New York Giants Report Card: A Big-time Dud

Grading the New York Giants 38-7 divisional playoff loss to the Eagles.

Offense: D

The Giants couldn't get anything going by land or through the air, especially in the first half when they had no answers for the Eagles dominance. Four of their first six drives were three-and-out. They also had a big turnover on a Daniel Jones interception, his second in his last seven games. And when the first half was done, they had 64 yards of total offense.

Speaking of Jones, who has typically played a solid and smart game week in and week out, what was he thinking when at the top of the fourth quarter, he didn't throw the ball away rather than take a five-yard sack while on the move? The ensuing third-down pass fell incomplete, and the Giants ended up punting the ball right back to the Eagles, who chewed up nearly eight minutes off the clock en route to a 30-yard field goal.

Saquon Barkley finished with 61 yards on nine carries, returning to his boom-or-bust ways as 39 rushing yards came on one play. The offensive line--and in particular the right side--couldn't handle the Eagles' pass rush, yielding five sacks and giving up eight hits and countless pressures, including at least a couple to Haason Reddick, who is quickly becoming the Boston Scott of the Eagles defense as far as the Giants are concerned.

Richie James finished as the leading receiver with seven catches for 51 yards (7.3 average). Only two catches on four targets to the tight ends. The Eagles also took Isaiah Hodgins (one catch on two targets for three yards) out of the picture.

Defense: F

So much for having all hands on deck this week. The Giants defense had no answers to stop the Eagles--it was so bad that Giants Hall of Famer Lawerence Taylor joked about putting his pads on to help stop the bleeding (if only he could have).

Philly spent as much time in Giants territory in this one as the Giants, which isn't a good thing. The Eagles scored on four of their first six drives of the half to take a comfortable 28-0 lead.

New York managed just one sack on Jalen Hurts (a coverage sack) but didn't get near him. The defensive secondary had one pass breakup, and there seemed to be an uncharacteristically higher-than-usual number of missed tackles, especially in the first half.

The run defense was a problem again, with the Eagles rushing for a whopping 268 yards on the ground and three touchdowns, one of which was by old friend and Giant killer Boston Scott. Lastly, the defense had no answers on third downs either, allowing the Eagles to convert 71.4 percent.

Special Teams: B-

Solid job punting by Jamie Gillan, as the Eagles didn't return one of his punts. Same with Graham Gano's kickoffs, all of which were booted to the end zone for touchbacks.

Richie James had one punt return opportunity in which he lost three yards.; his other two returns were fair caught.) No field goal attempt by Gano, not that they would have helped matters. Special teams didn't play that much of a role in the game's outcome, but it was nice to see the units not make matters worse.

Coaching: F

We love Brian Daboll's aggressiveness, but going for it on 4th-and-8 on the opening drive was probably not the time or place to be aggressive when you're already down seven points and are now risking giving the Eagles a short field, which by the way they capitalized on.

Sure he wanted to send a message of confidence to his team, and if the call worked, he'd probably be hailed as a genius, but again, the timing is the head-scratcher here.

Does anyone know what took so long to get the tight ends involved in the passing game? And how is it that the Eagles amazed 268 yards on the ground?

In short, a lot of questions in this one and not nearly enough answers from a game that will no doubt leave a bitter taste in the Giants' mouths for a very long time.

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