New York Giants Report Card: Disappointing Showing Across the Board

Grading the Giants' 26-7 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

Grading the Giants' 26-7 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

Rushing Offense: C-

Again, it’s hard to give the Giants running games too poor of a grade considering the offensive line’s blatant regression this week and the fact that the unit only got 17 carries—not nearly enough to get into a groove.

Wayne Gallman did what he could, finishing with 57 yards on 12 carries for a 4.8 yard per carry average, but Alfred Morris, last week’s hero, only managed seven yards on three carries.

There’s little denying that not having Jones as a runner hurt the running game as it allowed the Cardinals to comfortably stack the box, knowing that they didn’t have to worry about Jones taking off with the ball in his hands.

Passing Offense: F

It’s not fair to put this entirely on quarterback Daniel Jones, who wasn’t as healthy as anyone associated with the team thought he was, but there is some blame to be had here.

For one, his ball security got sloppy again—on one of his lost fumbles, we went down to the ground with the ball in one hand and the hand behind his back where it was too easy to poke it out.

He didn’t get all that much from his receivers either, who struggled to separate. And what happened to the offensive line, which had looked so good of late, but this week seemed to forget to block Haason Reddick, who recorded five sacks of their eight sacks?

But let’s get back to Jones. Maybe this is overthinking this, but if Jones can’t run, can he survive in the NFL just on his arm alone? It’s a valid question that hopefully gets answered before the end of the season.

Run Defense: C

The Giants gave up 159 yards on the ground as Kenyon Drake and Kyler Murray took turns gashing this typically solid unit. Drake had the long run of the day for the Cardinals, a 36-yarder, but as feared, the Giants were gouged on the edges where someone lost contain at least three times.

• RELATED: Ten Points from the New York Giants' 26-7 Loss to the Arizona Cardinals

Pass Defense: C

Solid job by this unit in the first quarter, especially when James Bradberry got a hand up to break up a fourth-down pass attempt to the end zone that fell incomplete. 

Other than for DeAndre Hopkins’ big day (136 yards on nine receptions) and a blown coverage on tight end Dan Arnold’s 7-yard touchdown reception in which it looked like Logan Ryan took the wrong angle on the play, the Cardinals didn’t burn the Giants as much in the air.

As for the pass rush, the unit was mostly quiet, managing just four hits on the slippery Kyler Murray, with one of those hits resulting in a dragged down sack by Dalvin Tomlinson.

Coaching: F

Judge’s decision to let Jones play and wait until about 2:34 was left in the game before pulling him is one that the team better hope doesn’t end up costing Jones more time missed.

I also hate to admit this, but I’m beginning to wonder if Jason Garrett and the offense he runs is the best fit for what Jones does well. Speaking of Garrett, that third-and-1 play was one of his worst calls of the season—and he’s had a few competitors for the title.

On defense, Patrick Graham made the head-scratching decision not to have top cornerback James Bradberry travel with DeAndre Hopkins, and the big receiver finished with nine catches for 136 yards, including a long of 41.

Special teams coach Thomas McGaughey needs to shake up his coverage units as this is the third week in a row they had a screw-up that nearly cost the team. 

Speaking of screw-ups, some thought needs to be given to removing Dion Lewis from kickoff returns, and not only because he had a costly fumble this week that was recovered by the Cardinals. 

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