Pro Football Focus grades for the Giants-Texans game: Who played well?

There did not seem to be many bright spots in the New York Giants’ 28-10 loss to the Houston Texans on Saturday. The Texans seemed to control most of the game on both offense and defense, and although the Giants were within 4 points until 12:12 remained in the fourth quarter, there was never a time when it felt as if they were taking control of the game.

Still, flowers bloom even here and there in the desert. Let’s see what Pro Football Focus has to say about where the flowers were and where the soil was parched in yesterday’s Giants performance.

Offense

Not surprisingly, Malik Nabers led the pack with an overall 78.3 grade, and 82.7 in the passing game (the difference being due to the fact that he also rushed once for 5 yards and run-blocked on 10 plays, and those are graded too as part of the overall offense grade). Darius Slayton also got an above-average grade (70.9 overall, 71.1 receiving). The other wide receivers were all in the ~50-60 range except for John Jiles (43.3), who let himself be stripped of the ball on his only reception. The tight ends were in the mediocre (50-60) range as well except for Chris Manhertz, who had a penalty called on him.

The other flower in the desert was – once again – the offensive line. Their performance wasn’t as good as it was against Detroit, but once again, we see a lot of average to above-average blocking grades across the board. Better yet (to some extent), the overall blocking grades were only that low because the run blocking across the board was barely adequate (i.e., within a few points of 60) for most of the linemen, while the pass blocking was quite good for some of them: Andrew Thomas (88.1), Jermaine Eluemunor (82.2), and Greg Van Roten (78.9), for example, among the projected starters. The one red flag was John Michael Schmitz’s 31.1 pass block grade in eight pass block snaps, continuing a trend that developed last season. His replacement, Austin Schlottman, graded 83.1 in 29 pass block snaps – something to keep an eye on if it continues.

Daniel Jones got a 66.7 offense grade (62.4 passing). My guess based on the BBV comments section after the game is that this will surprise some of you, and not in a good way. Here’s the deal: PFF grades every play – with equal weight. Jones had an awful first quarter. He made some nice throws in the second quarter. So the PFF math is: (bad + good)/2 = average. Fan math tends to be more like (bad*100 + good/100) = bad. You don’t have to agree with it, it’s just the explanation of why your view sometimes doesn’t mesh with theirs. Tommy DeVito had a nondescript 58.2 grade in relief of Jones.

In the rushing game, Devin Singletary, who saw the most snaps, led the way with a 62.0 overall grade. Eric Gray was just behind at 59.1. Joshua Kelley clocked in at 50.8. Jakob Johnson, who had no carries and did not catch a pass that came his way, graded 42.8, and Lorenzo Lingard, who had a fumble and little else, graded 29.4.

Defense

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

While it seemed that Houston had the game in hand from midway in the first quarter onward, the reality is that the score was only 14-10 until 12:12 remained in the game. The defense didn’t play all that badly, although that may have had something to do with starting quarterback C.J. Stroud only playing the first quarter.

The bright spot on the pass rush was Brian Burns (91.1), who only had one pressure but must have been beating his man fairly often. Kayvon Thibodeaux (73.4, one pressure) also had an above average game. The developing story may be undrafted free agent Benton Whitley, who had four pressures for the second consecutive game and registered an overall 83.0 defense grade. The third member of the edge pass rush rotation is a wide open position right now. Azeez Ojulari (40.2) has not seized it, nor have Boogie Basham (30.1), Tomon Fox (48.6), or Ovie Oghoufu (36.6).

In the interior, Dexter Lawrence (74.5) had one pressure and a batted C.J. Stroud pass that saved a touchdown on fourth down (temporarily, anyway, since it preceded Jones’ pick-6). Rakeem Nunez-Roches (60.7) played adequately beside him early in the game. Current heart throb Elijah Chatman only graded 52.1 overall, but had a pass rush that drew a holding penalty and of course his now-legendary 45-yard pursuit to tackle Houston running back J.J. Taylor. D.J. Davidson (58.0) had four pressures and played fairly well overall but committed two penalties. Jordon Riley had a very quiet 56.1. Timmy Horne (34.7), Ryder Anderson (36.2 in only six snaps), and Casey Rogers (29.6) all played poorly.

Bobby Okereke (82.1) had what is now a routinely excellent performance. The spot next to him is now in flux, with Micah McFadden (56.1) having left with a hip injury after only nine snaps, and Isaiah Simmons (70.8) playing only six of his 21 snaps in the box, the rest being in the slot, corner, or safety positions. Simmons was beaten by John Metchie for a touchdown and seems miscast in that role. Rookie Darius Muasau (41.9) and free agent Matthew Adams (40.7) graded low overall due to poor coverage grades but both tackled well. K.J. Cloyd (29.8) and once-promising draftee Darrian Beavers (29.2) had awful performances.

Cornerback has become a position of considerable concern for the Giants. The best game yesterday came from undrafted free agent Alex Johnson (76.4). Darnay Holmes played fairly well (67.0) but was not targeted, so take that grade for what it is. Tae Banks (64.8) gave up the highlight reception and run to Nico Collins but overall had a quiet game; the problem is that the Giants need him to be more than quiet. Other CBs had middling (50-62) grades: Mario Goodrich, Nick McCloud, Tre Hawkins III, Christian Holmes, and Tre Herndon. Breon Borders (45.6) was targeted successfully all three times he had a chance. The safeties likewise had quiet but not terrible games: Jonathan Sutherland (67.2), Tyler Nubin (65.1), and Jason Pinnock (55.3).