What we learned from Giants’ 10-6 loss to Jets

The New York Giants closed out the 2024 preseason with a painful-to-watch 10-6 loss to the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Saturday night in East Rutherford.

There wasn’t much to be decided on either side roster-wise. Both teams sat their essential starters and key players which turned the contest into a battle of the backups and players coming off injuries needing a few reps.

Here are a few quick things we learned from the finale.

Two starters got injured

The Giants started Evan Neal at right tackle and John Michael Schmitz at center. Head coach Brian Daboll said they needed the work since both had shortened training camps due to injury. Both left the game with ankle injuries.

Daboll did not know the extent of either player but he has to be perplexed about why his team is so snakebit by injuries. Six other players were also injured.

The depth is an issue

For some players on the roster bubble, especially along the offensive line, their Giants career is over after Saturday night. Some poor tackling on defense and lousy pass protection on offense could make this week’s cuts easier than they should be.

The defense played well but…

Considering the Jets played their third-stringers, you have to take that with a grain of salt. The Giants had their backups in, too. Outside of the 45-yard run by Israel Abanikanda, the Giants bent but did not break. They held the Jets to just two red zone visits and kept them out of the paint both times.

Cloyd, Whitley and Kelley should be kept

Linebackers K.J. Cloyd and Benton Whitley should be retained and that could be an easy decision with several players ahead of them on the depth chart experiencing injuries. Cloyd — free agent rookie — was a one-man wrecking crew and Whitley can rush the passer from the inside.

Running back Joshua Kelley is making things hard for rookie Dante Miller. Kelley could end up on the 53-man roster and Miller on the practice squad.

Tommy DeVito played the entire game with scores of different players around. In short, he did the best he could with what he had. But…he still holds on to the football too long. However, DeVito’s decision-making is speeding up and he’s much improved over last season.

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: What we learned from Giants’ 10-6 loss to Jets