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How did the Giants grade out after their 41-35 overtime win against Washington in Week 16?

Offense: A

If this is what head coach Pat Shurmur envisioned for his offense, then sign us up for more. Daniel Jones showed zero signs of rust in his first game back from a two-week injury-related absence. He went 28 of 42 for 352 yards, 5 touchdowns, and no interceptions--with no lost fumbles. 

Jones, who benefitted from solid protection, looked like an old pro slicing and dicing the Washington secondary, as three of his touchdown passes came against old friend Landon Collins.

Running back Saquon Barkley recorded 189 rushing yards (a career-high) on 22 carries, and that the Giants are 4-1 when they give Barkley 20 or more carries is probably no accident. We don’t envy whoever has to decide this week’s NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors as both Jones and Barkley are certainly deserving.

And how about rookie tight end Kaden Smith? Not only did he have some solid blocking, he caught two of Jones’ five touchdown passes, including the walk-off game-winner in overtime.

Defense: D

If the Giants had lost this game—and they came pretty darn close—it would have been on the defense, who failed to protect what was once a two-score lead. The most disturbing thing about the defense is that the same mistakes seem to be made int eh secondary week after week, namely the young cornerbacks getting too aggressive to the point where they’re drawing pass interference flags.

The good news is the pass rush was functioning. Lorenzo Carter had his best game of the season with 1.5 sacks, and Markus Golden is just a half-sack shy of becoming the first Giants defender since Jason Pierre-Paul in 2014 to record double-digit sacks.

Want more good news? Adrian Peterson and friends didn’t really hurt the Giants on the ground as New York swarmed to plug holes, holding Peterson to 36 yards on 17 carries.

Special Teams: C

This unit very nearly cost the Giants the game not once but twice. The first was a missed 53-yard field goal by Aldrick Rosas that went wide left.

While we can sit here and debate that the giants should have probably gone for it at that point, Rosas had been making his 50+ yard attempts during warmups so there was no reason to think he wouldn’t make it when it was crunch time.

The other major gaffe was the holding penalty called against Michael Thomas on a Riley Dixon punt that Cody Core had downed inside the 5-yard line. The do-over proved disastrous as Dixon’s punt was blocked, the miscue setting up a touchdown drive.

Coaching: B

Shurmur is certainly aiming to make team ownership’s decision about his future a difficult one. While there will be those who will point out the quality of the Giants opponent this week, the bottom line is a win is a win.

Shurmur could conceivably point as progress the fact that the Giants are currently 2-1 in the last quarter of the season, with one game to go, a marked improvement for a relatively young team that underwent another massive overhaul in the off-season. If that does happen though, expect there will be changes made to his staff.

As for the game, Shurmur continues to make head-scratching decisions such as getting away from Saquon Barkley in the second quarter and trying the ill-fated field goal on 4th-and-3 when in other weeks he would go for it. 

Perhaps that missed field goal scared him off of trying a 63-yarder with two seconds left, but decisions aside, the Giants were the better team for the second week in a row, and that starts with the coaching.