Break up the Giants!!! It wasn’t pretty! In fact it was downright ugly. But the Giants, who had lost a couple of real heartbreakers earlier in the year, finally got off the schneid with a 20-19 win over the Washington No-names that wasn’t decided until the Giants snuffed out a potential game-winning two-point conversion with less than a minute on the clock.
How ugly was it? Well we set out to name our ‘game-ball’ nominee, but in the end couldn’t come up with anybody! Still, the Giants beat another NFL team so somebody must have done something right. In no particular order, here are our picks for the studs of the game:
Head coach Joe Judge: There was a lot to nit-pick about the Giants’ game plan (see below), but Judge finally managed to get his first career win as an NFL head coach. And you could tell that if nothing else he’s earned the players respect by their post-game re-action.
QB Daniel Jones: No this isn’t about whether the kid’s a future franchise QB and yeah he needs to get a little more air under the ball when trying to throw it away. But he gutted out a win in a game in which two of his four WRs were banged up and a third was a practice squad player playing in his very first NFL game. And we could probably say the same thing about WR Darius Slayton, who probably shouldn’t have even been dressed for the game, but given the dearth at the rest of the position, did what he could and ended up scoring the Giants’ only offensive TD.
ILB Tae Crowder: Irrelevant no more, the last player selected at this past April’s draft, gave the Giants the lead for good when he returned a fumble 50-yards for a TD with just over three minutes on the clock. That wasn’t all to Crowder’s day though as he also posted 10 tackles, although he did also miss 3-4 stops on day in which the Giants tackling wasn’t as crisp as it had been in earlier weeks. Still not bad production from a rookie chosen at the end of the 7th round.
DT Leonard Williams: We may never figure out exactly whatever the Giants were thinking when they a) traded for Williams in the first place and b) franchised him at over $16M per year. In fact, he’ll probably never be worth anything close to that. However, he was a force against the No-names with 5 tackles and his third sack of the year, along with a bunch of other pressures. It was also Williams who forced Washington QB Kyle Allen out of the pocket on that final fateful 2-pt conversion attempt.
OLB Kyler Fackrell: While Crowder got the glory with the TD return, it was Fackrell who got things started with the strip-sack that put the ball on the ground in the first Indeed, it was the kind of big-play from the defense that the Giants have been waiting for all year.
DB Logan Ryan: Ryan was victimized for the No-manes last-minute TD, but he had a nifty break-up of an earlier pass at the goal-line; he also had a total of 8 tackles including a sack. And for good measure, it was Ryan who recovered the on-side kick attempt at the end.
And a few duds:
The officials: Never like to blame the refs, but there were at least three key calls that went against the Giants that we’d be sending tape into the league about. The most egregious was the non-reversal of the Jones’ interception in the end zone. I get it that there wasn’t a perfect angle on the play, but the league has to be consistent here. There was certainly no better angle on the Crowder interception earlier in the year, for example, that was overturned. It was also pretty obvious that the play clock was at 0.0 for at least a couple of seconds on the No-names late TD. We also mention the running into the kicker penalty at the end of the first half. On the one hand, DT Austin Johnson probably had no business being anywhere near the punter in that scenario. But Johnson in fact barely brushed Washington P Tress Way who was on his way down even before there was any contact!
OC Jason Garrett: Still not seeing much more than a basic football 101 offense from the Giants. One has to wonder why TE Evan Engram had two catches for first downs by the mid-way point of the first quarter, but was only targeted one other time the entire rest of the game. And this with the Giants playing most of the afternoon with barely 1 and a half guys at WR. Same with Kadon Smith, the other TE who is almost never covered, but also only had three targets. And there was a similar story for the RBs, all of whom are good receivers, but had only three targets between them. If in fact, the Giants are undermanned at WR, and they are even when everybody is healthy, you have to look for other options. Right now it doesn’t look like the Giants are even looking.
DC Patrick Graham: Nothing more frustrating that watching the Giants defense give up conversion after conversion rushing 3or 4 and dropping everyone else into a soft zone. That was certainly the case against the No-names as the Giants allowed QB Kyle Allen, a journeyman if there ever was one, to complete 74% of his pass attempts as the No-names, who came into the week ranked 32nd and last in the NFL with a sub-30% 3rd down conversion rate, converted over 50% of their 3rd downs (which rises to almost 60% when 4th down attempts are included). I understand the Giants are reluctant to blitz because their corners other than James Bradberry don’t match-up all that well. However, that really wasn’t the case against Washington. The No-names do have one really good receiver in McLaurin, but Bradberry should be able to travel with him, while their other receivers include a bunch of guys named Huey, Dewey and Louie. Again, if what you’re doin’ just ain’t workin’ try something else!! And we would point out that the Giants WERE blitzing for one of the few times for the strip-sack. They also brought the house on the failed two-point conversion. Just saying!
WR Golden Tate: On a day when the Giants needed a receiver to step up, we didn’t even realize that Tate was in the game until the second half when he went back to return a punt. The Giants need more than one catch on one target for 11 yards from a veteran like Tate with the other issues they are dealing with the position!
This and that … In addition to the fact that the Giants were able to finally win their first game time year, the underlying story from Sunday’s game was what was going on out at LT. Rookie 3rd rounder Matt Peart made a surprise start at LT when incumbent starter Andrew Thomas was benched for a violation on an undisclosed violation of team rules. Thomas returned at the start of the second quarter, but then Peart returned in the 3rd Q with Thomas playing in the 4th. We’re in the process of going over the game tape and plan to have a detailed evaluation of both guys tomorrow. The early returns are, though, that Peart played very well. He did give up one pressure on the Jones-to-Slayton TD pass, but otherwise looked all the part of a potential NFL LT. He’s long, is light enough on his feet and makes great use of his arms and hands.
And while Peart and Crowder made the headlines, late round OLBs Cam Brown and Carter Coughlin also got their first career snaps in the regular defense. Coughlin, in particular, showed a quick first step and some of the relentless pursuit that made his rep in college at Minnesota. Coughlin finished with a tackle and a partial pressure, while Brown was on the field for the strip-sack.
Next up: Not much time for the Giants to enjoy their first win as they play in Philadelphia on Thursday evening. Amazingly, get a win and the Giants would essentially be tied for the division lead. Hope the Giants get a chance to watch the tape of the Eagles loss to Baltimore on Sunday. The Ravens raced to a big early lead thanks to steady diet of blitzes on Carson Wentz, but then let the Eagles back in the game when they backed off. Enjoy!!
