Let’s get to the ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’ for the New York Giants 22-9 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. It wasn’t a pretty night, especially for the offense.
Kudos to …
Cam Skattebo — The rookie running back was the Giants’ offense vs. the Chiefs. Tyrone Tracy was off to a good start with seven carries for 29 yards and two receptions for 7 yards before leaving late in the first quarter with a shoulder injury.
That left the backfield to Skattebo, with a few snaps for veteran Devin Singletary. Skattebo carried 10 times for 60 yards and a 13-yard touchdown, and caught six more passes for 61 yards. He was about the only thing the MetLife Stadium crowd got excited about when the Giants had the ball.
Skattebo brings energy, toughness and talent when he is in the game.
Brian Burns — The veteran edge defender was a presence on Sunday. Burns filled just about every column on the stat sheet. He had six tackles, his fourth sack of the young season, a tackle for loss, two quarterback hits, two passes defensed and a forced fumble.
Burns is off to a phenomenal start this season. He is certainly doing his part.
Kayvon Thibodeaux — The fourth-year edge defender did not fill the stat sheet the way Burns did, but he was a force. Thibodeaux had just two tackles and two quarterback hits, but he seemed to be buzzing around Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes all night.
Andrew Thomas — This was a successful, if abbreviated debut for Thomas in his return from Lisfran surgery. Thomas played 28 snaps, giving up no pressures in 12 pass blocking snaps. He was replaced late in the first half by Marcus Mbow.
Wet Willies to …
Russell Wilson — “We want Dart.” The chants from Giants fans for rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart started in the second quarter after Wilson’s second interception. In the fourth quarter, when Dart replaced Wilson for a couple of plays with the Giants in the red zone, fans booed when Wilson came back in the game and Dart exited.
As good as Wilson was last Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, throwing for 450 yards and three touchdowns in a throwback performance, he was that bad against the Chiefs. Wilson ended up 18 of 32 for 160 yards and two interceptions Sunday night.
Wilson and the Giants never really figured out a way to successfully attack Kansas City’s two-high shell. From NextGen Stats:
The Chiefs utilized a split-safety coverage shell on 30 of 38 dropbacks (78.9%) in their Week 3 win over the Giants, the highest rate by any team in a game this season.
It was also their 3rd-highest split-safety rate with Steve Spagnuolo as defensive coordinator (since 2019). When using split-safety shells, the Kansas City defense allowed 13 completions on 24 attempts for 133 yards and an interception, forcing 12 pressures (40.0% pressure rate), sacking Russell Wilson twice.
The first interception, an attempted moon ball to Wan’Dale Robinson, never had a chance. It was thrown into a two-high safety shell with a third Kansas City defender also in the area. The second interception, with the score tied 6-6 and the Giants at the Chiefs’ 26-yard line, was an underthrown ball for Malik Nabers in the end zone.
Wilson also had an ugly fourth-quarter sequence where he took an intentional grounding penalty for a throw out the back of the end zone with no receiver in sight, and threw two more balls (on third and fourth down, no less) well out of bounds where no except maybe a security guard one had a chance to catch either throw.
Dexter Lawrence — Lawrence will likely end up with a good Pro Football Focus grade. That’s fine, but the reality is this was a third straight game in which the best player on the Giants’ defense and perhaps the best defensive tackle in football had no real impact. The Giants need him to get back to wrecking games.
Third down offense — The Giants’ offense went 1 of 10 on third-down conversions. And heaped more trouble on top of that by going just 1 of 4 on fourth down tries.
“Passing game was not good enough, particularly on third down,” said head coach Brian Daboll. “We were like one of 10 on third down. That’s hard to sustain drives and put points on the board.”
This was a reversion to the way the Giants looked on offense in Week 1, when they scored just six points in a loss to the Washington Commanders.
Dru Phillips — This was a rough night for the talented second-year slot cornerback. He committed illegal contact penalties on second-and-18 and third-and-10 to give the Chiefs first downs. He committed a 52-yard defensive pass interference penalty that set up a Chiefs field goal after a Houdini-like escape from the rush by Mahomes. He gave up a 33-yard catch by Tyquan Thornton that put the ball at the 1-yard line and set up the Chiefs’ final touchdown. He was victimized for a 5-yard Mahomes to Thornton touchdown.
Phillips is a really good young player who had a really bad night.
Pre-game injuries — Seriously? Placekicker Graham Gano, finishing up his warmups, suffered a groin injury while Giants’ defensive players were being introduced. He sat out the first half, then, after testing his ability to kick at halftime, kicked a 25-yard field goal in the second half.
Gano’s injury probably cost the Giants four points. Daboll admitted the Giants would have tried to kick a 46-yard field goal rather than going for it and failing on fourth-and-3 from the Kansas City 28-yard line in the first quarter. Punter Jamie Gillan had an extra point blocked after Skattebo’s touchdown run.
0 CommentsSee More:
