The New York Giants blew an 18-point lead in the final six minutes during their collapse in Denver against the Broncos on Sunday. New York continues to find frustrating ways to lose football games, while making history:
The Giants surrendered four straight touchdowns before Bo Nix drove Denver 56 yards on four plays in 37 seconds to set up Wil Lutz’s 39-yard field goal to win the game, 33-32. The amount that had to go wrong for the Giants to find themselves in that position – it’s astounding, but should it be at this point?
There were plenty of positive takeaways from the Giants, who dictated on both offense and defense for 75% of this game. Nevertheless, they leave Denver with another loss, as the seats for Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll continue to sizzle. Here are five plays, or sequences of plays, that were noteworthy.
Play(s) 1: This kicker situation…
The Brian Daboll regime just can’t figure out the kicker situation. Week 2 against Washington in 2024 was a catastrophic loss, where the Giants entered the game with an injured Graham Gano, then suffered another injury chasing down Austin Ekeler on the opening kickoff, so New York played the rest of the game with no kicker. The 38-year-old then injured himself this year in his Week 3 pregame warmups against Kansas City.
Since that injury, the Giants have signed Younghoe Koo to the practice squad, but they’ve opted to trot out international pathway player, Jude McAtamney, who missed an extra point last week. McAtamney has a big leg, but is inconsistent and unreliable. His longest field goal is 31 yards since he took over for the injured Gano. Gano’s inability to stay healthy, coupled with the Giants other kicking options, have lost this football team multiple games. It’s easy, and correct, to point at last week’s missed extra point and ask – why is Koo still on the practice squad?
Play 2: Tae Banks is Tae Banks
Paulson Adebo exited the game with an injury, which forced Tae Banks into the lineup. The Giants defense gave up three consecutive touchdowns, including this go-ahead score with less than two minutes left in the game:
Banks is an incredible liability in run defense. He, AGAIN, chose to go inside of Garrett Bowles (72) on this QB boundary pin-pull concept. It’s inexcusable at this point. Banks also surrendered a few other plays and just should not see the football field defensively anymore. This play above could have been in Play(s) 3, but the play of Tae Banks deserved its own “Play.’
Play(s) 3: An epic meltdown
The Giants surrendered 33 fourth-quarter points – 33 POINTS in the final quarter of play, to blow their 18-point lead and render the subsequent points scored insufficient. It’s mind-boggling, frustrating, concerning…there’s a lot of words that could describe it, but it’s NOT GOOD!
The Giants also allowed two 2-point conversions and the Broncos drove 56 yards in 37 seconds with no timeouts to allow Lutz to boot a game-winning field goal. The Giants failed to convert either of the 2-point conversions they were forced to try due to McAtamney.
Another devastating loss in the books – one where the Giants snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Play(s) 4: Daniel Bellinger!
It started fun. Let’s mention that. The Giants reliance on 12 personnel in lieu of their starting receivers, and Daniel Bellinger came through with a career performance, including this 44-yard blown coverage touchdown on the Giants’ third offensive drive:
A condensed 12 personnel vertical concept form the double-Y set against a middle-of-the-field-closed defense; the single-high safety was held in place by the backside curl and Theo Johnson’s vertical stretched the deep third defender toward the sideline, leaving Bellinger open in the middle of the field.
What’s even more impressive about the Bellinger touchdown was the presnap communication that would suggest Dart, and the offense, killed a previous play and switched to the one that resulted in the score above. Dart may be a rookie, but he’s displaying precociousness indicative of a comfortable rookie quarterback. Bellinger also secured a second explosive play on the Giants’ second-touchdown drive, a 29-yard catch:
Bellinger squeezed underneath Johnson’s vertical release (sit) to work up the field, where Dart put a beautiful pass on the veteran tight end.
Play(s) 5: Why the Giants’ should have won…
If they weren’t a bad football team, of course, one that constantly finds creative ways to lose football games. The Giants allowed four consecutive touchdowns to blow an 18-point lead. NFL teams have won 1,602 consecutive games when leading by 18 points in the final six minutes of a game, per the CBS broadcast. The Giants would have been the 1,603rd team, but they’re the Giants. Here are some plays that allowed them to mount a dominant lead on the road – one they failed to preserve. To start, Cam Skattebo’s screen touchdown:
The Giants have struggled to find a successful screen game for years. However, Skattebo’s first receiving touchdown concluded a 10-play, 82-yard drive. The screen came on a third-and-11 after a false start penalty against Jermaine Eluemunor. The Giants then had an impressive goal line stand, up 13 toward the end of the first half. Dane Belton read the Courtland Sutton screen and made a physical tackle on fourth-and-goal:
The Giants scored a touchdown on this 31-yard Tyrone Tracy Jr. run at the end of the third quarter. This well-blocked run was utilized during Tempo and caught the Broncos off guard. This gave the Giants a 19-0 lead:
It appears that the safety followed Daniel Bellinger (82) on the kick-out block to the flat, and the defender seemingly ran himself out of the run fit. The Giants weren’t done, though, as they proceeded on a six-play, 67-yard drive to respond to Denver’s first touchdown drive and two-point conversion. This was the touchdown on that 67-yard drive – a third-and-17:
Prematurely and foolishly, I thought this was the dagger as momentum was surely on the Giants’ side. Unfortunately, though, Paulson Adebo exited the game, bringing Banks onto the field, and the defense started to fracture at that time. An epic collapse after a rather dominant performance by the Giants for three-fourths of the game. As we all unfortunately know, the Giants find creative ways to lose football games.
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