie Bullen calling the shots.
Maybe those things happen. I hope they do. I am still not picking the Giants to win.
Pick: Patriots
Week 13 Big Blue View staff picks
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