Takeaways from the Giants 27-21 Loss to the Arizona Cardinals

The Giants still have a long way to go as a team.

At the start of the 2019 season, one knew that the Giants were going to have some growing pains.

That's only natural for a team that has a mostly young defense and a rookie franchise quarterback.

But with growing pains, there should also be some progress across the board. That, however, has been missing from all aspects of the Giants' showings these past three weeks.

The biggest problem from week to week is in the fundamentals, which the coaches and players always talk about. Doing the little things that NFL players are supposed to do--tackle, catch the ball, get off blocks, protect the football--are all things that this Giants team has struggled to do.

As a result, it doesn't matter how fancy the game plan is (or isn't, in some cases). It doesn't matter who the opponent is. This team is not going to move forward until it addresses the glaring issues it's had with performing the fundamentals of the game.

Here are a few other thoughts following the embarrassing showing the Giants put on tape in Sunday's 27-21 loss to Arizona.

1. Giants head coach Pat Shurmur challenged a defensive pass interference penalty called against cornerback Janoris Jenkins with 51 seconds left in the first quarter.

Predictably, he lost the challenge and a timeout--the fifth time this season that's happened. And while it did appear that he had a case for it being overturned--from the angles shown in the press box, Trent Sherfield seemed to trip over his own feet--the replay official upheld the call on the field.

Why the challenge flag?

"I felt like there was a push there, and it was a big chunk of yardage," Shurmur said. "It was in the first half, and I felt like it was worth challenging at that point."

With the Giants having jumped offside, the hope was that they would get offsetting penalties. That, of course, didn't happen, and the penalty not only stood as called, but the Giants lost a timeout that, at least, didn't come back to bite them in the half.

2. Coming into this game, I was hoping the Giants would target their tight ends more often than they did since the Cardinals defense has had trouble all season covering tight ends (they had allowed a league-high 599 passing yards to tight ends this year).

The Giants did target their two tight ends, Rhett Ellison and EvanEngram, on seven of the 35 pass attempts, but the two men combined or three receptions for 39 yards.

Engram, in particular, didn't have a very good showing, dropping two balls on two separate drives. 

Engram, who entering the game, had only one dropped pass, now has three for the 2019 season, matching his entire 2018 season total.

"I have no excuses; just got to have it," Engram said of his performance.

3. Every week it seems that something pops up regarding in-game management that leaves one scratching their head and wondering what the heck the Giants are doing.

This week's edition of "What were they thinking?" came in the fourth quarter on a drive that began with 4:23 left.

After completing a first down, Daniel Jones was sacked for an 8-yard loss to create a 2nd-and-18.

After coming up short on the ensuing play, an incomplete pass to Golden Tate, the Giants, with 3rd-and-18, ran a draw play with Saquon Barkley that picked up three yards.

Then after letting the clock run for about 30 seconds, Shurmur and the Giants went for it on 4th-and-15, a play on which Daniel Jones was sacked for minus-10 yards by Patrick Peterson, who by the way stripped the ball from him.

“I had planned to go for it (on fourth down),” Shurmur said. "If it was going to be soft (defense) — you see typically against two-deep — and that’s why we did it. They actually ran the same type of run against and got us. We just didn’t execute the play as well as we liked.”

If that wasn't enough to make you scratch your head, then how about Shurmur's explanation about not deciding to punt the ball away and try to get a stop?

“It was going to play out the way I thought,” Shurmur said. “Stop them, make them kick a field goal at the very least, and then we go down and score a touchdown. Plus, I wanted a chance to make it on fourth-and-15. And that’s how it played out. We had the ball with a chance to go down and score a touchdown to win the game. And we didn’t do it.”

Sorry, but I have a hard time believing that anything short of converting on that drive and scoring was what they hoped would happen.

3a.  Speaking of head-scratching decisions, I also don't understand what transpired on the Giants final drive of the first half. 

The Giants had a 3rd-and-20 following a holding penalty against Mike Remmers. Instead of throwing a pass, the Giants went to Barkley who managed to gain five yards on a run.

Why not go for a pass in that situation along the sideline to get out of bounds and stop the clock and then attempt a field goal which, if you make it, would have tied the game going in at halftime?

Even if they get into field goal range and miss it, at least they still would have given themselves a much better chance at points than they did with what they had done.

4. I admire Saquon Barkley trying to get back on the field as quickly as he did, but I would be lying if I said I didn't have concerns about the circumstances.

For one, I held my breath every time he was out there on that slick wet grass. Thankfully he didn't aggravate his ankle(at least not that we know of, though I also wouldn't be stunned if the rest of the way, the giants manage Bakrley's practice reps just as a precautionary).

What I noticed, though, is that Barkley didn't do as much cutting.

There was one play in the second quarter, a 20-yard gain by Barkley in which he did a nice job breaking a tackle and getting to the second level.

However, with one defender to beat, Barkley didn't cut and ended up being tackled on a play that right there was a strong indicator that Barkley, while healthy enough to play, is still nowhere near 100%.

At one point, Barkley did come out of the game to have his ankle retaped, but he went right back in. While I can appreciate his wanting to play, I hope he didn't undo any of the rehab and healing he did during his three-week absence.

5. The eight sacks allowed by the Giants this week fell one shy of the franchise high (for a single game) nine they gave up on November 1, 1981, against the Jets.

While a fair number of those sacks are on the offensive line, Daniel Jones isn't exactly helping matters by holding the ball as long as he sometimes tends to do. This is yet another growing pain that this team will have to endure, but it is very much part of the problem.

The Giants have now allowed 20 sacks this season. In addition to the eight sacks allowed this week, they gave up 12 quarterback hits, according to the gamebook.

6. You can point to the coaching, the growing pains of the rookie quarterback, or the defensive struggles as the reason the Giants are 2-5 and sinking fast.

But until this team starts taking better care of the ball, more games like Sunday's are likely in store.

As of Monday, they lead the NFL with 18 turnovers, and have the second-worst turnover differential (minus-10), behind the Dophins (minus-11) for the league-worst differential.

Of their 18 turnovers, seven have been converted into points by the opponents ((six touchdowns and one field goal).

You're just not going to win many football games with those numbers.

7. This is a minor thing in the grand scheme of things, but kudos to Giants safety and special teams captain Michael Thomas for his heads-up play on the blocked punt.

Thomas caused the block which Ei Penny recovered int he end zone for the touchdown. Had Thomas, who was in the perfect position to recover the ball, done so, the play would have been a safety instead of a touchdown.

That, folks, is a big reason why Thomas is not only on this team but is such a valuable special teams contributor. The man knows the rules, he plays hard, and he makes things happen.

8. At the end of the day, this is probably one of the most disappointing losses in Pat Shurmur's regime as Giants head coach.

The Giants had 10 days to prepare for this game against a Cardinals team that has its own troubles and who was flying cross-country for a 1 p.m. kickoff. 

Despite the sentiments that they had a good week fo practice they had, the fundamentals were awful and some of the personnel decisions even more perplexing.

For example, on defense the Giants, for most of the game, went with two defensive linemen throughout, devoting an extra defensive back to keep Kyler Murray from burning them with the pass.

So what happened? The Cardinals ran right at the Giants with success, leaving you to wonder if the Giants had maybe worked from their base a little more frequently if that would have made more of a difference. 

With this loss in the books, it will be interesting to see how Shurmur and his staff keep this team from completely sinking into total despair. 

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