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Five Things: Week 7 – New York Giants at Jacksonville Jaguars

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For the third week in a row, the Giants overturned a 4th quarter deficit to find a way to win and improve their record to 6-1. Let’s take a look at five things that stood out this week:

Coming of Age

Although Saquon Barkley finished yesterday’s game with 110 yards rushing, he made 40 of those yards in the clock-churning final offensive drive that ended in a field goal. For the rest of the game, the Giants’ offensive fortunes rested on one man’s shoulders: Daniel Jones. 

Multiple times this season, Jones has shown the grit, determination, decision-making, and game management that many Giants fans have been waiting to see since he stepped into Eli Manning’s shoes, and it’s not too farfetched to say that this season Jones looks very much like Manning in his breakout season. 

Yesterday, Jones looked the part in both the passing game and the rushing game. Despite six drops from his wide receivers, he completed 19 passes from 30 passing attempts for 202 yards and a touchdown and repeatedly took advantage of open space as he ran for a career high of 107 yards and a touchdown, becoming the first Giants quarterback to rush for over 100 yards in 76 years  

Close Out the Game! 

One concerning part of the game that hopefully isn’t the start of a trend was the inability to close out the game due to lapses in concentration. On both offence and defense, we made avoidable mistakes that would have either settled the game or at least made it much more comfortable than it was. 

The first one was a bizarre play call from our offence on 3rd down that saw Barkley run out towards the side-line. In what should have been an opportunity to run the clock down to 25 seconds before making a field goal attempt, Barkley was pushed out of bounds, which stopped the clock at 1:07, plenty of time for the Jaguars to attempt a comeback  

The refs (more on them later), intent on driving the heart rate of Giants fans through the roof, found two questionable calls that negated two huge plays from the defence and that led to the Jags being able to extend their drive toward the crazy final play of the game. 

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The Final Play(s) 

In what felt like the longest minute and four seconds ever, it all came down to one last set of downs. 

After a long completion on 4th down, coupled with a roughing the passer call, the Jags quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, took his position on the Giants’ 17-yard line and, with sixteen seconds on the clock, had ample time to break Giants fans’ hearts. His first throw thrown towards Zay Jones was broken up by Adoree Jackson, and his second sailed over Marvin Jones’ head. 

With seven seconds left, it all came down to one play, and it almost paid dividends. Lawrence, with an empty backfield, took the ball and almost immediately threw a dart to Christian Kirk. Kirk secured the ball in the air and seemed destined to fall into the endzone before Fabian Moreau, who was having another outstanding game, stopped him dead on the one-yard line. Xavier McKinney and Julian Love both smothered Kirk to keep him out of the endzone as time expired. 

Come On Ref! 

In what seems to be a weekly occurrence in the NFL, the referees decided that they wanted to be a bigger part of the action, and it was the Giants’ turn to see some questionable calls and no calls both for and against them. 

Mistakes were rife throughout the game, but nothing highlighted how inconsistent the officiating crew were more than a pair of hits on the quarterbacks that ended up yielding differing results. In one drive, Daniel Jones, albeit awkwardly slid down and was clearly hit late by the Jags’ Cisco; no flag. Yet earlier in the half, Dexter Lawrence slightly pulled on Trevor Lawrence’s jersey, causing him to stumble to his hands and knees; flag thrown. 

As previously mentioned, there were also questionable calls in the Jags’ final drive, but the worst of the day was the horrendous face mask and eye poke on Daniel Bellinger that was not deemed worthy of a flag despite Bellinger having to leave the game on the cart  

Beyond a Joke 

I feel like this point has been copied and pasted from week to week, but yet again, in what seems to be the norm for the Giants, the injuries are piling up again. 

In the first half alone, we had offensive linemen Evan Neal and Ben Bredeson and tight end Daniel Bellinger leave the game and not return, whilst in the second half, Adoree Jackson briefly left the game for a concussion check that came back negative. 

As mentioned in my previous point, Bellinger had his eye poked, which ended with the rookie heading to the nearest medical facility. After the game, it was revealed that he would have to visit an ophthalmologist and would likely need surgery. Luckily, both Neal and Bredeson seem to have avoided season-ending injuries, but both are being evaluated for MCL sprains that will keep them out for a few weeks at the very least. 

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Week 6: Rookie Standouts

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With this week marking the beginning of the bye weeks ruining many a fantasy football lineup, the NFL landscape remained unchanged as the low and close-scoring games continued. In week 6, these were the rookies that stood out.

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Bailey Zappe, Quarterback – New England Patriots

Bailey Zappe might well be starting to cause Bill Belichick a headache. In his two starts thus far for the Patriots, the 23-year-old rookie has looked impressive, which could put Mac Jones under pressure to ensure he performs when he returns from injury.

Zappe had a great day on Sunday, demonstrating his ability to go through his reads promptly and show good poise in the pocket, but most importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over. Although the young quarterback didn’t have a perfect day, he did become the first rookie in the Super Bowl era to win and record a QB rating of over 100 in each of his first two starts after finishing with 24 completions from 34 attempts for 309 yards and two touchdowns and an impressive 118.4 passer rating. It’ll be interesting to see who suits up next Monday against the Bears.

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Kayvon Thibodeaux, Edge – New York Giants

After missing out on the Giants’ first two games of the season, Thibodeaux has started to increase the pressure on opposing quarterbacks as his snap count has increased, and after multiple close calls last week against reigning MVP Aaron Rogers, this was the game where he was finally rewarded, and ironically, it’s the quarterback he revealed on Reddit in the preseason he most wanted to sack.

With the Giants having just taken the lead, the expectation was that Lamar Jackson would get one more drive to prevent the Ravens from blowing another 4th quarter lead, but Kayvon had other ideas. After blowing past tackle Patrick Mekari, he batted the ball out of Jackson’s hand to record his first sack and forced fumble. It meant a lot to the former duck, as shown by his emotional post-game video.

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Tariq Woolen, Cornerback – Seattle Seahawks

After making it into the honourable mentions list last week, it only felt right that Woolen made it onto this week’s, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the defensive rookie of the year conversations started. Fifth-rounder selections are normally a work in progress for a few seasons, and he was even labelled as a project pick, but Woolen is bucking that trend with dominant performances.

In this week’s outing against the Arizona Cardinals, he had five tackles, one stop, allowed four receptions on seven targets, snagged his fourth interception in his fourth straight game, and is now tied for the NFL lead with the Buffalo Bills’ Jordan Poyer. He also recovered a fumble after fellow rookie (and honourable mention) Coby Bryant stripped a scrambling Kyler Murray of the football in the redzone. Are we starting to see the emergence of a legion of boom 2.0? Time will tell.

Honourable Mentions

Sauce Gardner and Breece Hall (both New York Jets), Coby Bryant (Seattle Seahawks), Daniel Bellinger (New York Giants), and Arnold Ebiketie (Atlanta Falcons)

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Five Things: Week 6 – Baltimore Ravens at New York Giants

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The Giants’ confidence was sky high after coming off the massive high that was the shock win against the Green Bay Packers in London. Unfortunately, they once again started slowly and, although they walked away with the win here to take their record to 5-1 it wasn’t without drama. Let’s take a look at five things that stood out this week:

Convincing? No. Deserved? Yes.

Offensively, in the first half, the Giants looked largely off the pace as Balitmore constantly kept us from sustaining a drive. Aside from the touchdown drive, which was sparked by Gary Brightwell’s 47-yard kick-off return, the Giants had 14 plays across four drives, including two 3 and outs and one drive at the end of the half that ended with a fumble and recovery, albeit on a meaningless hail-mary attempt.

Continuing the recent trend, we were much better in the 2nd half of the game on both fronts, with the offence converting in the redzone when needed, but again it was the Wink Martindale-led defence that stepped up to the plate late in the 4th quarter. Time was running out after trailing for most of the second half. The breakthrough was made after the Giants secured their first interception of the season and a forced fumble plus recovery on the following Ravens drive, which ultimately stopped their potent attack from scoring again.

The Achilles Heel

As great as it was to get the win, we can’t ignore that for the majority of the game, the Ravens’ rushing attack and their tight ends were having a field day against our linebackers as they gave up chunk play after chunk play.

The Lamar to Mark Andrew connection was in full flow throughout the game, topped off as Andrews hauled in a touchdown early in the 4th quarter. He finished with 106 yards on 7 passes, for a ridiculous 15.1 yards per reception.

On the ground, both Lamar and Kenyan Drake had our number. The journeyman running back, Drake, sliced through our defensive front time and time again, finishing with 119 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown. Jackson had 77 yards himself on 7 carries, meaning they combined for almost 200 yards at a rate of 11.5 yards a carry.

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Rookies Show Up

It’s been a slow start for some of our rookies thanks to niggling injuries. First rounder Kayvon Thibodeaux only made his debut in week three, and second rounder Wan’Dale Robinson was returning to the line-up after suffering an MCL injury in week one.

Robinson was the first of the rookies to make an impact as he caught a dart from Daniel Jones to tie the game up at 7-7.

Next up was Bellinger, who ended the game as the Giants’ leading receiver with 38 yards on five receptions. He also added a touchdown in the middle of the fourth quarter, which took his touchdown streak up to two games in a row.

Lastly, Thibodeaux was a menace all game and consistently got within grasping distance of Lamar Jackson but couldn’t get that elusive first career sack. Just when it looked like it wasn’t going to be his day, he got himself a nice double towards the end of the game as he recorded not only a sack but his first forced fumble too. The icing on the cake for him will have been that it was essentially a game-sealing play.

Barkley and Jones Tough It Out

Both Barkley and Jones came into today’s game nursing slight ailments, with Barkley still feeling the effects of the shoulder injury he sustained in last week’s London game and Jones dealing with both a niggling ankle injury and a scabby turf injury on his hand. On the surface, it looked like Jones’s injury barely bothered him, though it was clear he didn’t have that burst of speed he’d shown in the weeks prior, as he failed to take advantage of some of the holes the Ravens’ defence afforded him.

Barkley, on the other hand, was clearly feeling the effects of his shoulder injury as he had a quiet day compared to the lofty standards he has set for himself so far this season. His longest rush of the game was only 8 yards, as although he carried the ball 22 times, he finished with 83 yards and a touchdown against what had previously this season been a porous Ravens run defence.

Love’ly Jubbly

As mentioned before, the Giants didn’t have a single interception coming into today’s game, and when Fabian Moreau dropped what looked like an easy interception after Mark Andrews’ drop/deflection of a Lamar Jackson pass, it looked like it would never come. Enter Julian Love.

The fourth-year safety from Notre Dame, who leads the Giants in tackles this season alongside cornerback Adoree Jackson, had already made an important play in the 1st quarter, denying what looked like a sure-fire touchdown to Demarcus Robinson by launching himself in front of the receiver. The most important play, though, came late in the fourth quarter, with the Giants still down by three points. Lamar Jackson fumbled a snap and after recovering it, he threw an ill-advised pass up into the air, which Love gratefully accepted and returned 27 yards to the Balitmore 13-yard line. Four plays later, the Giants took the lead, and after Saquon Barkley’s smart football play to slide down before the endzone, the Ravens never saw the ball again.

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Five Things: Week 5 – New York Giants at Green Bay Packers

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The Giants returned to our shores this week and shocked everyone with a 27-22 come-from-behind victory over the Green Bay Packers. Let’s take a look at five things that stood out from London:

London Calling

The Giants must really love coming to London. Not only is the team now 3-0 in the city, but they’re also the only team to win three games in three different London stadiums (Wembley in 2007, Twickenham in 2016 and Tottenham this past weekend).

Despite being 3-1, the Giants opened as 7.5-point underdogs against Aaron Rogers and his Green Bay Packers team, and looking at the rosters, it was totally understandable. The Giants were without multiple starters, including starting defensive player Leonard Williams, and after the first half of the game went the way of the cheeseheads (and their huge following), the Giants rallied at half time. After shutting out Green Bay in the second half despite more injury woes, Big Blue scored two unanswered touchdowns via running backs Gary Brightwell and Saquon Barkley before Oshane Ximines sacked Rogers on the final play of the game.

Box of Tricks

The Wildcat formation was obviously something that the Giants had in their back pocket after successfully running it a few times last week. Due to injuries to both quarterbacks, that was a necessity last week; this week, it was more of an option to unsettle the Packers, and it worked.

Barkley lined up on his own 22-yard line, took the snap and darted through for 40 yards. Suddenly, the tails were up, and Big Blue had started to string something together. A few plays later, they found themselves on the cusp of the endzone. In what looked like a failed Philly special, Daniel Jones tossed it to Barkley, who then did the same to tight end Daniel Bellinger. Bellinger looked like he was going to throw the ball but decided to just barrel into the endzone for the Giants’ first touchdown of the game.

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2nd Half Shutout

Wink Martindale seems to use the first half as a learning session before executing his masterplan in the second half, and this time it was Rogers who was in the crosshairs. After Adoree Jackson was ruled out at the half with a knee injury, he was down to Fabian Moreau, Nick McCloud, and Justin Layne, three players who weren’t even on the Giants roster until after the preseason, but all three excelled in their next man up roles.

After completing 18 of 24 for 146 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, he was held to a paltry 7 of 15 for 76 yards and no touchdowns. The amazing thing at the end of all of this is that the only points scored by the Packers in the second half were done so by the Giants, as punter Jamie Gillian got to play a little bit of chase in the endzone before stepping out for a safety.

Slayton Shows Up

The Giants’ receivers had been the most underwhelming unit this season, and after the majority of the so-called big names had been ruled out by injuries, the Giants turned to fourth-year outcast Darius Slayton.

Slayton has found himself on the outside looking in since Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen took over and was touted as being an almost certain cut or trade candidate before the season.

Though he saw a return to the line-up last week, again he didn’t start as practice squad elevation Marcus Johnson started the game, but by the end, Slayton showed why it should be him next week. He led the team in both targets and receptions and comfortably had double the receiving yards of any other Giant receiver. With Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney and Wan’Dale Robinson unlikely to take the field together for at least a few more weeks, the Giants won’t think twice next time about relying on Slayton.

Coach(es) of the Year Incoming?

In their first year leading the team, general manager Joe Schoen, head coach Brian Daboll, offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, and defensive coordinator Wink Martingdale have had quite an eventful start to the season as the team has exceeded expectations to earn their 4-1 start.

Daboll and Schoen have overhauled the culture at the Giants, building a team that not only does the dirty, gritty work but genuinely looks like they are playing for each other. The old cliché is “next man up,” but this is a mantra they are playing by and, to a man, it is working.

The coordinators, as mentioned before, both got the absolute best out of the personnel at their disposal, whether it was Kafka getting creative with his play calling to bamboozle the Green Bay defense or Wink, despite missing key pieces, stifling Rogers’ air attack and holding the Packers’ dangerous rushing tandem of Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon to a combined 97 yards.

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Five Things: Week 4 – Chicago Bears at New York Giants

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The Giants went old school this week in their designated Legacy Game and decided that the gameplan should be a throwback too with a hard-hitting ground and pound style offence that ensured their trip to London next week sees them arrive with a winning record. Let’s take a look at how it unfolded:

Stay Outta Our Endzone

3-1 is not something many Giants fans are used to after years of slow starts and disappointing seasons. In fact, this is the best start by a Giants team in 11 years. The strangest thing to note here is that there is only one team with a better record than the Giants currently, and that is one of their hated divisional rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, who are the only remaining team with a perfect 4-0 record.

After the disappointment of the loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the bounce back win against the Chicago Bears was well deserved but wasn’t what you would call convincing. The Giants limped away from this injury-ridden game and were able to hold on to the win despite Chicago’s under-pressure quarterback, Justin Fields, being allowed to record multiple season-high stats in passing attempts, completions, and yards.

Sensational Saquon

Thank God for Saquon Barkley. In this young season, there have been few positive points to make about our playmakers. However, Saquon Barkley has been everything he promised and more. Not a day went by in the preseason without someone questioning if Barkley would ever be able to return to his rookie season form. Barkley’s reply so far? Deafening.

His most impressive play was on a third-down screen pass that should have been blown up for negative yardage, but Barkley shed the would-be tackler and turned it up field for an outstanding first down. It was so good I’ve had to put it in below.

Barkley finished the game with 146 rushing yards on 31 carries, taking his season total so far to an NFL leading 463 yards on 84 carries (also a league high), just ahead of the Cleveland Browns’ Nick Chubb. He also leads the league in all-purpose yards, just ahead of Chubb and the Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill.

Wide Receiver Woes

Well, if the aforementioned Barkley is the star of the show, then the wide receivers are the outcasts, and while some of the blame may be placed on the weather conditions, lack of attempts, or the injuries to the quarterbacks, this is not the first time this season.

Kenny Golladay once again failed to prove his worth with another zero-reception showing before he went off injured. Golladay was targeted once with a high throw, but he didn’t even attempt to go up for it, which either shows his lack of effort or his lack of enthusiasm. Another receiver that should have had a point to prove but failed to grasp his opportunity was Darius Slayton, who finished with one reception for 11 yards and, though he drew a pass interference call, he dropped the makeable catch on the same play that would have likely gone for a touchdown.

Sack City

Coming into Sunday’s game, the Giants had a grand total of three sacks and zero interceptions across three games. This improved massively by the end of the game as the Giants’ defensive front suffocated Bears quarterback Justin Fields, finishing with six sacks and nine quarterback hits which helped restrict Fields to 11 completions on 22 attempts.

Individually, there were outstanding performances across the defense. Dexter Lawrence continued his dominant start to the season with an outstanding showing as he registered two sacks and three QB hits; Jihad Ward and Julian Love continued to both make plays with a sack each; and finally, Azeez Ojulari and Kayvon Thibodeaux combined for a strip sack and recovery to halt a promising drive from the Bears in the first quarter.

Injuries Again

In what seems to be a recurring theme, the Giants looked like the walking wounded once again as Evan Neal, Julian Love, Mark Glowinski, Kenny Golladay, Aaron Robinson, Henry Mondeaux, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Azeez Ojulari, Tyrod Taylor, and Daniel Jones were all looked at by the medical personnel.

At the moment, it is too early to know how much time some of the players will miss, but the biggest impact from Sunday’s win was without doubt the injuries to the two quarterbacks.

Jones sprained his ankle during a sack as the Bears’ Jaquan Brisker landed on him awkwardly which meant backup Taylor came into the game. Taylor however was quickly removed from the game as he took a shot to the head and was ruled out with a concussion. This meant Jones returned to the fray, but due to his injury, he was unable to do anything but hand the ball off for rushes. Luckily this was enough to help secure the win.

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Five Things: Week 3 – Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants

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After a surprising 2-0 start to the season, the New York Giants were brought back down to earth with an uninspiring defeat to NFC East rivals the Dallas Cowboys. Here are five talking points from the game: 

First Half Inadequacies 

For the third straight week, the Giants’ failed to get into the endzone in the first half. After last week’s inability to score a touchdown after two fumbles gave them great field position, this week saw one field goal blocked by the stout Dallas defence before Graham Gano converted from 42-yards in the 2nd quarter. 

The slow start has been addressed by the coaching staff in recent weeks, but they still can’t seem to get any kind of flow or momentum on their side until the second half. So far in this new season, the Giants have been outscored 25-9 in the first half, forcing the coaching staff to have to rally the troops at half time. 

Admittedly, in all three games, the Giants’ offence has been better after the half thanks to adjustments made by the coaching staff, but this week it wasn’t enough as the Cowboys sealed the win, 23-16. 

Daniel Jones Under Pressure 

In what is quite possibly the most important season in Daniel Jones’s relatively short career so far, he will have hoped that this season he would be able to operate under a more robust offensive line than he has had in recent years. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case so far and the Cowboys’ defence smelt blood and unsurprisingly targeted rookie Tackle Evan Neal, who gave up three sacks to Demarcus Lawrence. 

Incredibly, Jones was under pressure constantly on his 24 dropbacks last night. He was sacked five times, hit 12 times, and was never afforded a second to try and stay calm. That dropback rate ended up being 40.5% of the total offensive plays, which is the highest number a Quarterback has faced this season, the 2nd most in the last two seasons and the most of Jones’s career so far. 

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The End for Sterling Shepard? 

With 1:11 left in the game, Daniel Jones was intercepted after a David Sills slip that ended up sealing the game for the Cowboys, but instantly the Giants’ attention shifted to Stirling Shepard, who had suffered a non-contact injury and had stayed on the ground. The cart was called, and for the second straight season, he left a game on the cart. 

Shepard, who fought back from the Achilles tear he suffered last December, has battled with injuries his whole career, and it is likely that this will be the fourth straight season that Shepard misses at least four games after the Giants confirmed that they feared this was a serious knee injury. 

With Shepard leading the team in snaps, receptions, and yards, the Giants will almost certainly need to look for replacements for their underwhelming wide receiver group, which has been plagued by inconsistency and injuries since the start of the season. 

Unsteady D-Line 

There were mixed emotions regarding the defence in the lead up to the game. The excitement for the return of Azeez Ojulari and the debut of Kayvon Thibodeaux was quickly quelled when the news broke that standout Defensive Lineman Leonard Williams would miss his first ever game with a knee injury. 

Williams had appeared in 114 games since his debut in 2015 and was sorely missed as the Giants gave up 178 rushing yards at a rate of 6.4 yards per carry. Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that Williams will return until after the Giants’ trip to London, but you can’t rule it out as he battled through a triceps injury last year and has proven his ability to tough it out if needed. 

Ojulari and Thibodeaux both had quiet games as they combined for two tackles and a pass batted down, but ultimately, the Giants failed to register a single sack of Cowboys backup Quarterback Cooper Rush. 

Rushing Game Joy 

Finishing on a plus, there is one saving grace for the Giants, and it seems to be their ability to run the ball. They are averaging 169.3 yards per game and 5.6 yards per carry, both of which are in the top 5 in the league.

The rushing stats are predominantly due to the re-emergence of Saquon Barkley, who had another solid game, finishing with 81 yards on 14 carries, including a 36-yard touchdown in the 3rd quarter. Barkley currently has 53 carries for 317 yards, which is the 2nd most in the NFL (he is 24 yards behind leader Nick Chubb). 

Interestingly, the Giants’ 2nd leading rusher is Quarterback Daniel Jones, who has 25 carries for 125 yards (4 times the player in 3rd Matt Breida). Jones’s ability to scramble for yards seems to be a predominant offensive focus, and he gained an impressive 79 yards on nine carries in last night’s game. 

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Five Things: Week 2 – Carolina Panthers at New York Giants

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For the first time since 2016, the Giants have started the season 2-0! It was by no means pretty, but a win is a win. Here are five things that stood out.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

When you win a game most of the time, you can assume it was because your team was a well-oiled machine and that all of the offense, defense, and special teams contributed. Well, for the Giants, that is not the case at all.

Watching the offence overall was not enjoyable outside of the touchdown drive. In the first half, the Giants had a total of 60 yards offensively, of which they had 0 rushing yards, and it could have been worse as a poor Daniel Jones pass went straight to Panthers Linebacker Frankie Luvu, who thankfully was unable to secure the catch. Luckily, in the second half, they flashed a few promising signs, including an 8-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that was the perfect response to Carolina’s own touchdown drive.

The defence did play well but were aided by Baker Mayfield’s erratic and often off-target throws. Outside of the touchdown drive and the three field goals, the Giants held the Panthers to an average of 12.6 yards per drive and an abysmal 2 conversions off 12 attempts on third down, but more about that later.

Field Goals? It’s Gano Problem

When your offence struggles, you need to take advantage of any and every opportunity you can get for points, and luckily for us, we have Graham Gano. Across the previous two years that he has been with the Giants, he has a 92.3% field goal conversion rate on 65 attempts and a 95.1% extra point conversion rate on 41 attempts.

The ex-Carolina Panther walked out five times to try and score points against his previous team, and not once was there any doubt that he would make every kick count. After the Panthers coughed up two fumbles to begin the game, Gano would make it 6-0 to the Giants after making kicks from the 33 and 36-yard lines. He would then make his lone extra point attempt in the third quarter before rounding out his perfect day with two field goals in the fourth quarter, one from 51 yards and what would be the game winner from 56 yards.

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Third Down Defense

As mentioned in the first point, the Giants’ defence held the Panthers to a lowly 2 conversions off 12 attempts, and the biggest reason why is Wink Martindale’s aggression, which was mostly executed perfectly by the personnel on the field, and bear in mind that this is a unit without standout Edge rushers Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari.

The Giants swarmed Baker Mayfield time and time again, giving him little time to think and forcing him to panic. Of the ten attempts that the Panthers failed on, they had one penalty, one fumble, one sack, two short of the first down marker, and five incompletions. These were mostly caused by the constant blitzing from Wink, which at one point saw four safeties on the field, three of them on the line of scrimmage.

X-Factor Ximines

Oshane Ximines started his Giants career relatively well, recording 4.5 sacks, but he quickly fell out of favour with both the Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge regimes and was touted as a probable cut candidate throughout the offseason. However, Brian Daboll allowed him a fresh start and took advice from Wink Martindale and Drew Wilkins, who were both impressed with his work.

Ximines impressed them both so much that, due to the injuries to Thibodeaux and Ojulari, he was listed as a starter on the depth chart for the season opener, and he hasn’t looked out of place. He started the season against the Tennessee Titans by continuing his preseason success, and he’s followed it up with a stellar showing against the Panthers that has earned him a game ball.

He finished the game with a stat line of two tackles, one tackle for a loss, 1 pass defended, 1 Quarterback hit, and 1 sack, but in real time he seemed to be everywhere.

Big Play Rookies

When Dane Belton fractured his clavicle making an interception during preseason practise, there was an audible sigh from the Giants fanbase. The rookie safety had impressed both coaches and fans alike, but now he could be on the sidelines for up to eight weeks. Belton took to the field for his first ever NFL play seven weeks and a day later and walked off with the ball after recovering the fumbled kickoff that was caused by Carter Coughlin.

Belton wasn’t the only rookie that had a big contribution in the game, though. After not registering a catch in his first ever NFL game a week ago, Daniel Bellinger finally got his first one during the game against the Panthers. With the Giants needing to answer the Panthers’ third quarter touchdown, Bellinger secured the pass from Daniel Jones, sprinted towards the endzone and dove in to tie the game once again.

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Five Things: Preseason Game 3 – New York Giants at New York Jets

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The Giants fell to a 31-27 defeat against the Jets last night, and after two wins and a loss, the preseason is over. With the regular season fast approaching, let’s look at some talking points.

Webb Shooter

Davis Webb’s preseason performances have been impressive, and although he is unlikely to see the field this season, the familiarity he has shown in this offence has given us glimpses of what may be to come for Daniel Jones once Brian Daboll’s system clicks. Davis came into the game late in the first quarter following Tyrod Taylor’s untimely exit due to a back injury and once again carried the team forward.

Normally, focusing on stats is pointless in preseason, but glossing over Webb’s would be doing him a disservice. He finished yesterday’s game with 30 completions on 38 attempts for 202 yards, rushed four times for 13 yards, and threw a touchdown to Tight End Austin Allen. If you look at the whole preseason, he was also joint 5th for passing yards with 457 and had 60 completions on 81 targets, which is the highest number of completions across the NFL.

Cornerback Woes

The majority of Giants fans would agree that the biggest concern this offseason, other than the injuries, has been the state of our cornerback group. Outside of Adoree Jackson, it is very much a patchwork group with no standout backups ready to step in. Sunday’s game was an opportunity for one of them to step up, but unfortunately, it ended by raising more concerns.

Multiple players had rough days, with both Aaron Robinson and Cordale Flott missing tackles that will cost the Giants dearly in the regular season. However, it’s probably fair to say that neither struggled as much as Khalil Dorsey did on the Jets’ final drive. With the Jets on the Giants’ 36-yard line, Dorsey was flagged for pass interference, placing the Jets on the 10 yard line. Four plays later, he was beaten on a corner route and the Jets scored what ended up being the game winner.

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Calitro Shines

Austin Calitro signed with the Giants a month ago, and the much-travelled Linebacker who is on his 9th team, has been fighting for a roster spot ever since. Calitro, a life-long Giants fan, has had an up and down preseason. After impressing against the New England Patriots, he struggled against his previous team, the Cincinnati Bengals, but last night’s showing could just see him avoid being cut and make the Giants’ 53-man squad for the season.

His impressive showing yesterday started with a fumble recovery after fellow Linebacker Micah McFadden forced the ball out of Michael Carter’s hands. Then, in the second half, a poor throw by Joe Flacco was straight at Calitro, and he took the gift all the way to the endzone for the Giants’ first touchdown of the game. By the end of the game, he added five tackles (two solo) and one tackle for a loss to his stat line.

When Will It End

In what seems to be a weekly occurrence, another smattering of injuries has disrupted the Giants’ preparations for the upcoming season. During the weeks joint practise with their final preseason opponents, the Giants saw second-year Edge Rusher Azeez Ojulari leave the field hobbling with what was later revealed to be a lower leg injury. This was only days after one of the stars of preseason Wide Receiver Collin Johnson was ruled out for the season with an Achilles injury.

The injuries didn’t let up during Sunday’s game, although we can be thankful that on paper they don’t look to be as impactful as a number have been in the last few weeks. Tyrod Taylor left the game with a back injury on the dreaded cart, but seemed to avoid a serious injury. Tight End Daniel Bellinger and Defensive Lineman Jalyn Holmes were also both ruled out after they were evaluated for concussions.

As Sign of Things to Come

After sitting through last year’s abysmal offensive play, Giants fans were intrigued when the tandem of Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka were brought in to overhaul the playbook. Early signs in camp pointed to a more modernised offence and, although it is still very much a work in progress, it would seem that the pieces are starting to come together.

Looking at the three games that the Giants have played in the preseason, they averaged 25 points a game, something they only managed three times in the entirety of last season. Couple this with the 272.7 Passing Yards per game and the 382.7 Total Yards per game (both of which were the highest in the league) and you have a reason to be optimistic.

Obviously, this is only preseason, so it cannot be interpreted as a foreshadowing of what is to come, but for a team that has struggled so frequently in recent years, it’s a breath of fresh air and long may it continue.

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Five Things: Preseason Game 1 – New York Giants at New England Patriots

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Our first game against the New England Patriots has now been and gone. It wasn’t a convincing performance by any means, but there were plenty of talking points. Here are five things that stood out:

Jones vs. Tyrod

Whilst it is unlikely that this will turn into a starting job competition, there is already some intrigue regarding how bad the Giants’ record would have to be before the coaching staff pull Daniel Jones and move forward with Tyrod Taylor. Thursday’s preseason game was a good opportunity for them both to show what they can achieve this season if needed.

Jones took the first two series and had a good but not brilliant showing, completing 6 of 10 passes for 69 yards as well as a 7-yard scramble. He would have likely had a much-needed touchdown too if Kenny Golladay hadn’t dropped a pass that hit him right between the numbers.

On the other hand, Taylor showed exactly what the Giants had been missing the last few years from a backup, which is competency. He completed 13 of 29 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. Again, like Jones, there were good moments, but against a stronger calibre of player, a few overthrows may have ended up being interceptions.

First Rounders

There was a noticeable buzz from the Giants fanbase before the game, and the majority of that was aimed at the chance to see both Evan Neal and Kayvon Thibodeaux in their first semi-competitive game.

Neal was in from the start and ended up playing 19 offensive snaps and it was an up and down showing from the rookie. In the passing game, he looked unsure but showed much more promise in the running game. It’s no secret that his offensive line teammate Andrew Thomas struggled in his first season but has blossomed into a key piece, so I think we can allow Neal some time to learn.

Thibodeaux also started on the defensive side and played 14 snaps before being removed. Although he wasn’t on the field for long and the stat line doesn’t show much, he had a dominant showing. Kayvon finished the game with an assisted tackle and was responsible for a Patriots offensive false start but is raring to go for the next game. “I thought I was gonna be a little more nervous or a little more uptight,” Thibodeaux said, “but it was really natural, and it was good … this was definitely just a warm-up.”

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The Thin Offensive Line

With an offensive line group that is mostly made up of new additions from either the draft or free agency, the Giants needed the line to stay healthy and gel. Unfortunately, on the injury front, that hasn’t been the case. Center Nick Gates and Tackle Matt Peart both remain on the PUP list after starting the preseason there. Matt Gono’s reoccurrence of a career-threatening neck injury has led to his contract being terminated and rookie Marcus McKethan saw his season finish before it started due to an ACL injury.

This trend continued during the game as Guard Shane Lemieux began limping during the opening moments of the first offensive series and, after the drive finished, he headed to the locker room. He was later ruled out with a toe injury and was seen on the sidelines in a walking boot. Backup Jamil Douglas then deepened the crisis as he suffered an ankle injury and didn’t return.

Fighting like Beavers

In a game where most fans will have been keeping a close eye on how the rookies took to NFL action, there was a surprising name that stood out. Enter sixth-round pick from the Cincinnati Bearcats Darrian Beavers.

The Linebacker started in place of Blake Martinez, whose game time is being managed as he returns from his torn ACL and was seen all over the field finishing with three tackles and one tackle for a loss. He was even communicating the plays from Defensive Coordinator Wink Martindale as he was given the headset for the second-team defense. High praise indeed from Wink, who coached the position for the Baltimore Ravens from 2012 to 2017.

The Third Running Back

Barring any issues, come game week 1, Saquon Barkley will be the Giants’ starting Running Back and will be backed up by Matt Breida. This means there is likely one more spot behind these two, and by the end of the Patriots game, four of the five Running Backs below them on the depth chart had a chance to show what they could do.

Antonio Williams led the way with nine carries for 61 yards (more than the entire Patriots team), one reception that lost a yard, and a touchdown. Gary Brightwell had seven carries for 40 yards as well as two receptions for 19 yards. Undrafted rookie free agent Jashaun Corbin showed a good burst with six carries for 23 yards as well as five receptions for 28 yards. Finally, the Giants’ international pathway player Sandro Platzgummer, who has been with the team since 2020, had three carries for 21 yards at the end of the game, which contributed to the game-winning field goal.

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Five Things: New York Giants Camp Week 2

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The Pads Are On!

While training camp is the start of the preseason, most of this is spent doing walkthroughs with minimal if any contact. Monday saw the players walk out at Quest Diagnostics Training Center in full pads. Both Evan Neal and Kayvon Thibodeaux have been lining up opposite each other, and the opportunity to finally put on the pads couldn’t have come sooner for Thibodeaux.

“There are a lot of things as a pass rusher, as a defensive guy, you aren’t able to do without pads. The offence has the baggy jerseys, you can just pull on them. Now it’ll be more of a fair game. I’ll be able to use all the moves I’ve been working on.” 

The Return of Danny Dimes

Training camp is a fickle place. If the offence struggles, the kneejerk reaction is that we’re doomed. If the offence performs well, the response is “Let’s see if we can do it in a game. “It’s lose/lose. So, after an up and down start to training camp, the usual fanbase murmur started up. Was Daniel Jones the guy to lead this offense?

Jones was likely paying no attention, but the return of “Danny Dimes” has come at the right time. He started Tuesday inconstantly, but once the 11 on 11 drills started, he was on fire despite two interceptions. This continued Wednesday, as Jones unofficially went 9 of 11 with no interceptions. Friday’s showing at Fan Fest wasn’t ideal, but he’s had a much stronger week compared to the last.

Dexter Lawrence’s Lofty Goals

Since being drafted in 2019, Lawrence has been ever-present on the defensive line and will continue to be so as the Giants picked up his fifth-year option. The thing that’s been missing since he’s been here is a maiden postseason berth, but he’s hopeful that’s about to change. When asked about this on Tuesday, he replied: “You can’t sit on what happened years prior. You’ve got to go for what you’re shooting for now. Everybody’s goal is to make it to the postseason. If everybody has the same goal, we’re all going to have the same work ethic to try to get there, it is a realistic goal. It’s everybody’s goal.”

Continued Absent Attendees

The Giants have had multiple absentees since the start of camp last Monday and this week was no different.

Jon Felciano took to the field on Wednesday for the first time in a week after he was given time to recover from heat-related issues, and Matt Gono missed Wednesday’s practise before being put on the exempt/left squad list due to an undisclosed issue (which was later revealed to be a neck issue). This will likely provide an opportunity for rookie Josh Ezeudu to step in to take the Swing Tackle role.

Finally, veteran Tight End Ricky Seals-Jones has missed the last five games for reasons unknown. With Daniel Bellinger’s upward trajectory since joining, this time away from the team will not help Seals-Jones’ chances of making the final 53-man roster.

It’s Fan Fest Time

The 2nd annual fan fest was held on Friday as MetLife Stadium was opened for an open Blue-White scrimmage session prior to their opening pre-season game on Thursday in Foxborough. Here are a few observations:

Kayvon Thibodeaux continued to shine with a dominant performance. With his constant pressure, he caused havoc and drew two holding penalties.

Rookie Marcus McKethan was unfortunately carted off during the session, and it was later confirmed that the fifth-round pick had torn his ACL. With Matt Gono also potentially out this season, the depth chart for the Offensive Line is looking thin.

Darius Slayton hasn’t had the best camp, and it’s likely that he could struggle to even make the roster this season. If you needed anymore evidence of his depth chart fall, he spent most of Friday’s scrimmages running with the third-team offense before joining the second-team for a couple of plays towards the end.

Our 2022 NFL Season Guide is now available to pre-order. With over 160 pages packed with previews, reviews and opinions from fans across the league and the UK, this is the comprehensive NFL UK fan guide written by NFL UK fans. Log on to www.full10yards.co.uk/guides/ and enter code FULL10 for 10% off your copy today.