When a team takes a 14-3 lead over a winless opponent and then doesn’t score a point after early in the second quarter while giving up 23, the question isn’t: Who played well and who didn’t? Rather, the question should be: Did anyone play well? Even more salient are the questions: Did any of the coaches coach well? Did the general manager draft well? Pro Football Focus doesn’t try to answer those last two, though it increasingly looks as if we’ll get the answer by the end of the season if not sooner. You can’t replace all 53 players, though (not easily, anyway), so let’s see what PFF has to say about the 53 players the Giants have now, and how many were on the field how often during the disgraceful 26-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Offense
PFF grades
First, let’s look at the offense as a whole:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Yes, there were a few bright spots, which we’ll get to. First, the quarterback:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Overall, Jaxson Dart had a ‘meh’ game. He did some good things early, then spiraled downward as the Saints began to take over the game in the second quarter. His stat line is remarkable in that he did his best work when blitzed, which is true of many good experienced QBs (82.5, 13 of 17, 102 yards and a TD), but he also threw his two interceptions when blitzed. Overall, he played better under pressure (67.7) than when kept clean (53.7), but both of his TD passes were on plays in which he was not pressured. He was only pressured 34.8% of the time, which is not terrible. Dart isn’t the reason the Giants lost, but neither was his performance great.
Now, the pass blocking:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
I keep seeing on X that the Giants need to draft an offensive lineman in the first round in 2026. No, they don’t. I’m not saying that the offensive line is the second coming of the Seven Blocks of Granite, but it’s not nearly as bad as some people think (a dangerous comment to make three days before playing the Eagles, I admit). Andrew Thomas has picked up where he left off as one of the best tackles in the NFL. Jermaine Eluemunor had a rough day Sunday with three penalties, but he did not allow any pressures and finished with an about-average pass blocking grade of 59.5.
It’s the interior of the line that’s the problem for this Giants team, and even then it’s not as bad as you think. Greg Van Roten allowed three pressures, but no hits or sacks. Jon Runyan had his second terrible game in the last three (41.4, three hits and a hurry), but just last week he graded 87.3 with no pressures against the Chargers. The big surprise? John Michael Schmitz Jr: 81.7 with zero pressures allowed. Last week he only gave up one QB hit, and he hasn’t allowed a sack all season. Is it possible that Carm Bricillo is salvaging him? We’ll see. I definitely want the Giants to draft an IOL in 2026, and maybe sign a free agent IOL as well, but that can wait until Round 2 since it’s increasingly looking as if they will yet again have a top 10 pick, and that’s too high to take a guard.
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Even the run blocking, the Achilles heel of this offensive line (I know, don’t say “Achilles” three days before the Giants play on the MetLife turf) was decent yesterday. Thomas was his usual dominant self with an outstanding 91.8, and JMS, who has been criticized for not having the play strength to be a good blocker, had his best run block grade of the season (75.9). Van Roten was OK (60.6), while Runyan (51.8) and Eluemunor (42.5) were subpar. Well, nobody’s perfect (h/t Joe E. Brown).
Now the rushing:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Dart was effective again (73.1) running the ball, at least when he held onto it. The running backs’ grades were unremarkable. Cam Skattebo’s would have been higher had he not fumbled. The most notable thing about the running backs is that Skattebo got most his yards (44 of 61) after first contact, which we’ve become used to, and even Devin Singletary had 18 of his 20 yards after first contact.
I’ve purposely saved the receivers for last:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
The good news is that Daboll and Kafka have re-discovered Daniel Bellinger (80.7, four catches in four targets for 52 yards) and that Theo Johnson shows signs of being a good tight end (six catches inseven targets for 33 yards and two TDs). Skattebo continues to be a good option in the passing game (74.1) with six catches in six targets for 45 yards.
You know it’s bad, though, when your wide receivers all grade lower than 54 and when your most prolific receiver has 31 yards on the day. That’s what the Giants are facing now. Will a receiver be added to the roster soon?
Snap counts
- As usual, the starting quarterback and offensive line played every snap.
- Theo Johnson played 60 of the 73 snaps, while Daniel Bellinger and Chris Manhertz combined for 46, i.e., the Giants played 12, and a little bit of 13, personnel, a little over half the time. It would probably have been more if they had held their early lead.
- Wan’Dale Robinson played almost every snap and Darius Slayton most or all of them until his hamstring injury. Jalin Hyatt and Beaux Collins saw considerable action, to no discernable positive effect.
- Cam Skattebo and Devin Singletary divided the running back snaps, with Skattebo getting about two-thirds.
Related
Defense
PFF grades
First, the defense as a whole:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
I’ll save the detailed comments for the individual position group discussion below, but you can see where the problem is with a cursory glance at this chart.
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
I wrote a piece in the preseason about whether the Giants’ secondary can be good enough to give the pass rush enough time to be great. It seems that we now have our answer. You know things are bad when the bottom four PFF grades are all for defensive backs who play key roles every Sunday.
There was a little good news, with Jevon Holland (78.0) having his best game as a Giant and Dane Belton (73.6) only allowing one reception in three targets for 4 yards. Cor’Dale Flott (67.9) played fairly well, too. However, Deonte Banks (31.2), Paulson Adebo (42.2), and Tyler Nubin (45.5) were all bad, and Dru Phillips (52.1) wasn’t stellar, either.
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
The Giants’ pass rush seemed to be playing in Bizarro World. The most effective pass-rushers? Run-stuffing defensive linemen Rakeem Nunez-Roches (86.0, three pressures including a QB hit), D.J. Davidson (84.9, two hurries), Roy Robertson-Harris (71.7, two hurries), and Darius Alexander (65.5, two hurries). The least effective? Brian Burns, with by far his worst game of the year (50.4, one hurry but also a batted ball) Kayvon Thibodeaux (56.4, one pressure), also by far his worst of the year, and Abdul Carter (63.0, three hurries). Dexter Lawrence had a non-impactful game (59.4) except for another batted pass. That’s a function of the Saints’ offensive line being strongest at the tackles (Taliese Fuaga and 2025 No. 9 pick Kelvin Banks Jr.) and weaker inside, especially at right guard, where injured starter Cesar Ruiz was replaced by UDFA Torricelli Simpkins III, who got a 0.0 PFF pass block grade.
Finally, the run defense:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
I wanted to highlight Darius Muasau, who not only led the Giants with an 80.7 run defense grade but also had a 76.6 coverage grade. Muasau is getting regular playing time with Micah McFadden being injured, and this season his overall PFF defense grades in the four games he has played have gone from 30.0 to 64.4 to 78.7 to 89.0. He’s a player to keep an eye on going forward. Otherwise, Bobby Okereke had his best run defense grade of the season (75.9), and a number of the IDLs graded average or above against the run as well, consistent with the fact that the Saints running backs were not that big a factor in the game.
Snap counts
- Starting safeties Tyler Nubin and Jevon Holland played every snap, with Dane Belton seeing the field 30% of the time, mostly in the slot or the box.
- Paulson Adebo played every snap, and Cor’Dale Flott all but seven snaps, in the secondary, replaced by Deonte Banks in the now-standard third down rotation the rest of the time plus one additional snap. Dru Phillips played 65% of snaps.
- Bobby Okereke as usual played every snap, and Darius Muasau 70% of snaps, at off-ball linebacker.
- On the edge, Brian Burns played 80% of snaps, Abdul Carter 70%, and Kayvon Thibodeaux 62%. Chauncey Golston also returned to the lineup for a few snaps. All of them spent the whole game outside or over the tackle.
- Roy Robertson-Harris played the most snaps of any IDL (56%), with Dexter Lawrence only getting 47%, presumably due to the undisclosed illness that limited him in practice this week. Darius Alexander (41% of snaps) is now a regular part of the IDL rotation, and Rakeem Nunez-Roches returned to play 38% of snaps. D.J. Davidson also saw considerable action, playing 32% of snaps.
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