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Giants news, 9/17: Red zone woes, roster shuffle, Marcus Mbow, more headlines

Good morning, New York Giants fans!

From Big Blue View

Other Giant observations

Anatomy of a Giants letdown: How defense, coaches failed in biggest moment vs. Cowboys | The Athletic

Hudson got under defenders’ skin by repeatedly hitting them in the head while blocking. And he antagonized teammates by getting in their faces and talking trash after nearly every 1-on-1 rep in practice. A 1-on-1 period early in camp came to a premature end after Hudson smacked Thibodeaux in the back of the head and then jawed with the defender.

“Some of the things that he does will get a flag thrown,” one Giants defender told The Athletic early in camp. “And that’s a momentum changer. That’s getting you ejected out of the game. Be about the team, not about you. What’s going to end up happening is we’re going to have first-and-(expletive)-35 because everybody keeps punching each other in the face.”

#BaldyBreakdown of Marcus Mbow

Shane Bowen got it all wrong with way-too-passive Giants call in critical moment | New York Post

Go for it. Do not sit back. Apply pressure rather than wilt under it.

That is the approach the Giants and their defensive coordinator, Shane Bowen, needed to unleash down the stretch of a heart-stopping and, eventually, heart-breaking game that ended the way so many of these Sundays go for a team that for far too long collects wins as often as the mortgage needs to be paid: Pretty much once a month.

2. Brian Daboll. Every year Daboll sits on the hot seat, a sign of how poor the Giants franchise is and how hard it is for New York to win games. The Giants played hard in an overtime loss to the Cowboys on Sunday, but are sitting at 0-2 for the second straight season. The Giants are in a midst of a rebuild, and Daboll may be able to survive it because general manager Joe Schoen is still around. Hard to defend a coach that is 9-27 over the last three seasons, even if the Giants will eventually turn to Dart at some point.

Ranking backup NFL quarterbacks for the 2025 season | ESPN.com

3. Jaxson Dart, New York Giants. The unvarnished upside of young, highly drafted rookies means someone like Dart deserves to be on a list like this. He might possess a lower floor than many other backups, but he also critically has a higher upside. At this time a year ago, I put Drake Maye at No. 1 and Penix at No. 5. I feel pretty good about those rankings; if anything, I probably wasn’t high enough on Penix.

12. Jameis Winston, New York Giants. Winston might be the Giants’ No. 3, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be one of the 12 best backups in the league. Winston has never recorded a QBR under 50 in a season in which he started at least five games. Even though the Browns went 2-5 in his starts in 2024, he posted a 52.2 QBR — which would have been higher than quarterbacks such as Geno Smith, Russell Wilson, C.J. Stroud and Aaron Rodgers had he qualified.

“They came up and told me red zone wise to be prepared to get in, in short yardage stuff,” Dart said of what Daboll and the Giants’ coaches told him at the start of the drive. “So that was the conversation, and [Daboll was] explaining from a coaching lens what we’re gonna run.”

This clearly wasn’t just a one-off for Dart, either. Even if Wilson remains the starter, using Dart in the red zone and short yardage undoubtedly is an option Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka view as an extra weapon again in Week 3 against the Chiefs and beyond. “You just have two playmakers, guys who run the ball well and run the ball physically,” Dart said of him and Skattebo as a duo that hopefully will be doing this together for a long time. “So in those short yardage situations, I feel like we kind of have an advantage just by our abilities.”

Wan’Dale Robinson on Russell Wilson’s influence

Skattebo led the backfield with 13 total touches (11 rushes, two receptions), which he turned into 59 yards (45 rushing, 14 receiving) and the first touchdown of his NFL career. The 23-year-old averaged 4.1 yards per carry while picking up three first downs. He averaged 3.18 yards after contact per attempt, according to Pro Football Focus, and forced three missed tackles. The other players nominated for the Week 2 Pepsi Zero Sugar Rookie of the Week include: Jaguars RB Bhayshul Tuten, Titans WR Elic Ayomanor, Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan, Eagles S Andrew Mukuba and Colts TE Tyler Warren

This week’s opponent

NFL Week 2 grades | CBSSports.com

Chiefs: C-. Patrick Mahomes showed lots of spirit as a scrambler early on, all but carrying the Chiefs’ stagnant offense. Unfortunately, he couldn’t quite match the energy through the air, trying but often failing to stretch the field against a stingy Eagles defense until it was too late. Steve Spagnuolo’s own defense prevented Philly from hitting any home run plays, but K.C. also had no answers for the “Tush Push.” This group needs a spark.

Top 15 NFL rookies through Week 2 | PFF

15. T Josh Simmons, Kansas City Chiefs (67.3). Simmons earned an 87.8 PFF pass-blocking grade against the Eagles in Week 2, ranking third among tackles. He played 39 pass-blocking snaps and didn’t allow a single pressure — quite the contrast from Week 1, when he allowed four pressures on 49 snaps against the Chargers. Simmons owns a 75.3 PFF pass-blocking grade through two games (second best among rookie tackles). He also ranks second among rookie tackles in zone PFF run-blocking grade (74.3).