New York Giants | The Final Word on Joe Judge's First Victory
Won-loss record aside, there are many things to like about the job Giants head coach Joe Judge has done with this team, perhaps none more impressive than how he’s handled the personnel.
Whereas some head coaches will stick with players too long, regardless if they’re performing, Judge has been true to his word about mixing up his lineups to achieve the ideal matchups in a game.
It’s a smart and practical approach that’s straight out of the book of Bill Belichick. When a team keeps going back to the well, it becomes too easy to defend.
So what Judge and his staff have done in mixing and matching different personnel and featuring different people on both sides of the ball is force the opposing coordinators to earn their paychecks for the week, something the previous two coaching staffs weren’t able to do consistently.
Game ball: Offense — Darius Slayton
Slayton gutting out a foot injury with no regard for himself, was inspirational. Logging 40 snaps, the most of any of the receivers, Slayton, who also is the only receiving target to have scored all three of the Giants passing touchdowns this season, is sure making a strong case to be the No. 1 receiver this year.
And how about his 23-yard touchdown reception? Slayton appeared to aggravate his injury as he tried to stop himself from running after recording the score, but he kept soldiering on in what was a gutsy performance.
Game ball: Defense — Tae Crowder
You can’t teach speed or instincts, and Tae Crowder has both in abundance. Crowder recorded his second start of his young career and finished with the Giants’ best run-stop percentage (14.3%) rate per PFF among the three inside linebackers (Martinez and Mayo).
His stat line included three stops for zero or negative yards out of 21 run defense snaps. Not bad for a player who is still relatively new to the position (he’s a converted linebacker.)
Did You Know?
Washington’s challenge of the ball's spot on quarterback Kyle Allen’s rush on a 3rd-and-6 with 13:01 was the first coach’s challenge in a Giants game this season.
Quotebook
“I absolutely think that we’re better than what our record shows. I’ve been on teams where we’ve gone 0-4, 0-5 in the beginning of the season and you can feel guys hanging their heads, you can feel guys giving up on the team and there’s a lot of division on a team with that. And I think even though we’ve been not winning as much as wanted to in the beginning of the season, we’ve been really tight in these games and guys are having each other’s backs and working hard. People are still coming to work every day expecting to win and I think that shows a lot of the type of guys that we have on this team.”
—Giants Defensive Lineman Leonard Williams on whether the Giants are better than their 1-5 record
By the Numbers
52 – The number of points the Giants have been outscored by. Eventually, the sting of that 36-6 blowout loss to the 49ers will subside, so if you consider that an anomaly, the Giants have kept their games close this year, only being outscored 116-92 (24 points).
Five Leftover Musings
1. Linebacker Trent Harris was called up from the practice squad but did not play. This is the second time this season the Giants have done that (Austin Mack was the first, back in Week 4 vs. the Rams). I don’t understand the logic behind using one of two roster callups on a player and then not playing him unless at some point you’re planning to either call the guy to the 53-man roster permanently or cut him from the practice squad.
2. I’ve said this before and will say it again. While I believe a team should use every available resource necessary to help itself, I’m not exactly thrilled with Daniel Jones running as often as he has and diving headfirst instead of sliding feet first.
I realize if you dive, it means more yards, and I appreciate how Jones is looking to bleed every last drop of yardage out of a play, but you also have to be smart about things and take what you can get. After seeing some of the shots he took in Sunday’s game, let’s say that I hope all that weight training he did in the off-season can protect him from a potential knee to the neck or head the next time he dives headfirst.
3. Sign of the times? The Giants threw for 108 net passing yards, their lowest total since they threw for 86 yards on November 23, 2017, at Washington. You can’t help but wonder if that resulted from the injuries at receiver, the concussion suffered by C.J. Board, and the gimpy foot that Darius Slayton tried to play on. Also, this was the first time in the Joe Judge era that the Giants ran the ball (26 attempts) more than they passed it (19 attempts)
4. Everyone will point to Ron Rivera’s decision to go for two instead of kicking the extra point as the deciding factor in the game, but had kicker Dustin Hopkins converted on a 47-yard field goal in the first quarter, would the two-point conversion even be a topic of conversation?
5. I'll just leave this for you right here.
Blue Lines
*Daniel Jones is now 4-14 as a starting NFL quarterback. Three of his four wins are against the Washington Football team, and half of his wins have been decided by one point.
* L.B. Tae Crowder’s scoop-and-score of Washington quarterback Kyle Allen’s fumble was the Giants’ first go-ahead defensive touchdown in the last four minutes of a fourth-quarter or overtime since October 31, 1999, when Michael Strahan scored on a 44-yard interception return in overtime to beat the Eagles in Philadelphia.
