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Players to watch on MNF in Foxborough

PLAYERS-TO-WATCH-WEEK-13

The Giants will hit the road for the second straight week as they head to Foxborough for a primetime matchup against the Patriots on Monday.

While the game ended up in overtime, the Giants dropped their sixth consecutive outing this past Sunday as they fell to the Lions 34-27. It was the third and final game in a three-week stretch against the NFC North, all of which finished as one-score games.

On the contrary, New England comes into Monday Night Football winners of nine straight games, leaving them as the top seed in the AFC and the NFL's only 10-win team. In Week 12, the Patriots went into Cincinnati and defeated the Bengals 26-20.

Here are five players to watch in the Week 13 primetime game.

RB Tyrone Tracy Jr.

Tracy has reestablished himself as the team's lead back over the last few weeks. Against the Bears in Week 10, the second-year back averaged 5.1 yards per carry. The following week, Tracy averaged 4.6 yards per carry on his way to 88 yards on the ground and another 51 yards through the air. His 139 total yards from scrimmage was his highest yardage total this season and second-highest of his career.

Going up against a talented Lions front this past Sunday, Tracy ran for 62 yards on 20 carries, including two runs of 10+ yards. While it wasn't his most efficient outing on the ground, the 26-year-old more than made up for it with his contributions in the passing game. Tracy caught three passes for 68 yards, giving him 130 total yards of offense. The receptions were tied for the second-most on the team, while his receiving yards ranked third.

This week's matchup might be the toughest of the season for the Giants' run game. The Patriots rank second in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game at just 87.7, although the unit has allowed more than 110 yards on the ground in each of its last three games. Meanwhile, the four rushing touchdowns allowed are tied for the fewest in the league. While New England's defense has shut down opposing backs on the ground, they have struggled to limit them through the air. Running backs have caught 65 passes against the Patriots, the second-most in the NFL, while the 410 receiving yards by RBs ranks 10th.

View photos of the New York Giants' 2025 roster as it currently stands.

WR Wan'Dale Robinson

In the Week 2 matchup in Dallas, we saw Robinson explode for a career day. Well, he managed to top that career-high performance this past weekend in Detroit. Robinson got things started with a 39-yard touchdown reception on a trick play on the Giants' first drive of the game, but he did not stop there. The fourth-year wideout caught four passes for 106 yards and the score in the first quarter alone. It was the most receiving yards in the first quarter by a Giant all season and the most since Plaxico Burress had 107 yards in the first quarter against the Rams back in 2005. Robinson finished the game with nine receptions for a career-high 156 yards and the touchdown.

This marked Robinson's second game of the season with 140+ receiving yards. The last time a Giant had multiple games with 140+ receiving yards and a touchdown in a single season was Odell Beckham Jr., who had four such games in 2015. With five games remaining on the season, Robinson has already established a new career-high with his 794 receiving yards. Not only that, but he also finds himself among the league's receiving leaders as he ranks ninth in the NFL in both receiving yards and receptions (66).

After allowing an opposing wide receiver to record 100+ receiving yards and a touchdown in Weeks 9 and 10 (Drake London and Emeka Egbuka), the Patriots' pass defense has tightened up the last two games. Going up against the Jets and Bengals the past two weeks, no wide receiver had more than five receptions, while Andrei Iosivas was the only one to top 45 receiving yards. However, the unit has allowed eight receiving touchdowns to wide receivers over the last four outings.

TE Theo Johnson

Johnson put together yet another strong performance against the Lions in Week 12. The second-year tight end was targeted five times and finished the game with three receptions for a career-high 77 yards. It wasn't just that he set a new high mark in terms of yardage, but it was the way he did it. Johnson made a couple of impressive catches, including his first one where he jumped up and caught the ball at the high point for a big gain. The 24-year-old has shown a noticeable improvement with his contested catch ability this season, which was on full display in Detroit.

It was only a few weeks ago that Johnson set new career highs with seven receptions for 75 yards against the Bears. He now has 188 receiving yards over the last three games, which ranks third among tight ends and 15th among all players across the league. Johnson has already beat all of his rookie season marks as he enters Week 13 with 39 receptions for 427 yards and a team-leading five touchdowns.

As well as they have played this season, the New England defense has had a hard time containing opposing tight ends. Through 12 games, they have given up 76 receptions to tight ends, tied for the most in the NFL, while their 760 receiving yards to the position are tied for the sixth-most. No tight end has finished with fewer than four receptions against the Patriots since Week 6.

OLB Abdul Carter

In the Week 11 matchup against the Packers, Carter had two pressures, including a quarterback hit. He followed that up with a three-pressure performance against the Lions, with all three resulting in quarterback hits, against a strong Detroit offensive line. These were his first four quarterback hits since he had five against the Chargers back in Week 4.

Heading into Week 13, Carter has still yet to register his first full sack. In fact, the rookie outside linebacker picked up a half-sack in the season opener and has been held without one ever since. However, Carter is still finding ways to affect opposing quarterbacks. He has finished with multiple pressures in 10 of 12 games, including eight outings with three or more. Despite having just a half-sack this season, Carter still ranks inside the top 32 of Pro Football Focus' pass rusher rankings, in addition to leading all rookies in total pressures (38) and win rate (13.1 percent).

Brian Burns primarily lines up on the left edge, which puts him up against the opposing team's right tackle. While we don't know yet whether or not Kayvon Thibodeaux will return to action this weekend, Carter will likely see a lot of snaps on the right edge, where he could be going up against two backup linemen. Patriots left tackle Will Campbell suffered a knee injury in last week's win, while left guard Jared Wilson went down early in the game with an ankle injury. Campbell has already been placed on injured reserve, while Wilson seems unlikely to suit up for Monday's game. This would leave Carter in matchups against backup left tackle Vederian Lowe and left guard Caedan Wallace, which could open the door for the rookie to finally get his first sack.

CB Cor'Dale Flott

Flott is enjoying a breakout campaign in his fourth NFL season, highlighted by a dominant outing against the Lions. The 24-year-old was on the field for 48 coverage snaps and was credited with allowing just one reception for 20 yards to tight end Brock Wright. Flott spent a lot of the game shadowing Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams, who went into Week 12 with no fewer than 66 yards and a touchdown in each of his previous three games. Williams was held without a catch in this game, with Flott covering him on 31 of his 41 routes.

The one reception allowed was the fewest of the season for Flott, who previously had six games with two receptions allowed. He also earned a passer rating against of just 57.6, one of Flott's lowest marks of the season. In 11 games this season, Flott has already set a new career-high with eight passes defensed. Pro Football Focus has credited Flott with a career-low 64.1 passer rating against this season, which has led to him being ranked as the analytics site's 17th-best cornerback in coverage.

Stefon Diggs leads the Patriots by a wide margin with his 61 receptions for 679 yards, although Drake Maye has done a good job of spreading the touchdown equity around to all of his pass-catchers. Flott will likely match up against Diggs when the veteran wideout lines up outside, which admittedly has been less often recently. While his percentage of snaps in the slot comes in at 48.0 percent on the season, he has been around 70 percent in the slot over the last two weeks. When not on Diggs, Flott could see more of Kayshon Boutte and Demario Douglas in coverage. Boutte leads New England's receivers with five touchdowns, while Douglas is tied with Diggs for the second-most with three scores.

Rare photos from the storied history between the New York Giants and New England Patriots.

Screenshot 2025-08-01 at 3.36.49 PM

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