New York Giants Week 8 Report Card

Grading the Giants unit performances after their 25-23 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Grading the Giants unit performances after their 25-23 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

Rushing Offense: C+

The Giants got some solid production from a rotation, which for the third week in a row ran for over 100 yards as a group. Wayne Gallman led the way this week with 44 yards on 12 carries, and he, as well as the rest of the running backs, benefitted from some mostly solid run blocking by the offensive line. 

Gallman’s lack of a jump cut resulted in him leaving a few more yards out there on the field, but still, the game plan took advantage of his strength, which is running between the tackles. An Evan Engram rush, which has become a staple the last several weeks, was included but went for just nine yards. 

Passing Offense: D

Daniel Jones completed 60.9% of his pass attempts, but these turnovers have got to stop, especially when they lead to points for the other team, as was the case again this week when the Bucs cashed in 10 points off the two turnovers. 

Jones also struggled with the deep ball. Per PFF, he connected on two out of six deep pass attempts, and failed to locate Darius Slayton on some other opportunities for a deep ball connection. 

Jones’ saving graces was when the ball came out of his hand quickly, that by design. He also tried to bring his team to overtime on that final drive, connecting on two fourth-down plays, but the bad far outweighed the good this week.

Run Defense: A

I’ll just leave this right here:

Pass Defense: B-

Word apparently got out that Bucs quarterback Tom Brady goes from being the GOAT to just another guy when under pressure. So the Giants defense threw all kinds of multiple looks that, at times, flummoxed the future Hall of Famer. 

Brady finished 28 of 40 for 279 yards and two touchdowns, and the Giants managed to pressure Brady on 10 of his 42 dropbacks, producing four hits and pf those, two sacks. Top cornerback James Bradberry was called for two defensive pass interference penalties, one of which was iffy. 

Bradberry was targeted five times while in coverage against Mike Evans, a receiver he knows well from his days in Carolina. Per PFF, he allowed three receptions, all first downs, for 43 yards and a touchdown while only managing to break up one pass target in what was a bit of an off-night for Bradberry.

Special Teams: B

Dion Lewis might very well have won the starting kickoff return role from Corey Ballentine thanks to his 44-yard return at the start of the second half. Riley Dixon and the punt coverage team won their battle, forcing two downed counts and two fair catches. 

Graham Gano was perfect with his field goals and PATs. Although the Giants' strategy to not deploy a punt returner on several punts didn’t yield a block, the approach also didn’t hurt the Giants.

Coaching: B

Jason Garrett and Patrick Graham called their best games of the season. And hey, how about that decision by special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey to not have a punt returner to try to force a block? 

Credit Joe Judge, who continues to have the team fighting hard, but at what point does he go beyond “trying to coach better” regarding Daniel Jones’s ongoing turnover issues. 

If Judge doesn’t want to bench Jones, maybe a turnover jar requiring Jones to drop a cool $1,000 per turnover (the money going toward some sort of gift for the defensive players who have to keep bailing out the offense) might do the trick?

Hey, at this point can it hurt?