There is a tendency to dismiss the New York Giants’ 34-10 win over the Las Vegas Raiders Sunday, not just because of its implications for the draft, but also because the Raiders are terrible and sat Maxx Crosby and Brock Bowers. That’s not unreasonable. Consider this, though:
- In their opener the Raiders beat the Patriots 20-13.
- In Game 4 they lost to the Bears by one point.
- In Game 9 they lost to the Jaguars by one point.
- They lost twice to the Broncos, once by 3 points and once by 7.
- Just last week they lost to the Texans by only 2 points.
All of those are playoff teams, some of them actual contenders for a ring. In that regard the Giants are a very similar team, having lost close games to many playoff teams this season, often when they had a fourth quarter lead. That’s not to say that either team is good, only that they’re not devoid of talent. How much of the Giants’ failures are due to poor coaching and how much to poor players is difficult to say, but it’s not out of the question to suggest that they are closer to being good than 3-13 makes them seem. In that light, let’s see who played well vs. poorly and how much yesterday.
Offense
PFF grades
First, let’s look at the offense overall:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
For a change, the Giants had a number of players who graded at least very good on offense, and only one, Daniel Bellinger, was significantly below average.
Now let’s look at the passing:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Jaxson Dart played well overall. It was more a workmanlike than spectacular performance (no big-time throws, no TD passes), but neither did he put the ball up for grabs, with no INTs or even any turnover-worthy plays. He wasn’t great under pressure, but he did complete 3 of 5 against the fairly infrequent blitzes that the Raiders sent.
Now the pass blocking:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Overall this was one of the Giants’ best pass blocking games of the season. Of course, not facing Maxx Crosby might have affected that just a tiny bit. Marcus Mbow, subbing for Andrew Thomas at left tackle, had a rough time of it with a sack, a QB hit, and 3 pressures allowed, but overall his grade was only slightly below average in 36 pass blocking snaps. The rest of theline except for Austin Schlottman (1 hurry) had a clean game, with Jon Runyan, Jermaine Eluemunor, and Greg Van Roten all grading in the 80s.
Let’s move on to the receivers:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Wan’Dale Robinson unsurprisingly led the pack and had almost half the overall targets. The rest of the receivers were generally OK the few times the ball came their way except Bellinger, who caught two short passes but was unable to come down with his one contested target.
Now the running backs:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Dart was the Giants’ best rusher, as Mike Kafka loosened the reins a little bit. Dart rushed nine times, and only three of those were scrambles. Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary had pretty similar games, both of them having one explosive run.
Finally, the run blocking:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Among the offensive line, Austin Schlottman was above average, but everyone else on the line was average or close to it.
Snap counts
- Jaxson Dart and the entire offensive line played every snap except for Jermaine Eluemunor, who sat for three snaps and was replaced by Bryan Hudson
- Darius Slayton and Isaiah Hodgins played most of the game, although neither one had a large impact. Wan’Dale Robinson, who did have a large impact, played three-quarters of the snaps. Gunner Olszewski and Dalen Cambre each played a few snaps.
- With Theo Johnson out, Daniel Bellinger played almost every snap, Chris Manhertz about a quarter of the snaps, and Zach Davidson was elevated from the practice squad for seven snaps because the Giants always have to have a Davidson on the game-day roster and IDL D.J. Davidson had been placed on IR. The bottom line is that the Giants were mainly in 11 personnel.
- Tyrone Tracy played two thirds of the snaps and Devin Singletary most of the rest, with Eric Gray getting one series. Turbo Miller was elevated but inactive. C’mon Mike Kafka, give him some snaps next week.
Defense
PFF grades
First, the defense as a whole:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
PFF gave the defense overall a grade of 80.0, their highest of the season; the only other game in which they graded better than average this season was the Chargers game (72.4). Seven players graded from very good to outstanding, and two more just missed clearing the Very Good bar.
Now let’s look at the pass rush:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
The Giants’ best pass rusher yesterday was…Roy Roberston-Harris? Yes, RRH had a hit and two hurries yesterday. In fact, this was maybe the IDL’s best game of the season, with Darius Alexander getting a sack, a hit, and a hurry, and Chauncey Golston getting two hurries. (Sorry, once again Dexter Lawrence did not make the pass rush stat sheet.) On the edge, both Brian Burns and Abdul Carter were productive, with Burns having two sacks, a hit, and a hurry and the latter getting a sack, three hits, and three hurries.
Moving on to the pass coverage grades:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Dane Belton was outstanding yesterday in all three phases of the game. He had an INT and only gave up one reception for 13 yards in 39 coverage snaps. Bobby Okereke was almost as good (80.8). He gave up four receptions in five targets but for only a combined 29 yards, and he too had an interception. Paulson Adebo had a pass breakup and only one big play, for 26 yards. Even Deonte Banks was effective, with a forced incompletion of his own (in addition to his 95-yard kickoff return).
Finally, the run defense:
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus
Again, a rare occurrence this season: Seven players with at least a Very Good run defense grade, one of them (Brian Burns) elite. There were a few subpar grades too, but as a whole only three missed tackles on the day and 14 run stops.
Snap counts
- Bobby Okereke played every snap, as usual (but to good effect for a change), while Darius Muasau and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles split the other LB snaps roughly 60-40.
- Dane Belton and Paulson Adebo played every secondary snap. Deonte Banks saw his greatest action (85% of snaps) since the Chicago game, while Dru Phillips played two-thirds of snaps in the slot and Rico Payton got nine snaps. At safety, Dane Belton played every snap, Raheem Layne played 80% of snaps, and Jevon Holland played 42%, leaving with an injury at the start of the third quarter.
- On the edge, Abdul Carter played 88% of snaps, Brian Burns played 68%, and Tomon Fox got 20%.
- In the interior, Dexter Lawrence played 69% of snaps, Darius Alexander 58%, Roy Robertson-Harris 58%, and Chauncey Golston 37%.
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