The New York Giants fell to 1-4 on the season after another lopsided loss, this time to the dynamic Miami Dolphins, 31-16, at Hard Rock Stadium.
Here are some things we learned from Sunday’s game.
Fool's gold
The Giants’ playoff appearance last year after a six-year absence is not the beginning of a turnaround but an illusion. They are not a competitive team at the moment.
In fact, they never presented themselves as such since the season began. But it didn’t just start this summer. The skein goes back to last season.
The Giants opened the Brian Daboll/Joe Schoen era by winning six of their first seven contests.
Since then, they’ve gone 5-11-1 (including playoffs). Not exactly the ‘turnaround’ the fans and media have led us to believe.
Where's the speed?
Granted, the Dolphins are the fastest team in the NFL. The Giants, who have been playing slow all year to begin with, had no shot at keeping up with them.
The Giants do happen to have the league’s fastest player in rookie wide receiver Jalin Hyatt, who was clocked at over 24 MPH this summer.
On Sunday, Hyatt played 33 snaps on offense. He did not touch the football. No targets, no carries, nothing. So much for increasing team speed.
A more energetic effort
The Giants entered the game as the only team without a takeaway in the first four weeks. They managed to snare three in the game, two of which led to points — Jason Pinnock’s record-tying 102-yard pick-6 and Kayvon Thibodeaux’s fumble recovery, which led to a field goal.
The pass rush is still a bit nonexistent, however. The Giants had just two QB hits on Tua Tagovailoa — one by Leonard Williams and the other a sack by Thibodeaux.
The Giants are tied for last in the NFL in sacks (5) with Atlanta, averaging just one per game.
A matter of time
The offensive line has been ravaged by injuries this season and was once again pieced together with spit and duct tape for this game. They had no chance of keeping the Dolphins’ rush off of quarterback Daniel Jones.
It was only a matter of time before Jones got hit and didn’t get right up. That happened in the fourth quarter when Miami linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel slammed Jones from behind, giving him a case of whiplash.
Jones had to leave the game and headed toward the locker room. He has a history of neck injuries and will have an MRI this week.
Backup Tyrod Taylor fared no better, running for his safety on nearly every snap. All tolled, the Dolphins had 14 QB hits and seven sacks.
The Giants lead the league in sacks allowed with 30. That’s six per game, folks.
Where are the wins coming from?
The oddsmakers still have the Giants’ over/under win total for the season at 5.5. Considering the way the Giants are playing, one has to wonder why everyone isn’t betting the under.
The Giants face Buffalo on the road this week and are already 14.5-point underdogs. The rest of the schedule has some winnable games, but that is only if the Giants get their act together sometime soon.
The Giants still have to play Dallas again as well as Philadelphia and Washington twice each. Along the way are games against the Jets, Rams, Raiders, Patriots, Packers and Saints.
Those seem all winnable. Or do they?
