2024 Opponent Preview: New York Giants, Week 12

It is now 12 weeks until the first 2024 airing of Monday Night Football, by which point the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have already played their first game of the regular season. As those dates rapidly approach, we’re taking a look at each team Tampa Bay is going to face during the regular season. From how those teams fared last year, to what they’ve done with the roster since, to some as-yet-unanswered questions – we want to get a better feel for what the Bucs will be up against this fall. Today we look at the team the Buccaneers will play immediately after their Week 11 bye, the New York Giants.

After breaking a five-year playoff drought and even winning a postseason contest in 2022, the Giants took a step back in 2023, falling to 6-11 and tying for the sixth worst record in the NFL. They were a streaky team last year, at one point winning three in a row but also suffering three different runs of three or more losses.

New York stumbled out of the gate, both in terms of their opening game and the first third of the season overall. Following tradition, the NFL put their home game against the archrival Cowboys on Sunday Night Football in Week One, and it was all Dallas all evening. Tony Pollard ran for two touchdowns and the Cowboys also scored on a pick-six by DaRon Bland and a 58-yard return of a blocked field goal by Noah Igbinoghene in a 40-0 decision that marked the first time the Giants had been shut out in five years. That ignominious loss kicked off a 1-5 start to the season that included four losses by 15 or more points.

After nipping Arizona, 31-28, in Week Two, the Giants got their second win in Week 7, beating Washington 14-7 with Tyrod Taylor filling in for injured starting quarterback Daniel Jones and throwing touchdown passes to Darren Waller and Saquon Barkley. Taylor started three games while Jones dealt with a neck injury, but the other two were low-scoring losses to Buffalo and the Jets. Jones returned in Week Nine but the Giants were promptly hammered by the Raiders, 30-6, Jones was knocked out by a knee injury after just nine passes. He would not play again in 2023, landing on injured reserve on November 8 due to a torn ACL.

With Taylor also hurt, the Giants brought Tommy DeVito up from the practice squad and started him against the Cowboys, who delivered another beating to the tune of a 49-17 final. This time, Dallas scored in more conventional ways, but they did it a lot, with Dak Prescott throwing touchdown passes to four different players. DeVito threw for just 86 yards on 27 passes but did find the end zone twice. After that game, however, the saga of “Tommy Cutlets” began, as DeVito started the next five games, including three straight wins over the Commanders, Patriots and Packers. DeVito threw five touchdown passes and no interceptions in those three contests, topping 103 in passer rating in each of them. Most impressive was a 24-22 win over playoff-bound Green Bay, which Randy Bullock won with a 37-yard field goal as time expired after DeVito got him in position with a 32-yard completion to Wan’Dale Robinson.

DeVito and the Giants couldn’t sustain the magic, however, and lost the next three games to the Saints, Eagles and Rams. Taylor returned to the starting lineup in Week 17 against Los Angeles and gave the Giants a 20-16 third-quarter lead with an 80-yard touchdown pass to Darius Slayton, but the Rams rallied for a 26-25 victory. The Giants and Eagles met again in Week 18 and Barkley auditioned for his 2024 team by running for two scores as New York finished the season on a high note in a 27-10 win at home.

The Giants landed the sixth pick in the 2024 draft but elected not to get in on the historic run of six quarterbacks taken in the first 12 picks. They did add some potential competition for Jones, however, by signing former Seahawks passer Drew Lock. After the draft, the Giants also claimed quarterback Nathan Rourke off waivers after he was let go by the Patriots.

With quarterbacks taking up the first three spots in the draft, the Giants were able to fill one of their most pressing needs by nabbing LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers. Desperate for some size and dynamic playmaking ability in their pass-catching corps, the Giants got a receiver who racked up 1,569 yards and 14 touchdowns last season and averaged 18.0 yards per catch.

New York’s biggest move outside the draft could produce one of the best edge-rushing tandems in the league. After the Panthers put their franchise tag on Pro Bowl outside linebacker Brian Burns, the Giants acquired him in a trade, giving up a second-round pick and swapping fifth-rounders. Burns had 46.0 sacks in five seasons in Carolina and will now be paired with third-year man Kayvon Thibodeaux, who exploded with 11.5 sacks of his own in 2023.

After the Giants gave up an astonishing 85 sacks last year and finished dead last in sacks per pass play rate (16.4%), they could have as many as three newcomers on their starting O-Line in 2024. New York handed a three-year, $30 million contract to former Packers guard Jon Runyan and a two-year, $14 million deal to former Raiders tackle Jermaine Eluemunor. Runyan is sure to start at right guard while Eluemunor may unseat disappointing 2022 first-round pick Evan Neal at right tackle. Aaron Stinnie, signed away from the Buccaneers may also grab the left guard spot, while former Viking Austin Schlottmann provides good depth.

In the 2024 offseason running back carousel that sent Barkley to Philadelphia, the Giants landed on Devin Singletary, who spent last season in Houston after four years with the Bills. Singletary, who got a three-year deal from the Giants, has been remarkably consistent across that span, with these seasonal yards from scrimmage totals, in chronological order: 969, 956, 1,098, 1,099 and 1,091. New York also addressed the position in the draft, grabbing Purdue’s Tyrone Tracy in the fifth round.

The defensive front could have two new starters after the Giants landed former Bills defensive tackle Jordan Phillips on a one-year deal. Other newcomers on one-year contracts include Broncos tight end Chris Manhertz and Patriots safety Jalen Mills, and the Giants snapped up veteran wideout Allen Robinson after he was cut by Pittsburgh in May.

The secondary will likely have two rookie starters in 2024 after the Giants used their two Day Two picks on Minnesota safety Tyler Nubin in the second round and Kentucky cornerback Dru Phillips in the third. Fourth-round tight end Theo Johnson out of Penn State will pair with Daniel Bellinger to fill the hole if and when Darren Waller retires, as widely expected.