Chad Ryland misses kick wide left, Patriots lose 10-7 to Giants

BOSTON -- All the Patriots needed was a 35-yard field goal from rookie kicker Chad Ryland to head to overtime and have a chance to beat the Giants on Sunday.

But the kick was no good.

After timeouts by the Patriots and Giants, Ryland -- a rookie fourth-round pick -- stepped on for the relatively short kick. The snap and the hold were both good, but Ryland's kick was not, sailing wide left.

Tommy DeVito and the Giants' offense came back onto the field to take a knee and secure the win, their fourth of the year. 

The loss dropped the Patriots to 2-9 on the season.

Quarterback Mac Jones was benched at halftime after going 12-for-21 for 89 yards with two interceptions. Bailey Zappe played the second half but wasn't much better, going 9-for-14 for 54 yards with no touchdowns and an interception.

DeVito was 17-for-25 for 191 yards with one touchdown and zero interceptions, while taking six sacks.

The game sat at 0-0 for the first 28 minutes, with both offenses struggling to move the ball with consistency. The Giants fumbled the ball away on their opening possession, when they were threatening to score, and Jones threw an interception on the Patriots' third drive of the game. Outside of that, the teams traded punts for much of the first half.

But that trend broke after Jones threw a second interception, this time made while he was under pressure by Isaiah Simmons. Bobby Ekereke intercepted the pass thrown directly at him and returned it 55 yards. The Giants then drove 26 yards on six plays, with Isaiah Hodgins making a 12-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown to score the first points of the game.

After halftime, Zappe entered the game for the Patriots, who marched 60 yards (after a kickoff out of bounds) for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7. Rhamondre Stevenson ran it in from the 7-yard line to put the Patriots' first points of the game on the board.

The game remained at 7-7 through the third quarter, but Zappe threw his first interception of the game -- the Patriots' third -- on an ill-advised pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster when he was surrounded by three defenders. Xavier McKinney stepped in front of the pass and returned it 18 yards to the Patriots' 32-yard line. 

The Giants struggled to move the ball thereafter, but Randy Bullock connected on a 42-yard field goal to give the Giants a 10-7 lead with 8:10 left in the fourth quarter.

The Patriots took over at the 50-yard line with 3:15 left in the game, needing a field goal to tie or a touchdown to take a lead. A fourth-and-4 connection from Zappe to JuJu Smith-Schuster kept that drive alive, and Chad Ryland came on for a 35-yard field goal attempt with 6 seconds left on the clock. But the short kick was no good.

The Patriots return to Foxboro for their first home game in almost a month next week to face the Chargers.