When you wake up on Monday morning to write about how Pro Football Focus saw the Giants’ performance against the Baltimore Ravens and your first thought is, “I wonder what grade PFF gave Tim Boyle?” you know you’ve hit rock bottom. If Butch Cassidy had been watching the group of has-beens and never-will-bes the Giants fielded yesterday, especially on defense, he’d surely have asked, “Who are those guys?” Still, we plow ahead, because being a Giants fan comes with a certain degree of masochistic tendencies.

Offense

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

• Malik Nabers (71.8) continues to be the Giants’ best offensive player and one of the stars of the 2024 rookie class. His 82.6 season receiving grade leads all rookie wide receivers who have seen significant playing time and his 901 receiving yards are second only to former LSU teammate Brian Thomas Jr.’s 956. Overall he’s 12th in the NFL in receiving yards – not bad for a guy catching passes from the league’s worst quarterback group. The other Giants’ wide receivers have basically become afterthoughts with mediocre to poor grades, running routes downfield that quarterbacks never see.
• Tommy DeVito (55.4) and Tim Boyle (53.9) were equally mediocre, but in different ways. DeVito had a Daniel Jones-like 0 big-time throws and 0 turnover-worthy plays, with 0 TDs and 0 INTs and a 3.8 yard ADOT. Boyle had a more Jameis Winston-like 2 big-time throws and 3 turnover-worthy plays, with 1 TD and 1 INT and an 8.0 yard ADOT. Football is ultimately entertainment; I’ll take Boyle.
• The offensive line overall had another pretty good day, with quarterbacks being pressured only nine times:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Giants’ QBs were sacked three times, but only one of them was blamed on an offensive lineman (Greg Van Roten, 68.6 pass block grade). The pass blocking grades were not stellar other than Jermaine Eluemunor (76.1), but they were either average or just slightly below average. Aaron Stinnie started for the first time this season in place of injured Jon Runyan Jr. and held up adequately against the pass rush (58.1). John Michael Schmitz (53.7) gave up two pressures.

Meanwhile, don’t look now, but Carmen Bricillo appears to be making an NFL tackle out of Evan Neal. Here are Neal’s season stats:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Neal had bad games pass blocking against Carolina and Dallas, but he has been average or close to it in his other three starts this season. Unnoticed by most of us is that he’s becoming a superior run blocker (his reputation at Alabama) with only one bad game so far and otherwise good to very good performances. You’d hope for more from the No. 7 pick but if he can be at least adequate I’ll take my winnings off the table and go home.

• It’s nice to see Daniel Bellinger (62.4) involved in the offense again. His five receptions last week matched his career high and his 45 yards was his career high. Yesterday he had 3three more catches in three targets for 35 yards. Chris Manhertz (46.2) and Greg Dulcich (43.5 in only seven snaps) played as well but did little.
• All three running backs saw the field but none of them did much: Tyrone Tracy (53.4 with another drop), Devin Singletary (59.4), and Eric Gray (59.5 but only three snaps).

Snap counts

• All five offensive linemen played the entire game, while Tommy DeVito and Tim Boyle split the QB snaps.
• Wide receiver usage was as in previous games, with Malik Nabers on the field almost all the time, and then in decreasing order of play time, Wan’Dale Robinson, Darius Slayton, Jalin Hyatt, and even Ihmir Smith-Marsette (3 snaps at WR).
• Daniel Bellinger was the primary TE, followed by Chris Manhertz and Greg Dulcich. The total of 80 TE snaps tells us that the Giants played few 2-TE sets yesterday.
• Tyrone Tracy once again got most of the work but Devin Singletary played more than he generally has recently since Tracy’s emergence.

Defense

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

• Adoree’ Jackson (87.1) played his best game as a Giant by PFF’s reckoning. He was elite in run support, making 5 tackles with no misses (in a game in which the Giants as a team missed 14 more tackles) with a forced fumble. In coverage he gave up one completion in two targets for only 7 yards. Dane Belton had a decent game overall (63.4) with a sack, 9 tackles (4 of them stops) and 4 assists with no missed tackles, but gave up 2 completions in 3 targets for 31 yards and a TD. The rest of the secondary, not so good: Greg Stroman Jr. (50.8, 6 tackles, 2 missed tackles, 5 receptions in 6 targets for 65 yards, 25 of them YAC, and a TD); Art Green (39.1, 4 tackles, 1 missed tackle, 3 receptions in 3 targets for 40 yards); Isaiah Simmons (a terrible 27.3, 0 tackles, 1 missed tackle, 2 receptions in 2 targets for 23 yards and a TD); and Jason Pinnock (an equally terrible 26.9, 4 tackles, 2 assists with 1 missed tackle, 3 receptions in 3 targets for 21 yards, 20 of them YAC, and a TD).
• Darius Muasau (59.1) played all right in his first starting appearance, with 4 tackles and 2 assists but with 2 missed tackles and a 27-yard pass reception surrendered. Micah McFadden (43.4) had a poor game – he did have a sack and made 7 tackles, but he missed 3 and gave up 4 catches in 4 targets for 34 yards, 30 of them YAC.
• Kayvon Thibodeaux (34.2) was mostly invisible, not an isolated occurrence; he was credited with 2 hurries, but had only 1 assisted tackle with 1 missed tackle. Brian Burns didn’t play well either (44.1), but at least you noticed him on the field – 5 pressures including a sack, and an assisted tackle but a missed tackle as well. Tomon Fox (51.0) had an assisted tackle and a missed tackle and otherwise did not make the stat sheet.
• Elijah Chatman (68.6) played all right but got no pressure on Lamar Jackson and only had one tackle. Jordon Riley (61.2) did have a QB hit and made 2 tackles, both of them stops. Cory Durden (57.4) had a tackle and an assist. Elijah Garcia (41.4) had a hurry, 2 tackles (one of them a stop) and an assist. Casey Rogers (47.8) didn’t make the stat sheet.

Snap counts

• No knock on Darius Muasau, who has provided useful backup at ILB and even has one of the two Giants interceptions this season, but when your 6th round pick plays every snap after not having played more than 18 since the Week 1 debacle, you know the injury situation has gotten bad. Micah McFadden also played every snap at the other ILB position, as Isaiah Simmons was otherwise occupied in the slot due to the depleted secondary.
• Speaking of the secondary, the cornerback room was down to tertiary options with the rash of injuries there as well, with Greg Stroman playing almost every snap, Adoree’ Jackson, brought back this season for emergency backup seeing three-quarters of the snaps, and even Art Green playing half the game. The safeties didn’t play well, but at least Jason Pinnock and Dane Belton made it through every snap without getting injured themselves.
• On the edge, Kayvon Thibodeaux played almost every snap, not that you would have noticed watching the game. Brian Burns only played about ²⁄₃ of the snaps, with Tomon Fox relieving him as the game got out of hand.
• In the interior, Elijah Chatman led the way, playing 80% of snaps. Chatman is a feel-good story, an undersized but high-motor guy who has made some plays, but him being out there on most defensive snaps tells you how much attrition there has been on this DL. Jordon Riley also played more than half the snaps, with Elijah Garcia (who lined up sometimes over or outside the tackle), Cory Durden, and Casey Rogers making up the rest. You can’t tell the players without a scorecoard, indeed.