Giants Dominated by Raiders 30-6; Daniel Jones Suffers "Significant" Knee Injury
The New York Giants suffered what is likely the kiss of death to their 2023 season, as they fell to 2-7 after being blown out 30-6 by the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium.
The Giants trailed 24-0 at halftime, were outgained in total yards 334 to 277, allowed eight sacks, and scored less than 17 points for the seventh straight game. Meanwhile, Raiders interim head coach Antonio Pierce, who won Super Bowl XLII with the Giants as a player, earned his first win as a head coach.
To make matters even worse, the team suffered from a devastating injury to quarterback Daniel Jones. Although he was returning as the starting quarterback after missing three games, Jones sustained a knee injury that left him visibly limping off the field and ruled him out for the rest of the game. It is feared that Jones suffered a torn ACL on the play, which would end his season.
Ultimately, Jones completed just four of his nine passes for 25 yards and was sacked twice, the second of which resulted in the injury. Tommy DeVito, who made his NFL debut against the Jets the week prior, again finished the game and completed 15 of his 20 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown, the first of his career. However, he also threw two interceptions near the end of the first half, allowing the Raiders to tack on 10 points and put the game out of reach.
Running back Saquon Barkley had 90 rushing yards on 16 carries and caught three passes for 23 yards.
Raiders rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell completed 16 of 25 passes for 209 yards. His top target was Tre Tucker, who had 52 yards on just two receptions. Running back Josh Jacobs had 98 rushing yards on 26 carries and scored a pair of goal-line touchdowns, both of them in the second quarter. Wide receiver Jakobi Meyers had two receptions for 38 yards and added a 17-yard rushing touchdown.
On the first possession of the game, a 9-yard reception by tight end Daniel Bellinger gave the Giants a 4th-and-1 at their 29-yard line. Coach Brian Daboll kept the offense on the field, looking for a risky conversion; however, they would never get the opportunity to run a play as Evan Neal (who returned from injury) was flagged for a false start. With the 4th-and-1 now a 4th and 5, the Giants were forced to punt. This blunder would set the tone for the rest of the game.
The Raiders promptly marched 67 yards in six plays to strike first. After advancing near midfield, a 24-yard reception by Meyers moved the ball deep into New York territory; just two plays later, Meyers fooled the defense and scored on a 17-yard touchdown run, giving Las Vegas an early 7-0 lead.
New York responded by driving into Raider territory, although they missed out on a big opportunity when Jones slightly overthrew Jalin Hyatt on a deep pass to the end zone. Eventually, they faced another 4th and 1, this time at the Las Vegas 34-yard line, and Daboll once again kept the offense on the field to go for it. Unlike the previous botched attempt, the Giants would run a play; unfortunately, it was a poorly executed “Tush Push” snuffed out by defensive lineman Maxx Crosby and resulted in a turnover on downs.
The next four drives ended in punts, two by each team. However, Jones suffered a "significant" knee injury on the second of those four drives while being sacked by defensive lineman Malcolm Koonce. Tommy DeVito relieved Jones after he exited the game.
Later in the second quarter, the Raiders extended their lead with an 8-play, 65-yard touchdown drive. After five consecutive carries by Jacobs moved the ball to the New York 34-yard line, O’Connell completed back-to-back passes to Hunter Renfrow for 19 and 13 yards before Jacobs finished the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.
A pair of mistakes by DeVito allowed the Raiders to break the game open before halftime. A deep pass intended for Hyatt was intercepted by cornerback Amik Robertson, who returned the ball to his own 40-yard line. Las Vegas needed just four plays to go the remaining 60 yards, as a 50-yard bomb to Tucker set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Jacobs.
On the first play of New York’s next drive, DeVito was intercepted by cornerback Nate Hobbs, which gave the Raiders the ball at the Giants 25-yard line with less than two minutes left in the second quarter. This set up a 24-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson that extended Las Vegas’s lead to 24-0 at halftime.
The Raiders began the second half with a 14-play, 47-yard drive that took 6:37 off the clock, and Carlson’s 47-yard field goal to finish the drive made it 27-0 Las Vegas.
After both teams punted, the Giants finally put some points on the board with an 11-play, 84-yard touchdown drive. DeVito immediately moved the ball into Raiders territory with a 34-yard strike to Darius Slayton and followed that up with a 12-yard pass to Wan’Dale Robinson.
Eventually, the Giants would face yet another 4th and 1 (that would become a 4th-and-5 due to a false start on Bellinger), but this time, they successfully converted with a 6-yard reception by Barkley. Four plays later, DeVito threw his first career touchdown pass, a 9-yard strike to Robinson in the back of the end zone. This cut the Giants’ deficit to 27-6 after a trick play two-point conversion failed.
But even then, it was already clear that the Raiders had the game in hand. The rest of the fourth quarter would be an uncompetitive slog, with the Raiders only adding a third field goal by Carlson to conclude the scoring. Meanwhile, the Giants’ next three drives ended in a turnover on downs, and their final drive ended in triple zeroes on the clock.
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