Pro Football Focus grades for the Giants-Lions game: Who stood out?

NFL games are back! Well, almost. Pre-season games are a different animal from those in the regular season. Winning doesn’t matter – it’s all about player evaluation. Still, it’s always nice for the team you root for to come away with a victory if they play well.

One thing that’s not different about pre-season games? Pro Football Focus analyzes them and assigns grades. As a reminder, PFF analyzes every player on every play. That’s why as fans we sometimes disagree with their assessments – we tend to notice the very best or worst plays of a given player, and ignore the rest, especially when a player is not involved in where the ball goes. Let’s take a look, then, at what PFF thought of the Giants’ performance.

Offense: I’m an offensive lineman and I’m OK

Nobody expects good play from the Giants’ offensive line. Last night was different. It turns out that they weren’t dead, they were just stunned from the Bobby Johnson experience. Their three weapons were fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical dedication to the coaching of Carmen Bricillo. No fewer than seven offensive linemen graded above average last night.

Tops among them was Joshua Ezeudu with an overall grade of 82.5. Based on the running Twitter commentary last night, I will guess that many of you are surprised by that. Ezeudu gave up one hit and two hurries but finished average overall (63.8) in pass blocking. In PFF’s eyes, Drew Lock, not Ezeudu, was responsible for the sack Detroit got last night when Ezeudu’s man eventually got past him. What many of us may not have noticed was that Ezeudu was a monster in run blocking (93.1) for an offensive line that often created paths for the Giants’ running backs to get through. Not everyone played well: Matt Nelson (29.9) and Yodny Cajuste (31.4) were terrible in pass blocking. For the most part, though, this was an encouraging sign of what may be a new era in the Giants’ ability to run their offense.

The thing many of us did notice, though, was how effective the Giants’ backup running backs were. Eric Gray (90.2) had almost certainly his best game since joining the Giants with two TDs, including a beautiful 48-yard run in which he put a Minister of Silly Walks-worthy move on Morice Norris, who had put a borderline dirty hit on him during one of the scrimmages. The other running backs, Tyrone Tracy and Turbo Miller, graded average, but each had their moments, making moves to exploit the openings the line gave them.

Unsurprisingly, Drew Lock showed us nothing but spam, spam, spam, finishing with a terrible 30.2 grade. Tommy DeVito was better (66.3), including great touch on a pass to Gray on a wheel route that gained 24 yards. Otherwise the receivers had a mostly nondescript game, partly a reflection of Lock’s poor play.

Defense: Just a flesh wound

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

The Giants’ defense wasn’t impenetrable, and let’s face it, they weren’t facing Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs and the Lions’ superb offensive line. The Lions’ backups mounted several good drives. They never got into the end zone, though, as the defense stiffened when it had to.

If there is one position group to highlight, it would be the off-ball linebackers. Only a couple of years ago the Giants’ linebacking situation was on life support. How times have changed. Starters Bobby Okereke and Micah McFadden didn’t play, and Isaiah Simmons is now in a hybrid role in which he’s a defensive back part of the time, but the linebackers the Giants can put out on the field now get the job done. Three of them graded above average: Darrian Beavers (86.3), sixth round pick Darius Muasau (82.2), and 2023 UDFA Dyontae Johnson (74.8) all played well. Johnson’s overall grade was brought down by a 43.4 grade in coverage, but he was a beast in the running game and had three pressures, including a sack.

Tre Hawkins III, seemingly the king of the pre-season cornerback room, had an outstanding game (90.0), and David Long (76.6) played well also. Gervarrius Owens (66.1) had some good moments especially in run support. Draftees Dru Phillips (55.0) and Tyler Nubin (58.4) had mostly nondescript games, but both showed their physicality, with Nubin letting an offensive lineman know that he came for an argument on one play.

The pass rush was not spectacular but idid have its moments. The new Giant from LSU…no, not that one, UDFA edge defender Ovie Oghoufo – had an overall 73.6 grade. Boogie Basham managed three pressures and an overall 72.4 grade, while Benton Whitley (56.3) had a penalty but also had four pressures. Alas, Azeez Ojulari (62.1, zero pressures), gave another “how not to be seen” performance.

The low-key most interesting position battle on the Giants’ defense is on the interior defensive line, where there is a general sense that if the Giants could just find one more guy with some pass-rushing chops to add to Dexter Lawrence, the overall defense can be special in 2024. No one that Shane Bowen put out there last night wowed in overall PFF grade, and a few (Casey Rogers, 39.3; Jordon Riley, 43.9; Ryder Anderson, 47.3; Jordan Philllips, 48.6) were poor. UDFA Elijah Chatman, though, stood out. His overall grade was only 61.8, dragged down by a missed tackle, but he had a sack and four hurries in his 29 pass rush snaps. Chatman could be the wafer-thin mint that makes the Giants’ defense explode this season.