The Good, Bad and Ugly of the Giants’ 34-10 Win Over the Las Vegas Raiders

The Giants were mostly good in their 34-10 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Dec 28, 2025; Paradise, Nevada, USA; New York Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka looks on during the third quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The New York Giants finally snapped their nine-game losing streak with a 34-10 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, a team that is arguably worse than they are.

Yay?

For the players and coaches, yes. Week in and week out, the players put in ridiculous hours at the office, between meetings, game-planning, practice, film study, lifting weights, and doing everything possible to ensure the final product put out on the field every Sunday is as close to top-notch as possible.

The Giants, as we know by now, haven’t put out a top-notch product every week. One could question if they truly did so this week, given how bad the Raiders looked out there, but as we always say, a win is a win.

That said, let’s dive into the good, bad, and ugly of this week’s contest.

The Good

Dec 28, 2025; Paradise, Nevada, USA; New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) celebrates a touchdown in the second quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

This will probably be a recurring theme in this week’s column, but you can take your pick here on the good, starting with the Giants' run defense holding Ashton Jeanty to just 60 yards on the ground. If the Raiders were going to have a chance at winning this game, Jeanty running wild was that chance.

You can also look at the two defensive interceptions by linebacker Bobby Okereke and safety Dane Belton that the Giants converted into 14 points, to quarterback Jaxson Dart having a rebound game that hopefully puts to rest any talk of him having regressed.

And let’s not forget Wan’Dale Robinson topping 1,000 receiving yards, thus becoming the second Giants receiver (Malik Nabers did it last year) in consecutive seasons to make such a contribution since Odell Beckham did so in 2015 and 2016. 

You can also throw in Abdul Carter, who had four quarterback hits and a half sack he split with Brian Burns, and Burns, who now has 16.5 sacks on the year, which ties him with Jason Pierre-Paul for fourth-most in a season.

The Bad

New York Giants cornerback Deonte Banks (2) returns a punt for a touchdown in the second half against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

This might be nitpicking, given the game's outcome. Still, cornerback Deonte Banks, pressed into a starting role with Cor’Dale Flott (knee) inactive, appeared to be the guilty party who gave up a 4-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett, which at the time and after the XPT, cut the Giants’ lead to 20-10.

Banks was also frequently targeted on third down, allowing a second-quarter,  third-down pass from Geno Smith to Ashton Jeanty to go for 11 yards–six more than what was needed, Banks appearing to get caught leaning too far inside while the receiver went to the outside.

Banks made up for the touchdown he gave up with his 95-yard kickoff return; after the game, he received a random drug test notification, which he shared on Instagram.

The Ugly

New York Giants guard Marcus Mbow got the start at left tackle for the injured Andrew Thomas. | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Rookie Marcus Mbow, starting for Andrew Thomas at left tackle, had, according to Pro Football Focus, a rough outing. Mbow was the Giants’ worst pass protector, having allowed five of the Giants’ six quarterback pressures. 

One could argue he’s not a left tackle and that he’s a better option than James Hudson III, but the performance showed that Mbow is still very much a work in progress.

Fans will point to the loss of the guaranteed No. 1 pick in the draft as the downer of the day. Still, on a day where very little went wrong for the Giants, we’re going to give this category to CBS  play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan’s continued butchering of Wan’Dale Robinson’s first name. 

Teams distribute pronunciation guides during production meetings to ensure those tricky names–not that “Wan’Dale” is tricky to pronounce, roll off the tongue. Yet Harlan, who also mispronounced Marcus Mbow’s surname, kept fumbling the pronunciation with apparently no one on the crew bothering to correct him (assuming they were even aware).  

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