Haason Reddick, Markus Golden Wreak Havoc On Giants Offense
The Giants offensive line had been trending upward over the last few weeks, but the Arizona Cardinals reversed that trend on Sunday.
The Giants' 26-7 loss to Arizona ended a four-game winning streak and delivered arguably the worst showing by the Giants' offensive line all season as it gave up eight sacks and cleared only 78 total yards worth of running lanes.
The Arizona pass rush might have felt right at home at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, as it was spearheaded by New Jersey native Haason Reddick and former Giant Markus Golden. They combined for six sacks and a forced fumble. Cardinals linebacker Dennis Gardeck also added two sacks of his own.
In particular, Reddick put up a clinic with five sacks, breaking the Cardinals' single-game franchise record.
For Reddick, who came into that game recording multiple sacks just once (Week 6 against the Cowboys), the Giants' inept offensive line served as the perfect canvas for him to paint his career masterpiece.
"This is my first time I've ever had a game like this," Reddick said. "Earlier this year was the first time in the NFL having two sacks in a game but today this was the first time I've ever had a game like this where everything was working for me on all cylinders."
Meanwhile, Golden, who started the season with the Giants before being traded on October 23 for a sixth-round pick, made his presence known early, setting the tone on the Giants' opening drive with a strip-sack of quarterback Daniel Jones.
"Anytime you can get the team going and be able to make a play, get the ball back and get a takeaway and get it to the offense that's really exciting," Golden said. "So that's what we wanted to do, we wanted to come out and get some takeaways this week and I was able to get started quickly and all the guys finished it off."
The Giants benefited from Golden's relentless play style and veteran pass-rush skills dating back to last year, as he racked up a team-leading ten sacks for them in 2019 and 1.5 in 2020.
But Sunday, the Giants weren't the benefactors of Golden's pass rush prowess.
Golden said he was not surprised about Reddick's career performance. Golden claimed that Reddick went into the week with a different degree of motivation not seen yet this season.
"He came in Wednesday when we got back together and he said he's going to get after the quarterback this week," Golden said. "The look he had in his eye this week rushing all week I knew he was going to have a big one."
"I was with him his rookie year so he's been putting in a lot of work to get to this moment so I've got a lot of respect and I'm super happy for him."
Golden and Reddick's breakout day came at the expense of the Giants' playoff hopes and their offensive line's progress.
Rookie offensive tackle Andrew Thomas hadn't given up a sack since Week 9 and was coming off of his highest-graded performance of the season last week against the Seattle Seahawks, according to Pro Football Focus, but took a big step backward on Sunday.
Whether the eight-sack day was just a product of a motivated and prepared Cardinals defense or if the Giants' offensive line has regressed startlingly will be determined after the unit goes over the film and gets back on the field against the Cleveland Browns next Sunday.
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