New York Giants Week 7 Report Card: Making the Grade

The grades are in for the New York Giants following their 23-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Offense: B

The Giants lost two starting offensive linemen (Ben Bredeson and Evan Neal) and their starting tight end (Daniel Bellinger), all of whom are key components in run blocking and pass protection.

Yet somehow, the Giants still managed a season’s best 436 net yards of offense and dominated the time of possession battle 34:10 to 25:50. Amazing, right? But not nearly amazing as having two 100-yard rushers, running back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Daniel Jones, gash the Jaguars ninth-best run defense.

Speaking of Jones, he took yet another step forward to quiet critics’ doubts about his suitability to be this team’s franchise quarterback moving forward. All Jones has done is make strategically sound decisions with the ball and protect the ball from being slapped out of his hands.

Heck, he’s even sliding feet first and being smart when deployed as a runner by giving himself up to see another down when reaching the end of the road as opposed to playing tough guy.

One other thing that bears mention is the offensive drives. This week there wasn’t a single three-and-out by the offense, with four of the eight drives hitting double digits. And except for two drives, six of the Giants' possessions went for at least 60 net yards.

The lone drawback in the offensive performance this week was that the receivers missed a handful of plays—there were at least three drops, including one on fourth down by Marcus Johnson and another on third down by Richie James.

Overall, this offense has established an identity, and that is of a smashmouth, old-school rushing team.

Defense: B-

The Giants players weren’t happy with their performance after the game, and with good reason. That last drive in which back-to-back penalties kept the Jaguars alive nearly cost them. The run defense continues to struggle, probably due to the injuries that have prohibited the players from jelling in terms of “reading each other” and making the proper fits.

That all being said, despite allowing 452 total yards, including 310 passing yards, the Giants held the Jaguars to just 17 points, which isn’t bad at all. The Jaguars’ last four possessions included a punt, turnover on downs, another punt, and the big defensive stand, which stopped the Jaguars 1-yard short of hitting paydirt.

There are things to clean up for Wink Martindale’s unit in the upcoming week of practice, but overall, the performance was more than passable.

Special Teams: B

Another week, another solid showing by kicker Graham Gano, who hit field goals of 33, 33, and 34 yards, the last one making it through the uprights despite a Jaguars defender getting a small piece of it. Not sure what happened on that illegal formation penalty on the first PAT attempt, which, despite the Jaguars making, they decided to take the point off the board and go for two instead (which they converted).

Not much in terms of punt returns, as Richie James only had one return for two yards and had one fair catch. The same can be said of kickoff returns, as the Jaguars booted all four kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.

Punter Jamie Gillan didn’t give his coverage unit a chance to cover one of his punts which bounced into the end zone for a touchback, but his other punt was downed. The kickoff coverage unit did allow one return of 27 yards, but otherwise, there was nothing too alarming from the Giants special teams units this week.

Coaching: A

What can be said of the job Brian Daboll and his staff have done that hasn’t been said before? From getting every guy on the roster ready to play without sacrificing quality or having to deviate too far from the original plan to showing patience when the running game was initially sputtering in the first quarter, this staff continues to get the most out of what they have.

Getting back to Daboll, rather than show relief over the win, he was visibly annoyed in postgame over how close the game turned out to be, proving that he’s not just going to settle for a win but instead seeks a quality win.

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