It seemed as if the New York Giants were starting to get close to being a respectable team. The quarterback of the future was in place, an accomplished veteran quarterback had shown he can still run an explosive offense, the pass rush was good and deep, the offensive line was getting its best blocker, Andrew Thomas, back, an exciting new running back was making plays, and the Giants were coming home to face a Kansas City Chiefs team that was struggling with injuries and ripe to be taken down. All the ingredients were there for an upset, a coming-of-age moment for this team that has been downtrodden for so long.
The fans knew better, though. How many teams play their home opener in front of a crowd that is 50% made up of fans of the opposing team? And the Giants fans were right. We do these analyses of Pro Football Focus grades and snap counts every week to see who was on the field and what an objective analyst’s post-mortem of the performance of individual players is. In this case, though, “post-mortem” may have something closer to the original meaning of the term. It feels as if the Russell Wilson era may soon be coming to an end, as may the Graham Gano era, and more importantly, the Brian Daboll – Joe Schoen era. Still, you can’t change all 53 players. Let’s see if there were any flowers blooming in the desert of last night’s execrable 22-9 loss. Are the Giants (apologies to Paul Simon) nearer their desired destination? If so, the more they keep slip-slidin’ away, it seems.
Offense
PFF grades
It will come as no surprise to find that Russell Wilson played a terrible game last night. He was actually 13 of 17 for 127 yards when kept clean with his only big-time throw of the game, but he only graded 61.4 because his two interceptions came from clean pockets where he just threw deep to a receiver who wasn’t open. Another part of the story is that PFF has Wilson being pressured on 54.1% of his dropbacks (Next Gen Stats only recorded 37.8% as pressured – still a larger than average number). He was an awful 5 of 15 with a 39.3 passing grade on those throws. He was 2 of 6 when blitzed for 30 yards and a 37.3 grade.
As we noted last night, Wilson hardly explored the intermediate depths of the field at all (1 of 2 for 14 yards), and he only went deep five times, completing one and having three of the other four be turnover-worthy.
The good news was that Thomas was back, although he only played the first half, and his pass blocking was as good as ever (84.4), with no pressures allowed. On the other side, Jermaine Eluemunor was almost as good (76.4), with just one hurry. Marcus Mbow replaced Thomas for the second half and had a rougher go of it than in his first game, to say the least (12.2 pass-blocking grade), with a sack, 5 hits, and a hurry surrendered. On the inside, Greg Van Roten played all right (68.9), with just 2 hurries. The rest of the IOL, not so much: John Michael Schmitz (31.1, 3 hurries) and Jon Runyan Jr. (28.8, 1 sack, 1 hit, 4 hurries).
The receivers had a forgettable night. You know you’re in trouble when your leading receiver, in targets (8), receptions (6), yards (61), and receiving grade (86.6), is a running back, but Cam Skattebo basically was the Giants’ offense last night. Everyone else was at or slightly below average in PFF’s eyes, even Malik Nabers.
Continuing with the Skattebo love, he had a 78.1 run grade, with 10 attempts for 60 yards and the Giants’ only TD. Most notably, he forced an amazing 5 missed tackles and had three explosive (10+ yards) runs. Neither PFF nor NextGenStats record how many “angry runs” he had, but I counted at least two. Tyrone Tracy Jr. (59.0) and Devin Singletary (51.7) were just OK in limited action, Tracy because he left early with an injury.
The chart above includes everyone with at least 8 run block snaps. Andrew Thomas graded a very good 72.7, and Jermaine Eluemunor an average 59.8, while all the other OLs’ run block grades were basically the opposite of their pass block grades: John Michael Schmitz (67.7), Jon Runyan Jr. (73.9), and Marcus Mbow (80.5) all run-blocked well despite pass blocking poorly, while Greg Van Roten, who pass-blocked fairly well, run-blocked poorly (46.9).
Snap counts
- The starting offensive linemen played every snap except at left tackle, where Thomas and Mbow split time.
- Wilson and Jaxson Dart did the now-standard thing where Dart replaces Wilson for a few zone read snaps.
- It wasn’t clear because of Tracy’s injury, but Skattebo seems to be cementing himself as the lead running back.
- Big news on the wide receiver front: Jalin Hyatt played six snaps! (Did you notice him on the field? I didn’t.) Otherwise the playing time was predictable, with Nabers seeing almost every snap, Wan’Dale Robinson and Darius Slayton the majority of snaps, and Beaux Collins playing a little, too.
- The tight end rotation of Theo Johnson being on the field for the majority of snaps and Daniel Bellinger and Chris Manhertz splitting the rest continued last night.
Defense
PFF grades
The Giants didn’t sack Patrick Mahomes last night, but that is more about Mahomes’ escapability than the Giants’ pass rush. Brian Burns (90.5 pass rush, 89.7 overall) continued his excellent start to the season with 2 hits, 4 hurries, and a batted pass. Kayvon Thibodeaux (69.4 pass rush, 70.7 overall) is having perhaps his best season to date, with 2 hits and 2 hurries last night. Abdul Carter had a quiet night in pass rush (57.3) with only a hit and 2 hurries, but 43 of his 57 snaps were at off-ball linebacker rather than on the line. Dexter Lawrence (69.6 pass rush, 59.6 overall, 2 QB hits) continues to be less dominant than in past seasons. He was double-teamed on most snaps but unlike some games, he didn’t beat the double-team as often, adding to the speculation about his health. Everyone else on the defensive line had a middling game. Of note is that D.J. Davidson had 2 hurries, and rookie Darius Alexander one.
In his sophomore season, it’s becoming clear that Andru Phillips is being targeted by opposing offensive coordinators and quarterbacks. Last night he had a terrible 35.5 coverage grade, giving up 7 receptions in 9 targets for 82 yards and a 141.7 passer rating, although he did have a pass breakup. For the season he’s been targeted 30 times already in 3 games with a 76.7% completion rate against. His target rate of 24% of coverage snaps is well above the 15% target rate he recorded last season. Paulson Adebo (60.9) held up fairly well, conceding 4 receptions in 7 targets for 32 yards with a pass breakup.
Snap counts
- The Giants’ two major free agent additions, Adebo and Holland, played every snap, while Bobby Okereke and Tyler Nubin played almost every snap.
- Otherwise in the secondary, Cor’Dale Flott played 86% of snaps and Andru Phillips 75%, with Dane Belton (32%) and Deonte Banks (26%) seeing limited action.
- The injuries at off-ball linebacker as well as to Chauncey Golston showed up in the extended playing time of Kayvon Thibodeaux (90% of snaps) and Brian Burns (80% of snaps), because Abdul Carter (79% of snaps) was off-ball for much of the evening. Tomon Fox saw 19% of the snaps.
- In the IDL, Lawrence played 67% of the snaps and Roy Robertson-Harris 49%, with Davidson (33%), Alexander (32%), and Elijah Garcia (11%) getting the rest.
- Swayze Bozeman, pressed into action because of the Giants’ linebacker injury epidemic, played 17% of snaps.
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