Once upon a Sunday dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

The forgotten lore of a 2022 Giants’ win over Lamar,

Suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

In there stepped the stately Ravens of the days of 2024.

“Might the Giants once again defeat the Ravens? Is there balm in Gilead? Tell me – tell me, I implore!”

Quoth the Ravens…”Nevermore.”

Like Edgar Allen Poe’s protagonist, New York Giants fans lament the loss of their beloved 2022 playoff team, and there could be no more unwelcome visitors on this dreary winter day than the 2024 Baltimore Ravens, with their dynamic quarterback, stout run defense, and playoff hopes still alive. What did we learn from the New York Giants’ 35-14 loss to the Ravens? At this point, there’s not much else to learn that we didn’t already know, so let’s make a couple of actual points and have a little fun with the other two.

Props to Malik Nabers

It’s far from the first time he’s made this list, but if there was one bright spot for the Giants today it was Malik Nabers. He is just a dawg. Trash Joe Schoen for not taking J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr., or Bo Nix if you wish, but that No. 6 pick was far from wasted. With 10 receptions in 14 targets and a touchdown today, Nabers is now just short of 900 receiving yards with three games left, on a team with quarterbacks who throw short routes about 99% of the time.

Nabers has played hurt a lot of the season, and to make things worse, it’s been for no good purpose since the Giants’ season was over at the break. He’s out there scrapping, making contested catches, piling up yards even though he is rarely targeted in space where he can do the most damage, and doing it in games that are meaningless through no fault of his. Give the man credit.

Add safety to the list of Giants’ needs

Before getting hurt, second round pick Tyler Nubin did some good things for the Giants. A lot of it was in run support, where Nubin was one of the Giants’ better tacklers, but his pass coverage stats before getting hurt weren’t much different from those of ex-Giant Xavier McKinney…except for the lack of interceptions, from a player who set the career record for interceptions at the University of Minnesota. There’s time to see if Nubin can develop further.

Time has just about run out on Jason Pinnock, though. Pinnock looked like a great pickup early on, and it was hoped that with McKinney gone, Pinnock could take over at the other safety position and the Giants would be set for a while. Now in his fourth year, though, that does not seem to be the case. Pinnock has been invisible most of the season, other than him being within the camera view as yet another receiver caught a ball on him. Pinnock gave up three completions on three targets today for 63 yards and a TD. For the season he has had an 83% completion rate against. Like most other Giants’ defensive backs, he hasn’t intercepted a ball. At this stage of his career it’s likely that we’ve seen all there is to see.

Dane Belton isn’t the answer, either. Belton does make the occasional play – his three pass breakups this season are one more than Nubin and Pinnock combined. Still, quarterbacks have a 139.8 passer rating against him. That’s better than Pinnock’s 148.4, but worse than Nubin’s 95.7 and much worse than McKinney’s excellent 57.1.

With all the hand-wringing over the Giants’ cornerback situation, safety has flown under the radar. It’s every bit as big a need, even assuming Nubin’s continued development.

The Giants’ best offensive play call is…a penalty

The Ravens were penalized 12 times today for 112 yards, 8 of those on the defense. Thank goodness. The Giants might have been shut out if not for that. On their first scoring drive, when it was early enough that fans could delude themselves that the Giants might be able to stay close and make a game of it, the Ravens accommodated them with four penalties on that single drive.

Without that, what were the chances of getting first downs by…you know, running the ball into the teeth of the best run defense in the NFL or throwing it on pass routes that rarely went as far as 10 yards?

The Giants were right to release Daniel Jones

Since before the season began, a recurring theme was how long the Giants would stick with Daniel Jones if he didn’t perform better than he did in 2023. Through the first five weeks, Jones had his moments, especially in the stirring win in Seattle. Things spiraled downward quickly after that, though, and after the embarrassing loss to Carolina in Munich, Jones was benched by Brian Daboll during the bye and eventually released.

We all know why that was done. Despite his flaws, Jones was still the Giants’ best quarterback. He was benched so that the Giants would not risk having to pay the $23M injury guarantee in his four-year contract.

That decision is looking pretty wise right now. Not from a football standpoint – neither Tommy DeVito nor Drew Lock has looked any better. But consider what has happened since the bye. DeVito started one game, hurt his forearm, and was replaced in Dallas the following week by Drew Lock. Lock started a second game against New Orleans and emerged from it with his heel in a walking boot. That brought back a recovered DeVito to start today against Baltimore…and DeVito left the game today with a concussion.

The Giants were smart to save themselves $23M. Surely they’d be paying it out if Jones had continued to start, given the way things have gone.

Meanwhile: Is Tim Boyle the Giants’ best quarterback? He did at least throw a TD pass to Nabers, and he actually threw the ball past the sticks occasionally, albeit in a game that was already decided. This is what we’ve come to. At least the Giants are supporting the local private plane industry.