What’s keeping the Giants from making any real progress

The Giants played a game against the Cowboys that went down to the wire. Consider this a sign of progress — last season they were blown out twice in this matchup — or yet another indication that they do not have what it takes to close things out.

 It felt a whole lot more like the latter in the locker room after the Giants absorbed a 20-15 loss at MetLife Stadium, their seventh consecutive loss to the Cowboys and their 14th loss in the past 15 games against an NFC East rival that has their number, big time.

Here’s a look at how and why it happened this time:

• The Giants are going to win nothing — zero, nada, zilch — if they cannot run the ball in any meaningful way. It made sense that they wanted to establish their ground game right away, as the Cowboys came in with the worst run defense in the league after three games. They committed an extra player to stop the run and the Giants never had a counter for what they were seeing. Devin Singletary on the Giants’ first play from scrimmage ran for five yards. As it turned out, that was his longest gain of the night. The Giants in 24 attempts only got 26 rushing yards. It was their lowest rushing total in nearly five years — they ran for only 23 yards in a 34-17 loss to the Jets on Nov. 10, 2019. It sure looks as if the offensive line is a stronger group as pass protectors — when was the last time we could say that? — and not the sort of blow-you-off-the-ball line that can power for yards.

• The good news about Daniel Jones is after his horrid season opener he looks more like the steady quarterback who helped the Giants win nine games, plus one more in the playoffs, in 2022. He is not as effective as a runner, though, coming off ACL surgery. The bad news is, similar to 2022, there is simply not enough playmaking from Jones to get his team in the end zone often enough. The inability to hit the big play — underthrowing Darius Slayton deep on a free play or not hitting a target in stride to allow a defender to close out for a tackle short of the first down — is what separates Jones from quarterbacks in higher tiers. Too much has to go right on every possession. The Giants ran 13 more plays on offense than the Cowboys and owned a significant advantage in time of possession (35:37-24:23), but settling for five field goals, when one touchdown could have produced a victory, is blah football.

• Just not enough. Wan’Dale Robinson had a career-high 11 receptions but he was kicking himself afterward for two drops. He had one in the red zone that “I definitely think should have been a touchdown.’’ Another killer came with 3:34 remaining and the Giants on their own 45-yard line. Jones on third-and-6 hit Robinson in stride and it should have been a substantial gain but Robinson allowed the ball to slip away. On the next play, Jones and Malik Nabers failed to connect on fourth down, a play that resulted in Nabers leaving the field with a concussion. “Obviously I’ve got to be better with that,’’ Robinson said of the missed third down.

• For the fourth straight game, all five offensive linemen played every snap.  

• As much as this was a lost opportunity for the Giants, it also felt like a harbinger of things to come for the Cowboys. Was anyone impressed with how they snapped their two-game losing streak? They still can’t run the ball — a total of 80 rushing yards, as Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliott aren’t cutting it — and other than CeeDee Lamb, there is no one on offense that scares anyone. Lamb had a 55-yard touchdown catch-and-run. The longest gain on any play on offense after that was a 16-yard reception for Brandin Cooks. The Cowboys were 3 of 10 on third down conversions and gained only 293 total yards. Their defense produced only one sack and it remains to be seen if their still-suspect run defense can do to others what it did to the Giants. At 2-2, the Cowboys look more like a team that will compete for a wild card spot than a team capable of winning the NFC East title.

• One starting safety position has always been owned by Jason Pinnock, who plays every snap. The other safety position is also secured, as rookie Tyler Nubin once again played all 56 snaps on defense. That meant that Dane Belton did not see the field at all on defense. His 20 snaps in the game all came on special teams.

• Until further notice, the Giants’ tight ends are no more than blockers. They are out there but are hardly ever thrown to. Rookie Theo Johnson played 49 of the 69 snaps on offense and was targeted one time — he caught one pass for six yards. Chris Manhertz was not targeted in 29 snaps and Daniel Bellinger was not targeted in his 13 snaps. Isn’t the tight end position supposed to be involved in the passing attack in a more meaningful way than this?

• It gets lost in the defeat, but credit has to be given to Greg Joseph from rebounding in a big way after a rough Giants debut last week, when he missed a 48-yard field goal in Cleveland in his first attempt with his new team. The 30-year old veteran accounted for all 15 of the Giants’ points, going 5 for 5 on field goals. It was the 11th time in franchise history that a kicker made three field goals of 40 or more yards. Graham Gano, currently on injured reserve, did it six times previously.  

• You want to win? Have the NFL schedule your team to face the Giants on “Thursday Night Football.” The Giants have lost nine consecutive games on that night of the week and they are 3-19 in primetime since 2018. The next month brings two more night games — at home on a Sunday night against the Bengals and in Pittsburgh on a Monday night against the Steelers.