In a season filled with close losses caused by blown fourth quarter leads, the New York Giants decided to be more efficient Monday night. They just didn’t bother to show up…many of them, anyway. We’ll see if there were some who did bother to play with pride in a 33-15 beatdown by the New England Patriots by looking at Pro Football Focus grades and snap counts.
Offense
PFF grades
First, let’s look at the entire offense:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Let’s focus first on the passing:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Jaxson Dart played all right in his return from the concussion protocol, but he wasn’t spectacular. He was not especially bothered by pressure; in fact, his only TD came when pressured. He only had one big-time throw, though, and one turnover-worthy play. The most damning thing in the chart above is all the short throws when he had a clean pocket. Dart only threw six balls beyond 10 yards downfield and completed only one of them, for 18 yards. Drake Maye by comparison only threw seven passes beyond 10 yards himself, but he completed five of them for 108 yards and a TD. Of course Maye was facing the Giants’ secondary, not the Patriots’ secondary.
Next, the offensive line. First the pass blocking:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Andrew Thomas had another great game, with a clean stat line and 100% blocking efficiency – why aren’t Giants fans voting him into the Pro Bowl? Jermaine Eluemunor gave up one hurry but otherwise played well also. Greg Van Roten also had a clean stat line and 100% efficiency. Jon Runyan Jr. gave up two hurries and had a penalty but otherwise played well enough, while John Michael Schmitz was just a bit below average and surrendered one hurry. The pass blocking was not the reason why the Giants scored only 15 points.
Now the run blocking:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Thomas had a spectacular night run blocking; see my previous statement about the Pro Bowl. The rest of the line was – as usual – OK but not great in run blocking, with everyone’s score within a few points of PFF’s “average” score of 60. As always (it seems), the Giants had a bunch of rushes for little or no gain in the first half, and then they started to open holes in the second half.
Speaking of the running game:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Devin Singletary, relegated to the bench early in the season as Cam Skattebo took over the starting job, has come on in the second half of the season: a TD, two missed tackles forced, 42 yards after contact. With Tyrone Tracy getting injured last night, he finds himself as the lead back he thought he was going to be when he signed with the Giants. Dart only ran four times last night, all of them scrambles, but he hasn’t yet learned his lesson about avoiding contact.
Finally, the receivers:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Darius Slayton had a beautiful 30-yard TD that was all his own effort after catching a short pass. Singletary reminded Mike Kafka that he can be an asset in the passing game as well. Wan’Dale Robinson, after his brief star turn as a deep threat during the Jameis Winston era, went back to his “slot receiver” role, with seven catches in eight targets but only for 34 yards. Theo Johnson as much as anyone was responsible for the game getting out of hand as early as it did; he could not make a catch in the end zone that should have been a TD and had one other drop, and he only caught three of eight targets.
Snap counts
- Dart, the starting offensive line, and Robinson played every offensive snap.
- Isaiah Hodgins and Slayton also played most of the offensive snaps, i.e., the Giants played a lot more 11 personnel than they had been doing in previous games. Dalen Cambre and Gunner Olszewski also got a couple of receiving snaps.
- The flip side of this is that with Johnson playing most snaps, Daniel Bellinger was only on the field about one-third of the time, in addition to Chris Manhertz getting a couple of snaps.
- Singletary and Tracy wound up splitting snaps, but mainly as a result of Tracy’s injury.
Defense
PFF grades
First, the defense as a whole (or should I say “hole”)?
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
It’s surprising to see that many players with very good or above average grades in a game that was effectively over by halftime, but maybe that tells us more about the futility of the offense than anything. Let’s look at the details. First, the pass rush:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Maybe that beauty nap regimen or whatever it is that Abdul Carter is doing when he misses those meetings and walk-throughs is working, because he had his best game as a Giant last night. Carter got his first solo sack (for 0 lost yards, but it prevented a first down on third down) and had five other pressures. He was the only Giant who rushed Drake Maye effectively. Brian Burns did get three hurries but did little else. The interior defensive line was missing in action, with a hurry here and there and little else. Shout-out to Zaire Barnes, who got his first career sack and actually played all right overall in his most extensive game action as a pro.
Now the pass coverage:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
The grades aren’t as bad as I expected some of them to be. Andru Phillips actually graded well, with only one short completion in two targets plus a pass breakup. Brian Burns graded terribly because in five coverage snaps he only gave up one 4-yard completion, but Rhamondre Stevenson turned it into a 36-yard gain. That’s what happens when you put a running back on a lineman. The main culprit last night was Paulson Adebo. Maye picked on him 11 times, eight of which were completed for 95 yards and a TD (although I’m convinced Kyle Williams’ knee hit out of bounds). Nonetheless, Adebo had two forced incompletions, which in the PFF grading system appear to largely offset the TD and other completions he gave up.
Finally, the run defense:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Actually, for a change, the Giants’ run defense wasn’t awful, just mediocre. PFF gave the Giants’ run D as a whole a grade of 56.9. That’s a bit below average, but it was the best grade in that area since their victory over the Eagles. Since then, their run D grades have been 29.3, 39.6, 40.8, 49.3, 42.1, and 35.6. Maybe Charlie Bullen did something right in practice the past week.
Still, looking at the details, some disturbing things pop up. Bobby Okereke, whose play has just fallen off a cliff since his first year as a Giant, missed three tackles. Zaire Barnes missed a couple also. The Giants are in desperate need of linebackers who can bring ball carriers down. The interior defensive line continues to be deficient against the run, with Roy Robertson-Harris and Darius Alexander being the worst last night. D.J. Davidson and Dexter Lawrence did play fairly well, though, along with Chauncey Golston.
Snap counts
- Okereke played every defensive snap and Barnes most of the snaps at off-ball linebacker.
- In the secondary, Jevon Holland, Cor’Dale Flott, and Adebo played every snap, while Dane Belton, Tyler Nubin, and Dru Phillips played a majority of the snaps.
- On the edge, Burns was on the field 88% of the time, and Abdul Carter, despite doing his penance in the first quarter, wound up seeing the field about 2/3 of the time. The other snaps were taken by Chauncey Golston, who played strictly on the outside, and partly by Tomon Fox.
- In the interior, Lawrence played three-quarters of the snaps, Robertson-Harris a little more than half the snaps, Alexander 40% of the snaps, and D.J. Davidson and Rakeem Nunez-Roches each about a quarter of the snaps.
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