Ingredients:

• 1 offense that cannot get into the end zone
• 1 star rookie wide receiver out with a concussion
• 1 starting running back out with a groin injury
• 1 starting quarterback who throws deep and too long or deep and too short
• 1 defensive line that doesn’t get to the quarterback enough
• 1 CB1 that doesn’t contest catches by opposing WR1s

Instructions:

• Lean on second- and third-string RBs, WR2, and thus far unproductive TE1
• Mix all ingredients well
• Add mixture to Lumen Field
• Bake for 60 minutes of playing time at 68 deg. F

It didn’t sound like a recipe for success for the 1-3 New York Giants as they faced the 3-1 Seattle Seahawks with some urgency to be on the fringe of relevance in a surprisingly up-for-grabs NFC East. Would the soufflé rise, or would it fall flat the way the last two Giants games against the Seahawks have done? What did we learn from the Giants’ thrilling 29-20 win over Seattle?

The soufflé rose!

There’s hope for the Giants’ defense

We’ve all been low-key uneasy about the state of the Giants’ defense, but with all the hand-wringing over the offense, that’s flown a little bit under the radar. Sunday the defense showed out, both up front and in the secondary. In the first three quarters especially, Seattle, a team that put 29 points up on Detroit’s defense one week earlier, looked uncomfortable.

The Giants sacked Seattle quarterback Geno Smith seven times and hit him 10 more times. They made Smith uncomfortable all day. The best thing is that they spread the wealth. Dexter Lawrence had his usual dominating day with three sacks, including the game-sealing sack at the end. Brian Burns was the most visible we’ve seen him in a Giants uniform, with a sack and two passes defensed. Kayvon Thibdoeaux had a half-sack and was active in the fourth quarter. The most pleasant development, though, was the rest of the interior defensive line. Rakeem Nunez-Roches shared a sack and blocked a pass. D.J. Davidson had two sacks. Elijah Chatman got to Smith just a half second too late to prevent his late TD pass but got at least that one QB hit. The Giants did blitz a decent amount, more than I expected, but the line clearly bothered Smith and looked more like what we had hoped for when the season began.

The other pleasant surprise was the secondary. We actually saw Deonte Banks contest and deny a possible catch by DK Metcalf, one of three defensed passes he was credited with on the day, and he forced a fumble. Cor’Dale Flott defensed a pass as well, and Tyler Nubin had seven tackles and two assists. They didn’t shut down the Seahawks’ passing game – Smith finished with 284 passing yards. A lot of that was while Seattle was playing catchup in the fourth quarter, though, and few teams have as much quality three-deep at wide receiver as Seattle. Overall this was a really good performance by the secondary.

Who is the Giants’ RB1?

I’m not serious about that. Assuming Devin Singletary is healthy next week, he’ll get the majority of the carries for the Giants. Eric Gray showed out some today, too, with 50 receiving yards, but had that excruciating fumble at the goal line that mad a game the Giants dominated a nail-biter, it’s hard not to imagine him being buried on the depth chart. (For the record, I am not at all convinced that the ball was out before it broke the plane.)

Today, though, was Tyrone Tracy’s coming-out party. The fifth round draft pick intrigued me because his Purdue tape showed a player who could make defenses miss and compile lots of yards after first contact. For the first four games, I didn’t see much of that, and I had to remind myself that Day 3 players are not drafted until Day 3 for a reason, and as a fan I tend to overinflate their prospects for success. In Seattle, though, Tracy ran 18 times for 129 yards, including one for 27 yards. More importantly, he showed that contact balance that is so evident on his Purdue tape. Unlike the first few games, the Giants’ offensive line gave their RBs some room to run through today, and Tracy especially took advantage. I have to imagine he sees the field more going forward, and I’m all for it.

Daniel Jones finished the job today

Unlike last week, when Daniel Jones moved the ball up and down the field but lost because he couldn’t get his team into the end zone, today Jones was in full control of the offense. Jones finished 23 of 34 for 257 yards, two TDs, no INTs, and a 109.6 passer rating. It should have been even more, but his receivers had by my count at least three drops, a couple by Wan’Dale Robinson and one by Darius Slayton. Eliminate the drops and Gray’s goal line fumble, and Jones should have been ahead by four touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Jones kept the offense moving by scrambling successfully in the face of pressure and had 38 yards on the ground, some of them zone reads or keepers up the middle.

No Malik Nabers? No problem. Let’s face it, we were worried about the Giants sustaining any kind of offense with Nabers out, given how much Nabers has dominated Jones’ attention in the first four games. Without him, Jones was forced to look elsewhere, and he delivered. The Giants targeted backup Seattle cornerback Tre Brown after starter Tariq Woolen went down with an injury. Slayton had eight receptions in 11 targets for 122 yards and a TD, including two explosive plays (!), one a 41-yarder. On that play Jones rolled right and hit Slayton deep in the left corner.

The other TD was to Robinson, with a similar concept. Jones faked a handoff, rolled right, and with the defense rotating to that side, hit Robinson moving left with a shallow crosser that he caught, turned the corner, and got into the end zone. Still no Jalin Hyatt contribution, but you can’t have everything.

Even rookie Theo Johnson contributed, with five catches for 48 yards. For the first time we can say that the Giants are getting contributions from all of their 2024 draft picks.

Jones is not Joe Burrow (who is 1-4 by the way), or Justin Herbert, or, sadly, Jayden Daniels. Take away the 28-6 opening week fiasco against the now 5-0 Vikings, though, and he has played some pretty good ball. He has the Giants at the same place after five weeks that Aaron Rodgers does with the Jets. He should be 4-1 right now, and partly that is his fault because of what he didn’t do last week. He’s back, though, at least to his 2022 form.

Bonus thing: Isaiah Simmons and Bryce Ford-Wheaton

It’s not really something we learned, so I kept the article title at four, but Isaiah Simmons has been relegated to something of an afterthought in Shane Bowen’s defense, so I had to mention him for his hustle in blocking the potential game-tying field goal. Props also to Bryce Ford-Wheaton, a special-teams-only player so far, for getting his first NFL touchdown to seal the game. As the announcers pointed out, it would have been better for him to slide before reaching the end zone as Singletary did in Cleveland, but how can you blame him?