New York Giants: Week 4 Report Card: Failing Grades for the Offense (Again)

The grades are in on the Giants' fourth straight loss of 2020. While they're slightly better, the offense just can't seem to get out of its own way.

Here are the grades for the Giants in their 19-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Offense: F

The running game showed some signs of life, but otherwise, the offense played it safe and uninspired. The Giants have not scored a touchdown in consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 8 and 15, 1998, when they were limited to two field goals in a 16-6 loss to Philadelphia and one in a 37-3 defeat to Green Bay. They have also gone 21 possessions without scoring a touchdown, scoring seven field goals in that span.

Daniel Jones' turnovers continued as he threw another costly pick in the red zone on a drive that might have brought the Giants back from being behind had it gone according to plan. Instead, Jones telegraphed his pass to receiver Damion Ratley and Darious Williams read it all the way, jumping the route to end the game.

Defense: B

The defense held out as long as it could, but it can’t be expected to win the game all by its lonesome. What it can be expected to do is not have communication breakdowns, such as what led to Cooper Kupp’s fourth-quarter 55-yard touchdown pass, which ended up putting the game out of reach for the Giants.

Giants cornerback James Bradberry admitted there was a miscommunication there and said that he could have taken a better angle to stop Kupp. Otherwise, the Giants defense enforced its will on a Rams offense that, coming into this weekend’s game, had averaged 30 points per game, 27 first downs and 449.7 yards and held them to 17 points, 15 first downs, and 240 yards.

Special Teams: B+

The Giants punt coverage team held Cooper Kupp to eight yards on two returns but gave up a 41-yard kickoff return to Raymond Calais that Madre Harper thankfully stopped from turning into a return for a touchdown.

Thankfully for the Giants, the Rams went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, but they can’t keep having these breakdowns on their coverage. Meanwhile, Graham Gano was Mr. Automatic in hitting all three of his field-goal attempts to account for the Giants’ only scoring.

Coaching: C-

Patrick Graham did a solid job adjusting after the Rams put together a 12-play, 7:01 scoring drive in the first quarter. Whatever Graham was doing to the Rams seemed to have quarterback Jared Goff playing somewhat tentatively.

That decision by head coach Joe Judge to punt the ball on a4th-and-4 with about 10 minutes left and the ball at the Rams’ 48-yard line was a headscratcher considering how in the third quarter, Judge opted to go for it on a 4-and-1 from the same spot on their final drive of the third quarter.

“We were playing good defense, we had field position and we wanted to win right there, put them on back there,” Judge said. “I thought it was a good time to put the ball to our defense and let them play.”

Too bad the Giants defense didn’t hold up as on the Rams ensuing drive, Jared Goff connected with Cooper Kupp for the 55-yard touchdown reception that pretty much put the game away.