New York Giants Week 16 Report Card: Blech!
The NFL calendar said December, Week 16, but the way the New York Giants played in a 27-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, you'd have sworn it was August and the first week of the preseason.
The Giants, who for the sixth time in the last seven seasons have double-digit losses, were no match for the Ravens in any way, shape, or form, and that's very concerning considering how this team remains in the thick of a playoff hunt in a weakened division.
Yet the energy lacked, the fundamentals were sloppy, and the Giants reminded us once again that they still have a long, long way to go before they can consistently stand toe-to-toe with the better teams in the league.
With that said, a look at the Giants' abysmal grades from this week's loss.
Rushing Offense: F
The Giants running game—54 yards on 12 carries--never really got a chance this week after the Ravens jumped out to an early lead.
But for what it’s worth, the loss of quarterback Daniel Jones’s mobility—he had no designed running attempts, which spoke volumes about where he is in his recovery from a hamstring strain and a sprained ankle—has been the one thing this part of the offense hasn’t been able to overcome.
For proof of that, look no further at the fact the Giants haven’t been able to run for more than 100 yards as a group over this three-game losing streak.
Passing Offense: F
Daniel Jones finally broke a string of eight straight quarters without a passing touchdown on offense and a personal string of three games without a touchdown pass.
Unfortunately, the score came in garbage time. Jones otherwise completed 58.5% of his pass attempts, but he was under duress a little too often for anyone’s liking in the second half.
He was hit 11 times and sacked six. In his last two games, Jones has been sacked 14 times, which is just not acceptable.
Jones’s receiving targets also had a couple of drops, including one by Austin Mack on a third down and one that fell through Darius Slayton’s hands. Sterling Shepard finished as the team's receiving leader, catching nine balls out of 12 pass targets for 77 yards and the aforementioned touchdown.
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Run Defense: F
By halftime, the Giants run defense, which apparently forgot how to tackle or set the edge, had allowed 155 rushing yards—just four shy of their season-high allowed against Arizona.
When it was all over, the Ravens racked up 249 yards on 40 carries, a robust 6.2 yards per carry, and it didn’t matter if it was quarterback Lamar Jackson, or running backs J.K. Dobbins or Gus Edwards carrying the rock because the Giants had zero answers.
Pass Defense: F
The Ravens, as has been the case of late, really didn’t have to lean too heavily on their passing game, which on the surface took some of the onus off the Giants.
Still, when those opportunities are there to make plays and they're not made, there are no excuses. The Giants pass defense this week recorded zero quarterback hits, zero sacks, and zero passes defensed in one of its worst showings of the season.
The Ravens did have two passing touchdowns, one by Marquise Brown and one by Dez Bryant, the back end of the Giants defense either napping or taking poor angles.
Special Teams: C
The good news is there were no ball security issues and kicker Graham Gano hit both of his field goal tries. But that's about it for this unit, which continues to struggle down the stretch.
The Ravens got a 17-yard punt return from Devin Duvernay. Then three missed tackles on the next punt led to Riley Dixon having to make the stop on a 19-yard return.
Two penalties against Austin Mack and Tae Crowder on a kickoff return came at the worst possible time. A short kickoff by Gano was a head-scratcher as far as what they were trying to do.
But overall, it was another subpar showing by the special teams unit that had been so good earlier in the year.
Coaching: F
The Giants might be improving on tape, but until that improvement starts to cluster together and manifest itself on the playing field where it counts, then what's the point?
The fact is the Giants, with their playoff lives on the line, looked ill-prepared to play the Ravens and never came close to matching the intensity level Baltimore showed.
Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham went mostly with zone coverage against the dangerous Lamar Jackson, but that didn't work. The Giants tackling was as sloppy as one might recall in recent memory and the Giants failed to set the edges in a big way.
Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett continues to call for those short stick routes and wide plays inside the red zone that don't have a chance against a fast-flowing defense that just don't work.
Surprisingly, the Giants remain in the playoff hunt for the division title, though if they somehow win it, they probably won't go very far if they continue to play as they did this week.
