New York Giants Week 15: By the Numbers
Fifteen weeks into the latest terrible season by the New York Giants, what was once disappointment and a promise to get better with each passing postgame press conference has become full-blown frustration from top to bottom of the organization.
There was frustration building from the moment the Giants took the field Sunday, exiting the tunnel to a MetLife Stadium outnumbered by Dallas Cowboys fans which one sportswriter cleverly referred to as “AT&T Stadium East.”
As the Giants proceeded to fail at accomplishing any small feat against their divisional rival, tempers boiled over and led to repetitive skirmishes between the two sides, the one piece of action that gave Giants fans something to cheer about.
Yet, the player who illustrated the team’s attitude so emphatically was Saquon Barkley, who has struggled to return to the prominence he saw in his 2018 rookie year.
On a 4th down-and-1 gamble by the Giants at their own 28-yard line in the fourth quarter, right tackle Matt Peart flinched early, ending the drive and drawing the ire of Barkley, who flung his hands in the air as the yellow laundry fell onto the turf.
“We know that’s a pivotal play in a game that we got to convert,” he said, trying to suppress the frustration in his voice. “We just got to execute and we didn't do that on that play and other plays.”
In the end, the best the Giants could manage was two field goals by Graham Gano. New York recorded their fifth straight double-digit losing season as they fell miserably to the Cowboys 21-6.
Dak Prescott, whose career record against New York improved to 9-3, completed 28-of-37 passes for 217 yards and a touchdown to lead his team closer to a playoff berth and an NFC East division title.
On the other side, Giants quarterback Mike Glennon made his third start since taking the place of the injured Daniel Jones in Week 13. Glennon went 13-of-24 on his throws for 99 passing yards and three interceptions, the worst performance by a Giants quarterback this season. His afternoon got so bad it ended late in the fourth quarter when head coach Joe Judge decided to throw the inexperienced Jake Fromm to the wolves to close out the game.
Here are the numbers and stats that stood out in the Giants’ humiliating loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Seven Drives of 20 Yards or Less
The Giants offense, banged up and unproductive, has been the ugliest part of their team this season, and that trend looks to only get worse as the team closes things out in the final three weeks.
Over the past few games, it has felt like the Giants offense has deteriorated to its lowest levels under interim offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens and with Glennon under center. Last Sunday, the Giants found their highest point total (21) since the two took over their respective roles, but most of the effort came in garbage time, with the Chargers calling off the dogs in the fourth quarter.
In Week 15 against the Cowboys, the group returned to being completely lost and incapable of getting a meaningful drive going most of the afternoon. Their most glaring failure—having several possessions not cross the 50-yard line.
The Giants offense had ten total possessions on Sunday, and an astounding seven of them stalled after moving the ball 20 yards or less. They struggled to extend drives on the ground with Barkley (15 carries, 50 yards) or Devontae Booker (8 carries, 74 yards) or in the air, but the most significant factor in the woe was repetitive turnovers deep in Big Blue’s territory.
Six plays and 20 yards into their first possession of the game, Glennon threw a pass that ricocheted off of Sterling Shepard into the air and fell into the hands of Cowboys’ corner Jourdan Lewis. After Lewis returned it to the Giants’ 13, two plays later, running back Ezekiel Elliot cashed in Dallas’s first touchdown of the game.
Then late in the second quarter, the Giants had the ball at their own 40 approaching midfield. Once again, the turnover bug bit the Giants as Barkley took a handoff up the middle that was punched out by Demarcus Lawrence and recovered by defensive tackle Carlos Watkins. It was the Giants' lone fumble of the day, Barkley’s third in 791 snaps (and first lost fumble of his career), and it ended the drive after 16 yards.
Twice in the second half, Glennon added on two more interceptions to his horrific stat line, capping two more Giants drives after 19 and zero yards gained, respectively.
The Giants had just three drives go for 25 or more yards, and two of those ended in Gano’s field goals from 35 and 42 yards that saved the team from a glorified shutout. The other came when practice squad quarterback Jake Fromm entered in garbage time and executed a 13-play, 84-yard drive that ended on downs.
The ability to find any offensive production will be critical if the Giants want to finish out the season with an ounce of decent football. As of now, it appears things may end on a rather dark note.
More Giants-Dallas Postgame Coverage
Giants Passing Game MIA
Coming into Sunday’s contest, it was predicted that the Giants and Cowboys would rely more heavily on the running attack due to the windy conditions in East Rutherford, New Jersey, that were unfavorable to passing the ball.
While both squads did turn to their ball carriers a lot, throwing the ball wasn’t scrapped from the playbooks either. Yet, when the Giants tried to pull a play from their passing section, Glennon either failed to connect with his target, or there was no receiver home on the other end of the route.
Nine different Giants receivers were targeted at least one time on Sunday, but only two of them managed to surpass 30 yards receiving. Those two players were receiver Kenny Golladay, who had three catches for 53 yards on seven targets (the second-most on the team), and tight end Evan Engram with four catches for 33 yards.
A big chunk of the remaining targets went to Barkley and Shepard, who split 14 targets. Barkley caught four passes for 24 yards, including one incredible reception in the first quarter where he secured the ball from its point with his arm outstretched behind his back and proceeded to convert a 3rd down-and-one play.
Unfortunately for Shepard, his day ended with two catches for 15 yards in the second half when he tore his Achilles on a non-contact injury running a route downfield.
Here's a stat from the third quarter to put the “missing in action” passing game into greater perspective. As the Giants concluded that frame Sunday, they had three key receivers—Golladay, Shepard, and Slayton—each with either one reception or no catches at all despite five targets.
It was nice to see play-caller Freddie Kitchens shift his offensive focus towards the running game, given the noise outside the team facilities for the Giants to return to that ground and pound style of football. Still, they must have a passing attack to rely on when the offensive line’s protection bars any efficient movement from the backfield.
10+ Interceptions and Sacks
Whereas the Giants defense did a respectable job of curbing the Cowboys’ red-zone efficiency to 2-of-5 by allowing field goals despite favorable field position on numerous possessions for them, there was no stopping the ferocious, ball-hawking defense headed by defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.
The Cowboys defense swarmed the Giants offensive front like sharks the entire game, putting relentless pressure on Glennon to force errored passes and creating big stops on fourth down. Along with the four forced turnovers, the Cowboys defense sacked Jake Fromm once for three yards, kept the Giants far away from the end zone, and held the emboldened Giants offense to 1of 3 on 4th down conversion attempts.
Two players who stood out among the pack were corner Trevon Diggs and linebacker Micah Parsons. The two combined their contributions on Sunday to make the Cowboys the first team since the 2007 San Diego Chargers to have a player with 10+ interceptions and another with 10+ sacks in a season.
Diggs, the Cowboys’ best ball hawk in the Cowboys secondary with his ten picks returned for a team-leading 142 yards and 19 passes deflected, had his shining moment midway through the fourth quarter when he intercepted Glennon’s deep pass towards the end zone to Golladay that was verified after a officials’ review. He also finished with four tackles (three solos) and deflected a couple of passes.
Parsons, the man who many believe, is a strong candidate for both Defensive Rookie and Defensive Player of the Year, finished the game with one tackle and was not very active in pressuring the backfield. However, he leads the Cowboys this season with 12 total sacks, a number distanced by nine and a half from the closest Cowboy defender, Dorance Armstrong, who has 2.5 sacks to his 2021 resume.
Last season, the Cowboys defense was put on blast for allowing the most points in a season in their entire illustrious franchise history. Jerry Jones and company made it a priority in the offseason to improve that side of the football. With recent draft selections like Diggs and Parsons, they have become one of the league's best at shutting down opposing offenses.
Jake Fromm’s First NFL Action
After being forced to watch three and a half quarters of debauchery from Glennon in his third week as the starting quarterback, the outnumbered Giants fans inside MetLife Stadium finally got to see what they’ve been yearning for: Some live game action for practice squad quarterback Jake Fromm.
Fromm was inserted into the game in the final 3:41 in the fourth after Judge and the coaching staff had seen enough of Glennon. Taking advantage of his opportunity, Fromm executed one of the Giants' most extended drives of the entire game and nearly surpassed his predecessor’s passing yardage total in that same span.
“I was just trying to stay prepared throughout the whole game,” Fromm said after the game about whether he knew in advance he was going to get some snaps. “I didn’t know if I was going in at any particular time…they just told me late in the fourth quarter that ‘hey you’re up’ and I just tried to get ready and make something happen.”
Starting with the ball at his own seven, Fromm commanded the Giants on a 13 play, 84- yard drive in which he completed six of his twelve passes for 82 yards and an average of 6.8 yards per pass. Fromm was able to move the ball consistently with his arm the entire drive (except for his one sack on the third play of the drive) and find his open playmakers for double-digit yardage the majority of his snaps, something Glennon had failed to achieve.
He targeted Golladay three times and connected on two passes for 24 yards to push the Giants into Cowboys’ territory with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. Shepard and Slayton got involved with catches for 15 and 14 yards, respectively.
Fromm’s day and the Giants' final possession would ultimately stall on fourth down from the Cowboys’ 9-yard line when Fromm failed to convert a pass to Pharoh Cooper for the second consecutive play to extend the drive towards scoring a lone touchdown. Dallas took over possession, kneeled the ball, and secured their third victory over New York in the last four meetings.
For Fromm, the final result was still a loss for his team, but he was enthusiastic about getting to live out his childhood dream.
“Obviously, it was really fun to get there, check the box a little bit, complete a childhood dream and play in an NFL game,” he said. “It was awesome, just the ability to go out there with the guys… be able to move the ball a little bit, try to compete and give us a chance to win there at the end.”
Glennon, who finished his contributions with a 24.8 overall rating, supported Fromm when his name was called upon to lead the team despite not wanting to be benched.
“Obviously, you never want to see it happen, but I’m there for him just like he’s there for me, and we’ll support each other no matter what the situation is.”
The Final Two Minutes Famine Continues
Once again, the Giants extended their league-worst scoring deficit in the final two minutes with another scoreless output in that span against the Cowboys. The caveat, however, is what they gave up on the other end wasn’t a touchdown.
With a 27-yard field goal from Greg Zuerlein, the second kick on back-to-back Dallas drives in the second quarter, the Cowboys (+32 in the final two minutes this season) pushed the Giants’ dismal number to -62 in the scoring department.
In the first half, the Giants had the ball with 1:39 remaining at their own 25 with an opportunity, at worst, to drain the clock and enter the break down 12-3 with second-half possession incoming. Instead, they went three plays for 16 yards, and Barkley fumbled the ball, opening the way for Zuerlein's aforementioned kick.
Fromm and the Giants got to within ten yards of the end zone in the second half, looking to end on a bright note. Likewise, they turned the ball over on downs and couldn’t convert any more points.
Scoring only three points on their second drive of the first half, the Giants managed the lowest-scoring outing in the first half this season. The next lowest points total came in Week 7 when the Giants took an odd 5-3 lead into halftime against the Panthers before winning the game 25-3.
As the number continues to grow each week, the only question is how large it gets before Week 18 is over.
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