There isn’t much positive to say about the New York Giants after their embarrassing 34-24 defeat by the San Francisco 49ers. Pro Football Focus grades can often tell us something about who played well and who didn’t, but when a good part of the problem is the coaches, as it seemed to be yesterday, we have to think about them in a different light. Let’s try to do that.
Offense
PFF grades
First, let’s look at the offense as a whole, because it has something interesting to tell us:
This is a team that had put 10 points on the board with 8 minutes left in the game against an opponent missing its All-Pro edge defender and linebacker, as well as several other starters. Yet according to PFF, five Giants offensive players played very well, another seven played at or a little above average, and only five were below average, none of them awful. That’s what happens when your coaches give you an unimaginative offensive game plan that involves few downfield shots, lots of passes short of the sticks, lots of keepers that let your prized rookie quarterback take needless hits, and taking a field goal on 4th and goal when you’re on your opponent’s 3-yard line down 13 in the second half. Everyone gets a good grade when the exam is easy. Keep that in mind as we look at position groups below.
Let’s start with the QB:
Jaxson Dart played well yesterday, although you wouldn’t necessarily know that from his meager 191 yards passing. Dart was only pressured 25.6% of the time and when kept clean he was 24 of 29 for all of his 191 yards, with 2 TDs, 2 big-time throws, and no turnover-worthy plays, grading 81.0. When pressured he was 0 of 4. His grade when blitzed was a poor 47.7, but he was still 3 of 5 with a TD.
The problem was his distribution of passes:
Only two passes were thrown more than 15 yards downfield, one of them completed to Gunner Olszewski for a TD and the other a potential TD that was stripped out of Darius Slayton’s hands as the fell to the ground in the end zone. The pass distribution reflects the conservative routes called for by Mike Kafka – you might have thought the Giants were celebrating a Joe Judge – Jason Garrett Ring of Honor induction the way the offense was run. The Giants’ coaches clearly have no confidence in their receivers to make explosive plays in the absence of Malik Nabers. There are ways to beat the 49ers’ Cover 3 and quarters zone defenses, using seam and post routes, flood concepts, etc., but this staff seems to avoid that. Dart deserves better.
Olszewski’s catch is a great example of PFF’s grading system for receivers. One target, one reception, TD, open between two defenders, nice back-shoulder catch (and a great pass by Dart). That’s how you grade almost 90:
The rest of the receivers were just average or below, but mostly they didn’t get the chance to do much. The exception was Theo Johnson, who had a very nice catch-and-run for a TD that shows what he might be…but then he also had another drop. Shades of Evan Engram.
The Giants ran the ball pretty well yesterday, with 4 explosive runs, 117 yards total, and 5.6 yards per carry, 5 missed tackles forced, and 88 of the 117 yards occurring after contact, although Dart gets more credit for that that Devin Singletary and Tyrone Tracy.
The pass blocking was good yesterday, admittedly against a depleted 49ers’ edge room. Dart was pressured only five times and sacked once. Marcus Mbow gave up a sack and two hurries but was not bad overall in 39 pass block snaps. Andrew Thomas provided his usual stellar play with just one hurry. Greg Van Roten abd Jon Runyan Jr. also graded above average. John Michael Schmitz played adequately before getting hurt, and once again Austin Schlottman filled in admirably at center after JMS left – that is three games for Schlottman in the past four weeks with pass block grades of 80.5, 73.1, and 81.7.
The Giants’ run blocking yesterday was very good overall, with three starting linemen grading in the 80s (Van Roten, Mbow, and Thomas). This is the issue with letting Jermaine Eluemunor walk in free agency next year. Mbow has potential but he’s been up-and-down from game to game, and in pass vs. run blocking, but overall he may be a better run than pass blocker right now. It’s not clear that you can just hand the job to him in 2026. At center, Schlottman only graded 51.5, but that was the lowest of his three run block grades this season. This raises a similar question vis-a-vis JMS’ future with the Giants. Long-term the Giants are probably best served having all of Eluemunor, Mbow, JMS, and Schlottman on the roster…if the price is right.
Snap counts
- Dart and the starting offensive line played every snap except for JMS, who was replaced by Schlottman after his injury.
- With Daniel Bellinger out, the Giants went to a lot more 11 personnel than in previous games this season, with Slayton, Ray-Ray McCloud, and Wan’Dale Robinson all playing most of the snaps and Olszewski and Beaux Collins seeing a few snaps each. Theo Johnson played most of the tight end snaps, with Chris Manhertz only getting two snaps and rookie Thomas Fidone seeing his greatest action to date (11 snaps), though he has yet to be targeted in the passing game.
- Devin Singletary led the Giants in rushing attempts for the first time this season, playing 7 more snaps than Tyrone Tracy.
Defense
PFF grades
Unlike the offense, the defense had what should have been an easy exam with Brock Purdy, Brandon Aiyuk, and Ricky Pearsall out, and they flunked it because their teacher is lousy (and maybe their study habits aren’t great either). Only Brian Burns aced the exam with an outstanding 89.9 overall grade. NO ONE ELSE ON THE DEFENSE GRADED EVEN VERY GOOD. The players have to take part of the blame, but no one thinks these players are being used optimally by this defensive coordinator.
Burns’ pass rush grade was an elite 93.2, even though he was only credited with one sack, one hurry, and a batted ball. That can happen when you’re beating your man but the QB is getting the ball out quick or rolling out to the side opposite you so you don’t register a pressure. The surprise (to me, anyway) is that Dexter Lawrence, who seemed invisible to me again yesterday, graded 78.4 in pass rush; perhaps he played better than I thought even though he only recorded one pressure. He did grade a low 55.4 overall, though. The rest of the pass rush contingent ranged from very good (Rakeem Nunez-Roches, who had a sack) to near or just below average, with the group as a whole only pressuring Jones six times all game. Thank you, Shane Bowen.
In fairness, Mac Jones wasn’t throwing deep either yesterday – he didn’t have a single pass beyond 20 yards. He didn’t have to, though, because his receivers were open so much and he wasn’t getting much pressure – per NFL Pro, Jones’ 2.36 second time-to-throw was his quickest since Week 12 of 2023.
Brian Burns was excellent in a limited number of coverage snaps and was not targeted at all. Bobby Okereke was very good also, even though he surrendered 3 catches in 3 targets, but only for 16 yards total and very little YAC. The secondary and linebackers doing most of the pass coverage were below average, though. The most damage was done to Korie Black (4 of 5, 75 yards, though he did have a pass breakup). Deonte Banks was caught with his pants down fout times in four targets for 58 yards. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, seeing his first extended action this season, gave up four receptions in four targets for 45 yards.
Run defense (or lack thereof) is where the Giants really lost this game, continuing a season-long pattern. A few players, such as Korie Black and Dru Phillips (in only a few run snaps), played well. Many more played below, average, some of them downright bad. The interior defensive line was a big culprit, especially Darius Alexander and Roy Robertson-Harris, as well as Dexter Lawrence, with an abominable 49.6 for someone who’s traditionally been a bear against the run (PFF run defense grades in the 80s the past three years). As has often been the case, the off-ball linebackers were poor in run support – Bobby Okereke and Demetrius Flanningan-Fowles primarily in this game. In the secondary, often culprits in the run game, the most notable failure was Deonte Banks, who was in position to stop Brian Robinson on his 18-yard TD run but was trucked instead.
Snap counts
There are no snap counts to show because the defense didn’t show up. However, the NFL insists that there were in fact defensive players on the field, so:
- Safeties Dane Belton and Tyler Nubin played every snap in Jevon Holland’s absence.
- Deonte Banks played every CB snap, while Korie Black played 77% and was replaced by newly signed Jarrick Bernard-Converse. Dru Phillips played only 19 snaps as the Giants went heavier against the 49ers’ 2-RB offensive sets.
- Bobby Okereke as usual played every snap, while Darius Muasau only played 21% before being injured; Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles replaced him.
- Brian Burns (83%), Kayvon Thibodeaux (71%), and Abdul Carter (59%) all played more than half the snaps.
- Dexter Lawrence and Roy Robertson-Harris both played about 3/4 of snaps, while Rakeem Nunez-Roches played 64%, and D.J. Davidson and Darius Alexander saw limited action.
