Grading the New York Giants’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles

It could be worse. You could be a Jets fan, have expected your team to contend for the Super Bowl, and also be 2-5 after being spanked 37-15 by Pittsburgh.

There doesn’t seem to be much point in breaking down a loss as miserable as the New York Giants’ 28-3 stinker against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife yesterday. Most of the problems are obvious. This is what we do after each game, though, so let’s soldier on. After all, the Giants can’t replace all 53 players in one off-season, so hopefully there are some actual gems among the counterfeits.

Offense

Snap counts

• As has been the case all season, the starting five offensive linemen played the entire game.
• For the first time this season, Daniel Jones was removed after the game got away and Drew Lock got 12 fourth quarter snaps.
• Tyrone Tracy got most of the snaps at running back, with Devin Singletary playing only 12 snaos and Eric Gray six.
• Darius Slayton, I believe for the first time, played every snap, though he was largely ignored by Jones. Malik Nabers played almost every snap in his return from a concussion, and Wan’Dale Robinson only played a few less snaps. Jalin Hyatt only got three snaps before being injured, and Ihmir Smith-Marsette and Bryce Ford-Wheaton got one snap apiece.
• Theo Johnson is now firmly established as TE1 (though not by anything he has accomplished), with Chris Manhertz and Daniel Bellinger playing only a little as the Giants ran lots of 11 personnel later in the game.

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

• The fact that not a single Giants offensive player graded above average says it all. Fans sometimes take issue with PFF grades, but you have to say that they hit the bullseye on this one. Malik Nabers barely missed being above average, lending some credence to his statement to reporters after the game that he was open (implying that someone didn’t get the ball to him), but in truth we don’t know how often he was supposed to get the ball and didn’t.
• Daniel Jones graded 62.8, at the lower end of average; put into words, that can be called “meh.” That’s about right. Jones didn’t obviously do anything terrible yesterday, but neither did he do anything good, i.e., he couldn’t elevate his team. Pressure was part but not all of the problem:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Jones, like most quarterbacks, was clearly affected by the pressure Sunday, and he was pressured on 46.7% of his dropbacks. He was only blitzed 6 times (20% of dropbacks), so most of that is on the offensive line rather than him (more on that below). However, (1) some of the great QBs make defenses pay when they blitz, hitting the inevitable open receiver, but Jones only completed one pass for 5 yards when blitzed; (2) even when kept clean Jones was only 11 of 16 for 78 yards and a 69.5 passing grade. He apparently just could not solve Vic Fangio’s defense.

Oh, and Drew Lock (26.8) is not the answer.

• The offensive line appeared to have its worst game of the season yesterday. The Giants only ran the ball with their running backs 13 times yesterday. That might have been Daboll seeing if Jones could win a game through the air the way good quarterbacks do. It also might be that he doesn’t have a good run blocking line. Sunday’s run block grades: John Michael Schmitz (60.1), Josh Ezeudu (46.9), Jermaine Eluemunor (44.4), Jon Runyan (43.5), Greg Van Roten (39.7).
• The pass blocking wasn’t awful across the board, but neither was it good:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Three offensive linemen actually graded above average in pass blocking overall: Jermaine Eluemunor (76.6), Jon Runyan (74.2), and Greg Van Roten (70.2), i.e., the three free agents signed by Joe Schoen over the winter. Josh Ezeudu overall was average (65.6), and JMS was awful (30.7). This may not makes sense to those of us watching who saw Jones continually under pressure, but the thing about OLs is that they are a “weak link” system. The defense has 5 chances to get pressure on any pass play, and only one guy on the OL has to fail at his job for a given play to be blown up. Tthe Philly defense blew up eight plays for sacks, and the OL was responsible for seven of them. In that sense, yesterday’s debacle was not really on Jones (hence his average grade), rather he just wasn’t able to rise above the OL leaks.

• The skill players were not the story – other than Tyrone Tracy, who got a good 73.5 rushing grade, everyone else was average or slightly below average, except Theo Johnson (41.8), whose push-off penalty in the end zone negated his touchdown reception.

Defense

Snap counts

• Only Tyler Nubin and Deonte Banks played every snap or even close to it, unlike previous games, due to the game being decided by early in the fourth quarter. Jason Pinnock played less than every snap for a change, and Andru Phillips was on the field about two-thirds of the time. Cor’Dale Flott left the game early due to a groin injury, being replaced by Nick McCloud (who was promptly burned by A.J. Brown), and allowing Tre Hawkins to see his first defensive action of the year. Dane Belton also saw more action than usual.
• One beneficiary of the blowout was Dexter Lawrence, who played the fewest snaps he’s seen since Week 1. Rakeem Nunez-Roches led the defensive line in snaps played, D.J. Davidson and Jordon Riley played the most they have all season, and Elijah Chatman tied for the most snaps he’s played all year.
• On the edge, Brian Burns played about as much as he has in recent weeks but left with an injury. That meant Azeez Ojulari played by far the most snaps he’s played all year. Tomon Fox saw his first action of the year on defense, while Patrick Johnson played by far the most snaps of his Giants career.
• Bobby Okereke got some rare time off, missing nine defensive snaps, while Micah McFadden played a bit more than usual, Darius Musasau saw his greatest action since Week 1, and Matthew Adams saw his first Giants defensive snap.

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Overall the defense played fairly well yesterday, especially in the first half. They got burned on the A.J. Brown TD reception, and they gave up some big Saquon Barkley runs, especially in the second half when they were wearing down. They did some good things too, harassing Jalen Hurts and sacking him five times with 21 total pressures. Let’s see who the champs and the chumps were:

• The Giants continue to have a very good defensive line on passing plays: Dexter Lawrence (83.7, 2 sacks, 3 hurries), Brian Burns (78.2, 1 sack, 1 QB hit, 3 hurries, 1 batted pass), and Elijah Chatman (80.1, 4 hurries). Tomon Fox (81.7) had a garbage-time sack and a QB hit. Azeez Ojulari had a sack and 2 hurries but missed a tackle and graded only 58.3 overall.
• What they are lacking is that stud next to Lawrence in the interior, especially on rushing plays. D.J. Davidson (64.1), Rakeem Nunez-Roches (50.6), and Jordon Riley (47.7) are basically just bodies who take up space and try to allow the linebackers to make tackles.
• And that is a bit of a problem because the Giants’ ILBs are not playing quite as well as last year. Bobby Okereke (73.5, 5 tackles) has stepped it up a bit the past two games after a mediocre start. Micah McFadden (50.7, 5 tackles) had his third consecutive below-average game after three excellent performances to start the season. Darius Muasau (81.4) played well in garbage time.
• The secondary was a mixed bag. Andru Phillips (77.1) continues to look like one of the steals of the draft. He has graded above average (70.7-84.3) in every game he has played but one, and he was 64.3 in that one. He’s given up 11 receptions in 15 targets on the season…for a total of 46 yards. Yesterday: 1 target, 1 reception – for minus 2 yards. Tyler Nubin (76.5) had his best game as a Giant (76.5), also with 1 reception in one target…for 5 yards. Phillips and Nubin each had two run stops (failed running plays by the offense), and they have totaled 13 and nine stops for the season.
• The Giants’ defensive problems in the passing game continue to be at the corners. Tae Banks had another poor game (44.6), although he was on A.J. Brown much of the time. Brown had 4 catches on Banks, but for only 48 yards total. Banks’ real problem was lack of effort on a couple of plays. Cor’Dale Flott (68.2) was playing well before his groin injury; Nick McCloud (53.6) did not give up another reception after the A.J. Brown TD Tre Hawkins (67.3), Dane Belton (62.6), and Jason Pinnock (54.2) were just there but had little effect pro or con.