And the beat(ing) goes on. Imagine saying to yourself after the New York Giants’ exciting 29-20 win in Seattle that the Giants will probably not win another game all season. Yet here we are staring that possibility in the face after the Giants let perhaps their best chance for another victory slip away in a 14-11 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Nonetheless, there seemed to be a few interesting developments in Sunday’s game, so let’s see whether the Pro Football Focus grades and snap counts bear those out.

Offense

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

• I don’t have to tell you that Drew Lock played a pretty bad game, although his final grade of 51.1 is boosted a bit by leading the Giants back into position to tie. Part of the problem was that he saw a significant amount of pressure and didn’t respond well:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Lock was pressured on 46% of dropbacks despite only being blitzed 18% of the time. He was (barely) adequate when kept clean but very poor, including two of his three turnover-worthy plays and his only interception, when pressured.

• Given that, you might be surprised to see all seven offensive linemen with at least average PFF grades, and six of them above average. Look closer, though. The Giants had their best run blocking game of the season, but their pass blocking as a unit was the sixth-worst of the season, with Jake Kubas and to a lesser extent John Michael Schmitz being the worst offenders, along with tight ends Daniel Bellinger and Chris Manhertz being awful as blockers. The offensive line also committed four penalties, though one of them was another of those dreaded illegal formation calls (on Josh Ezeudu) that have just gotten out of hand league-wide. Looking closer at the blocking:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Lock was only sacked twice (one of them that PFF deemed his own fault) and hit twice, but the OL gave up 17 hurries (plus three more by RBs and TEs), with nine of them being Josh Ezeudu’s fault. Evan Neal on the other hand had a fairly decent game, with just three pressures. Where have you gone, Tyre Phillips, Giants Nation turns its lonely eyes to you? In fact Tyre Phillips was elevated from the practice squad Sunday. Maybe he’ll start to get snaps.

• As for the other skill players, Malik Nabers, playing through injuries, had five catches in nine targets and no drops for 79 yards and a 73.1 receiving grade. The other receivers graded near average or slightly below, the biggest reason being Tyrone Tracy’s two drops and Wan’Dale Robinson’s one. The running backs did not distinguish themselves carrying the ball either, with only 53 yards gained (including Tracy’s 1-yard TD, which was a good effort by him). Lock out-rushed both running backs.

Snap counts

• All you need to know about the state of the Giants’ offense is in the offensive line snaps. Evan Neal and Ezeudu (despite being listed at guard) played the entire game at tackle. The attrition was on the inside, where only Greg Van Roten lasted the entire game. Jon Runyan Jr. and John Michael Schmitz left with injuries in the second half and were replaced by Jake Kubas and Aaron Stinnie. Stinnie saw his first action of the year and Kubas his first NFL snaps ever. It’s amazing that the OL played as well as it did. Thank you, Carmen Bricillo.
• Wan’Dale Robinson, Malik Nabers, and Darius Slayton were all on the field for most of the offensive snaps as the Giants continued to play a lot of 11 personnel with Theo Johnson done for the season. Daniel Bellinger is now the workhorse TE, with Chris Manhertz getting some action as a blocking TE and newcomer Greg Dulcich getting on the field for one snap. It will be interesting to see if Dulcich works his way into serious action as a receiving option.
• Tyrone Tracy has solidified his role as primary running, with Devin Singletary now just being the change-of-pace guy and Eric Gray in the wilderness.

Defense

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

It was a little like Pop Warner participation trophy day, with 23 different players seeing the field on the injury-ravaged defense. Things could have been worse. The patchwork unit did hold the Saints to 14 points, with the dangerous Alvin Kamara rushing for only 44 yards and Derek Carr passing for only 219 yards.

• Kayvon Thibodeaux was the highest-graded Giant on defense overall at 83.8. That may surprise you since he only had one sack, one quarterback hit, and one hurry, but it’s because he was stout against the run and tackled well. That’s the problem with Thibodeaux – he’s not the pass rusher that everyone hoped he’d be coming out of Oregon, but he’s often solid against the run and in coverage (though Shane Bowen has hardly dropped him into coverage at all). Brian Burns graded only average overall (65.5) but had two more pressures than Thibodeaux and graded 81.4 in pass rush.
• Micah McFadden had a very good game overall (77.7) and was excellent in run support (84.5), with eight solo tackles, three assists, and only one missed tackle; six of the tackles were “stops” (failures by the offense), and five were TFLs. He also only gave up three receptions in six targets for 4 yards. Darius Muasau, however, had a bad game across the board (31.5), though he did have seven tackles and two assists. His biggest problem was pass coverage (five completions in five targets for 50 yards, 31 of them YAC).
• The secondary held up well. Tre Hawkins III had perhaps his best game as a pro (79.3), with an interception and only four catches allowed in seven targets for 60 yards; not outstanding, but takeaways, few and far between for this defense, count a lot. Greg Stroman (62.7) and Adoree’ Jackson (58.2) were OK at the other cornerback positions. Jason Pinnock (71.4) and Dane Belton (70.1) were slightly above average at safety, with Tyler Nubin barely below average (59.1), though solid in run support (77.7).
• The defensive line was really the story of the game – not because they were excellent, but because they were overall competent despite being from the Island of Misfit Toys. They only accounted for two pressures, both by Cory Durden, but they were solid against the run, an IDL weakness all season, especially Elijah Chatman (77.8) and Elijah Garcia (70.8).

Snap counts

• The story of this game on defense was the interior defensive line. In decreasing order of usage, Elijah Chatman, Jordon Riley, Elijah Garcia, Cory Durden, and Casey Rogers all played at least 30% of defensive snaps. That’s a seventh-round pick and four UDFAs playing the entire game. Amazing.
• Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns played most of the snaps on the edge, given breathers by Tomon Fox and Patrick Johnson.
• Micah McFadden played every snap at off-ball linebacker and Darius Muasau played three-quarters of the snaps next to him, with Isaiah Simmons getting the other 25%. Greg Stroman was also on the field more than half the time because the Giants were in a dime defense quite a bit. Art Green got a few cornerback snaps as well.
• Adoree’ Jackson played every snap at cornerback, and Tre Hawkins III probably would have as well had he not gotten injured late in the game. Jason Pinnock as usual played every snap at safety, while Tyler Nubin, who was injured last week, and Dane Belton shared snaps.