‘Kudos & Wet Willies’: Lots of praise to be awarded after Giants’ only home victory of 2024

As you might expect, there were a lot of heroes in the New York Giants’ 45-33 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Let’s get to the ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’ and figure out the long list of players who deserve praise, and the handful who don’t.

Kudos to …

Malik Nabers — Wow!! That is all I can say about Nabers’ game on Sunday. The rookie wide receiver caught seven passes for a career-high 171 yards. He had two touchdowns, one of a career-high 59 yards and the other a 31-yarder. On both, he created a lot of the yardage on his own.

Nabers now has 104 receptions on the season, one behind the rookie record of 105 set last year by Puka Nacua of the Los Angeles Rams. Brock Bowers, rookie tight end for the Las Vegas Raiders, has already surpassed Nacua’s record. He has 108 receptions.

The Giants’ franchise record for receptions in a season is 107, set in 2009 by Steve Smith.

Nabers also surpassed 1,000 receiving yards, the first Giants receiver since Odell Beckham Jr. in 2018 to reach that milestone. With 1,140 receiving yards, Nabers needs 165 yards to tie Beckham’s franchise rookie record of 1,305 yards.

Tyrone Tracy — The rookie running back did his part on Sunday by joining Nabers with more than 1,000 total yards from scrimmage. Nabers and Tracy joined Abner Haynes and Johnny Robinson (Dallas Texans/1960) and Marques Colston and Reggie Bush (New Orleans Saints/2006) as the only rookie duos to surpass 1,000 total yards.

Tracy now has 1,057 total yards (780 rushing, 277 receiving) on the season despite having only gained 70 yards in the Giants’ first four games.

Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images

Drew Lock — Boy, what a difference quality quarterback play makes. Lock completed 17 of 23 passes for 309 yards, the fourth 300-yard passing game of his six-year career, and a phenomenal 155.3 passer rating. He also accounted for a career-high five touchdowns (four passing, one rushing).

“I think if you get good quarterback play, you have an opportunity in every game,” said head coach Brian Daboll.

The 45 points scored by the Giants was their highest point total since a 41-35 victory over the Washington Redskins in Week 16 of the 2019 season, more than five years ago.

The Giants, as we know, will likely be seeking a new franchise quarterback this offseason. Lock’s performance on Sunday, getting the ball out quickly and accurately and making plays with his feet when necessary, offered a glimpse of what the Giants could like look with a quarterback who can do those kinds of things regularly.

Lock played poorly in last week’s 34-7 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, and took satisfaction from Sunday’s game.

“It means a lot. I knew it was in me. I knew we could go out and do it,” Lock said. “It takes everybody. That’s the quarterback position. It takes everybody and those guys played their butt off for me today. Last week being the way it was, not playing up to my standard. Not playing up to the standard that Dabs holds me to or quarterbacks Shea (Tierney) holds me to. It was disappointing, yeah. But we regrouped, fought throughout the week, rehabbed, studied, practiced, came out here, and it just played out the way it should have.”

Again, it is amazing the difference getting good quarterback play can make.

Rakeem Nunez-Roches — Maybe it is a small thing, but Nunez-Roches first quarter sack of Flacco was his second of the season, tying a career high. Nacho also had a quarterback hit and a tackle for loss.

Jason Pinnock — The safety seemed to be buzzing around the line of scrimmage the entire afternoon, making 10 tackles.

Ihmir Smith-Marsette — Smith-Marsette opened the second half by taking the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. That was the Giants’ first kickoff return touchdown since Dwayne Harris in Week 7 of the 2015 season against the Dallas Cowboys. Smith-Marsette has had a nice season for the Giants since replacing the injured Gunner Olszewski as the primary return man.

Brian Burns — The Giants best defensive player left standing showed up several times when it mattered on Sunday. He ended up with six tackles, three for loss, and a quarterback hit on a third-down pass that helped force an incompletion.

Pass blocking — How about this for an amazing coincidence? If you pass block well the quarterback has an opportunity to play better. Lock was never sacked and was hit only one time. Giants’ pass blockers were charged with allowing only five hurries in unofficial Pro Football Focus grading.

Ty Summers — A career special teamer forced into action as an inside linebacker by the injuries to Bobby Okereke, Summers’ 11 tackles were the most in his six-year NFL career.

Wan’Dale Robinson — The diminutive slot receiver played big on Sunday. He had five catches in six targets for 71 yards and a 5-yard touchdown catch. The one ball Robinson did not catch should have been an easy completion, as he dropped a pass at the Giants’ 45-yard line with New York clinging to a 35-33 lead late in the fourth quarter.

Robinson responded with a diving 18-yard reception on the next play. Then, three plays later he had a 35-yard catch-and-run during which he did his best Mark Bavaro impression, using all of his 5-foot-8, 185-pound frame to run through and over would-be tacklers.

That set up a touchdown that put the Giants back up by two scores with three minutes to play.

Dane Belton and Dru Phillips — Each defensive back had interceptions, the Giants’ first multi-interception game of the season. Belton also had eight tackles and a pair of passes defensed, while Phillips added six tackles and a pass defensed.

Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images

Wet Willies to …

The Tank — Well … I have been trying to tell fans and BBV commenters that the Giants were not intentionally losing games to get a better pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. They just have not been, and still are not, a very good team.

Sunday, though, they had a barrage of explosive plays. There was the 100-yard kickoff return by Smith-Marsette. There were 59 and 31-yard touchdowns by Nabers, a 32-yard touchdown by Darius Slayton, a 40-yard run by Tracy. Including the kickoff return, there were six plays of at least 20 yards, and two more of 19 yards.

They intercepted Flacco twice and recovered a fumble, while never turning the ball over themselves.

The result is that they no longer control the No. 1 pick in the draft. They are No. 3 as of this writing, with the possibility of dropping further if the Cleveland Browns lose to the Miami Dolphins.

Fourth-down decision — Had the Giants been trailing in the game I would have been all for Brian Daboll’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 at the Giants’ own 42-yard line late in the third quarter. The Giants were ahead, though, 28-20. They also were not running the ball well, with Tracy’s 40-yard run pretty much the only successful designed run they had all day.

Predictably, Tracy was stuffed for no gain and Indianapolis took over. The defense forced a punt, so the decision wasn’t costly. I would, though, have preferred a punt since the Giants were winning at the time.

—> IND (20) @ NYG (28) <—
NYG has 4th & 1 at the NYG 42, Q3 00:18

Recommendation : Toss-up (+0.7 WP)
Actual play: T.Tracy left end to NYG 42 for no gain (E.Speed; J.Jones).

— NFL 4th Down Bot (@nfl4th.com) 2024-12-29T20:12:22.707187Z

Deonte Banks — Banks committed defensive pass interference penalties of 44 and 19 yards that led to 10 Indianapolis points. He was also victimized for a 49-yard deep completion from to Alec Pierce.

Run blocking — Tracy had that 40-yard run in the first quarter. Otherwise, he had 19 carries for 19 yards. It was a very Saquon Barkley-esque line, due mostly to their not being anyplace to run. The early Pro Football Focus grades show every offensive lineman other than Jake Kubas with below average run blocking scores.

Kwillies to …

Kayvon Thibodeaux — The third-year edge rusher padded his stats with a strip sack of Colts quarterback Joe Flacco inside the final two minutes. He had only one other tackle and a quarterback hit in the game. If it seems like I am holding Thibodeaux to a high standard, I am. The No. 5 overall pick in the draft needs to be more consistently impactful, in my view.