The New York Giants had their worst outing of the season as they were defeated by the Detroit Lions on Sunday afternoon.
This game was practically over by halftime as the Giants were dominated by the Lions through the last three quarters. With this 31-18 loss, the Giants fall to 7-3 and third in the NFC East.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during the game and how we graded the Giants in this loss.
Offense: D
The Giants’ offense quite simply failed to get the job done on Sunday. Six first-half points are unacceptable and things did not get better as Big Blue failed to score in the third quarter.
The majority of the problems for New York stemmed from their inability to run the ball. They totaled only 89 yards on the day and Saquon Barkley rushed for a season-low 22 yards on 15 attempts. This was the bread and butter for the Giants all season and the offense was built around controlling the game by pounding the rock.
The inability of the offensive line to open rushing lanes put the Giants in an early hole (one positive note was that Daniel Jones rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown on seven attempts).
However, things did not get much better in the passing attack as Jones completed 27 of 44 pass attempts for 341 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.
While the volume is there, it was mostly because of the negative game script and the two interceptions were killers for the Giants. What was worse was that Isaiah Hodgins fumbled the ball within Giants’ territory, which put Big Blue down three in the turnover differential. Detroit was able to score 17 points off of these three turnovers leading to big momentum swings.
Not everything was terrible, though, as Wan’Dale Robinson was having a breakout game before his knee injury. He notched nine receptions for 100 yards while also adding four yards on one rushing attempt. This was great to see from the rookie who has struggled to get much going this season.
Defense: C-
The Giants’ run defense continues to be a problem. Allowing 160 yards and four touchdowns on the ground is unacceptable from a team that has been winning off of their defensive toughness.
It’s clear that the Giants lack enough defensive talent, especially on the second level, to make big plays. They could barely rush the passer as Jared Goff was not sacked once in the game and were dominated at the line of scrimmage.
While the Giants did do some things well (holding Goff to under 170 passing yards and Detroit to an under 50-percent third down conversion percentage) this team is still a work in process and needs players that will step up and make big plays.
The schedule only gets harder from here and it’s hard to win a game when your defense records zero sacks or turnovers.
Special Teams: D
It appears like an every-week thing where the Giants’ special teams unit performs poorly.
Graham Gano missed both of his extra points, while Gary Brightwell only averaged 13.7 yards per kick return. Giants’ punt returners only averaged 5.0 yards per punt return as well, while the Lions averaged 31 yards per kick return.
Punter Jamie Gillan also had a brutal shanked punt late in the game.
Coaching: D-
This was by far the worst coaching performance of the season for Brian Daboll and his staff.
This was a game against a three-win team where the Giants were favored to pick up a much-needed victory. Instead, New York came out and dropped a dud where they did not look remotely competitive. Daboll took responsibility but it’s looking like his early season heroics might have been a mirage and the Giants may not be the football team that they have been hyped up to be.
Mike Kafka and the offense were once again uninventive. Kafka needs to get his playmakers in space more often and design more intricate runs as opposed to the vanilla zone and power runs he is calling now. Having a player like Barkley rush for only 22 yards against the worst defense in the league is unacceptable.
As for the defense, Wink Martindale has been built up as a guy who has his defense generate a lot of pressure. But so far this season, the Giants’ pass rush has been one of the worst parts of their defense. Recording no sacks and allowing Detroit to average 5.2 yards per play just is not getting the job done. Martindale will really need to dig deep next week as they face a potent Dallas Cowboys offense.
