New York Giants Week 14 Report Card: Plane Ugly

 Grading the New York Giants 14-11 Loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Hard to believe that this Giants offense, which finished with 325 total net yards, waited until the fourth quarter to get going. That’s when they posted 190 yards, meaning the other three quarters saw them post just 135 yards.

What’s also hard to believe is that Drew Lock went zero for eight to start the game–yes, there were dropped passes (will these drops ever go away?). But at the end of the day, he went  21-for-49 for 227 yards and one interception. That’s a 42.8% completion rate. 

On the plus side, though, Lock finished as the Giants’ leading rusher with 59 yards on five carries. Still, if he’s going to quarterback this team, the pass completion percentage needs to be much better.  

Malik Nabers gave it his best shot despite ailing with hip and groin injuries and finished with a team-leading 79 yards on five receptions. That was not horrible. I wish he had been more involved in the first half of the game.   

The bottom line is that this offense, which has scored 20+ at home only once and is averaging 10.83 points per game in front of its home crowd, is beyond broken. 

Considering defensive coordinator Shane Bowen was working with a crew that he had to slap together thanks to the injuries to defensive linemen Dexter Lawrence II, D.J. Davidson, and Rakeem Nunez-Roches, cornerback Deonte Banks, and inside linebacker Bobby Okereke, surprisingly, the defense was the least of the Giants’ problems this week. 

The much-maligned Giants run defense held the Saints to just 92 yards on 33 carries (2.8 average), the first time since Week 4 that the Giants have held an opponent to under 100 yards rushing. Alvin Kamara only had 44 yards on 17 carries, a 2.6 average. 

Micah McFadden came through with a team-leading 11 tackles and five tackles for loss (out of 13 total by the team). Solid. The Giants also held the Saints, who have averaged 23 points per game, to just 14 points, shutting them out in the fourth quarter.   

Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux each delivered a sack, the pass rush seemingly waking up again after a month-long slumber. 

And speaking of a slumber, kudos to cornerback Tre Hawkins III, getting a start with Cor’Dale Flott and Deonte BAnks ailing and inactive, for coming down with the defensive secondary’s first interception this season and only the second one by the team this year (and first since Week 1). 

In a word, blech! Ten points–a 48-yard field goal by Graham Gano and a 52-yard punt return for a touchdown by Ihmir Smith-Marsette–were taken off the board thanks to penalties, the field goal by an overzealous Jake Kubas, who was called for unnecessary roughness, and the touchdown by Greg Stroman, Jr.’s holding penalty.

You could argue that special teams cost the Giants 13 points this week, which would have been the difference in the game if you throw in Graham Gano’s 35-yard field goal attempt blocked by Brian Bresee, who did his best Isaiah Simmons impersonation (see Week 5 against Seattle if you aren’t sure what I’m referencing) by leaping over Kubas and getting a hand on the ball before it could take flight. 

The good? Dane Belton and Anthony Johnson alertly sniffed out and stopped a fake punt on a fourth down in the second quarter. Casey Rogers blocked a PAT. And Jamie Gillan did put four of his eight punts inside the 20, including two that landed inside the 10-yard line. 

Despite those positive moments, the 10 (or 13, depending on your perspective) points this unit cost the Giants this week are inexcusable.

If Brian Daboll is back next year–and let’s be realistic and say that’s not a slam dunk–one of the conditions of his return has got to be to hand back the play calling to an offensive coordinator. Daboll’s play-calling decisions are beyond maddening at this point. 

There seems to be no rhyme or reason for his decisions on when to punt and go for it on fourth down. When he has 2nd or 3rd and short to go, you can set your watch to it being a pass play. 

And that decision not to try a 54-yard field goal in the first quarter despite having the wind in their favor? HEad-scratching, even though Graham Gano later said that he wasn’t sure he’d make it from that distance based on what he did in pregame warmups.

Defensively, this might have been one of the best performances of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen in a loss. Kudos to him for keeping things simple and getting a bunch of guys who weren’t on the 53-man roster at the start of the season, let alone the last time they played a game, to perform well against a Saints offense that is still good for the big one.