What can we learn from Giants’ Week 2 PFF grades, snap counts?

The New York Giants lost a game they should have won in Washington on Sunday. They got into scoring position on five of seven drives and came away with three touchdowns, but instead of 27 points, the minimum they should have scored, they only scored 18. Perhaps the only stat that matters from this game is: Graham Gano, 1 snap. Nonetheless, it is informative to document which individual players Pro Football Focus thinks played well and who didn’t, along with some “interesting” patterns of player usage that are developing with this team.

We’ll just look at offense and defense, but note that the Giants’ 53.0 special teams grade yesterday was second-lowest in the NFL behind Carolina’s 52.9…and that doesn’t even capture the fact that special teams lost the game because the Giants had no place kicker. There’s no PFF grade for head coach – GM game day roster decisions.

Offense

PFF grades

• Daniel Jones wasn’t great, but he was good enough, grading 71.4 overall. Here are his detailed stats for clean pockets and under pressure:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Jones, like most QBs, was better from a clean pocket than under pressure, but (a) he was only pressured 30% of dropbacks, a low number for him, and (b) he was below average but not terrrible under pressure, unlike last week. Jones had no big-time throws, but he had no turnover-worthy plays, either. He also had an ADOT above 10 yards, so he was throwing real passes and not dinking and dunking.

• The offensive line is really starting to be a thing. In addition to Andrew Thomas’ routine excellence (79.8 overall, 85.9 pass blocking), Jon Runyan was above average (72.8) and John Michael Schmitz fell just short of above average (69.1), a big improvement. Jermaine Eluemunor (58.2) was barely below average, and only Greg Van Roten (50.1) was something of a weak link. A quarterback can run an offense behind this kind of offensive line.
• Malik Nabers, despite his crucial drop, was excellent overall yesterday (89.4). Wan’Dale Robinson was average, and Darius Slayton and Jalin Hyatt were below average. None of the tight ends even made it to average overall, although Theo Johnson (78.2) and Chris Manhertz (69.3) did pass block well. The running backs had average games but nothing special; Devin Singletary (66.9) had four runs of 10+ yards but those were offset by his crucial fumble.

Snap counts

• Jones and the starting offensive linemen played every snap. That unit has been, dare I say, stable through two games.
• Brian Daboll made clear at a presser last week that Jalin Hyatt is the third or fourth wide receiver. True to his word, Nabers and Darius Slayton played most of the snaps and Wan’Dale Robinson more than half, while Hyatt only saw the field 12 times (and was not targeted once), similar to Week 1.
• You may not have thought much about the Giants’ tight ends yesterday. That’s because none of them were targeted in the passing game even once yesterday. Theo Johnson was on the field for 44 snaps, Chris Manhertz 26, and Daniel Bellinger, who midway through his rookie year looked like he might be one of the steals of the draft, now looks like he might not even make it to the end if his rookie contract; he was only on the field for 4 snaps.
• When Saquon Barkley left, I thought the Giants might have more of a running-back-by-committee approach. That has not occurred. Singletary is clearly the lead back, with 44 snaps vs. Washington, while rookie Tyrone Tracy only got 12 and Eric Gray did not see the field on offense.

Defense

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

• Micah McFadden had an outstanding game (87.8), with 7 tackles, 5 assists, only 1 missed tackle, and a sack and two hurries. Bobby Okereke (67.3) has gotten off to a slow start in Shane Bowen’s defense but still had 5 tackles and 4 assists with 1 missed tackle. Isaiah Simmons (55.4) had a quiet game.
• Brian Burns (80.2) played very well overall in PFF’s eyes, though he didn’t show up much on the stat sheet with only 2 hurries, a batted pass, and 3 tackles. Kayvon Thibodeaux graded just average (60.3), with 2 QB hits and a hurry plus 4 tackles and 1 miss. Azeez Ojulari (63.0) was just average, with 1 hurry, 1 tackle, 2 assists, and 1 missed tackle.
• Dexter Lawrence (75.3) had a quiet game by his standards but managed 4 hurries, 3 tackles, and 1 assist. As has become the custom since the Leonard Williams trade, the rest of the IDL was only average (Rakeem Nunez-Roches, 63.1) or subpar (Elijah Chatman, 50.8; D.J. Davidson, 28.9).
• The secondary did a lot of the work vs. the Commanders, some good and some bad. Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen blitzed Jayden Daniels 12 time in 38 dropbacks. He shouldn’t have. Daniels went 9-for-9 passing against the blitz for 129 yards and graded 73.8, vs. 14-for-20 when not blitzed for 97 yards and a 59.1 grade. All the Giants cornerbacks and safeties had average coverage grades (62.7-69.6) except for Jason Pinnock, who had an awful 30.1 coverage grade. The secondary only prevented four completions: two by Andru Phillips and two by Tae Banks. Overall, Phillips (70.7), Adoree’ Jackson (69.6), and Tyler Nubin (64.8) played fairly well. I thought Phillips’ grade would be higher given his 8 tackles, 5 of them stops (unsuccessful plays) and 3 assists, but he also missed 2 tackles. Banks’ overall 60.2 grade was dragged down by poor run fitting (29.9), as was Cor’Dale Flott’s (53.8 overall but 30.0 tackling).

Snap counts

• On the edge, Burns (64 snaps) and Thibodeaux (56) played a lot more than in last week’s game because the outcome was in doubt until the end. Ojulari was the main substitute (22 snaps) and Benton Whitley (barely) saw his first action of the season.
• On the inside, Lawrence (59 snaps) and Nunez-Roches (52) saw most of the action, with Chatman (16 snaps) and D.J. Davidson (11) being the main substitutes and Jordon Riley (3) getting a cup of coffee.
• Once again Bobby Okereke played every snap (72). McFadden (57) saw most of the action beside him while Simmons (16) saw his first snaps of the season.
• Banks and Nubin played every defensive snap (72), and Pinnock all but one. Phillips (66) got a much bigger workload than last week, and Flott played the majority of the snaps (59), while Jackson was only on the field for 14, and Dane Belton (8 snaps) is now the odd man out in the rotation.