Giants Offense Film Review: Winston's Three TDs and Nabers' 112 Yards Contribute to 36-24 Win

The New York Giants offense didn’t look pretty, but it got the job done.

Big Blue topped the Arizona Cardinals 36-24 (the offense scoring 27 of those points). In doing so, they also bested the Cardinals in total yards (319 to 270), time of possession (32:13 to 27:47), and average yards per play (5.2 to 4.3) — all despite running two fewer plays.

Again, it wasn’t a work of art, but it was a gritty showing in which the Giants leaned more into 11-personnel this week, something they’ve gradually done ever since losing Jaxson Dart to a season-ending knee injury.

Here are this week’s player grades.

Quarterback

Jameis Winston

Winston has had plenty of up-and-down games since entering the league, this week included. He started very skittish in the pocket, unable to come off his initial read, holding onto the ball and contributing to two first-half sacks.

Winston looked shaky early on. Then he found himself in the second quarter with two touchdown throws: a 12-yarder to Malachi Fields on a scramble, and his best throw of the day, a 25-yard deep middle throw to Malik Nabers made with great anticipation and accuracy.

Then he finished off the first half with a classic bonehead decision, an interception with the offense approaching field goal range.

The Cardinals then used the 24 seconds Winston gave them to kick their own field goal, the Giants finishing the half with a narrow 19-17 lead.

On his first drive of the second half, Winston gifted Arizona his second interception at the Giants' 37. Arizona converted the turnover into a touchdown and a 24-19 lead.

Winston then responded with an 11-play drive, finishing with a dart to Theo Johnson in the end zone for the 27-24 lead. The Giants never relinquished the lead.

On the day, Winston went a respectable 18 of 29 for 250 yards. His three touchdown throws were big. His two interceptions hurt. Several of his sacks seemed to stem from his poor feel in the pocket.

One thing about Winston is you can never count him out. The bad plays may come, but they never seem to get him down. He kept plugging away and gave his team a chance to win.

Running Backs

Cam Skattebo

Skattebo ran a lot of tough inside runs, per usual, plus a couple of ill-advised bounce-outs that didn't work. One drew the inevitable holding call on a Giants tight end.

Skattebo threw a couple of positive pass blocks but also missed a couple more, one of which became a sack. He's got to get better.

His best play was the third-and-2 wide toss, which was well-schemed but still required him to plant his foot, turn it upfield, and get the yards, which he did.

His production was a typical: 18 carries for 58 yards (3.2 avg.) with a long of 8 yards.

One of his better snaps was a checkdown pass for 8 yards on a third-and-7. We'd love to see him used more in the passing game, where he has the skills and instincts.

One other thing about this kid: even though he lacks speed, he sure knows where the marker is, and he sure knows how to get past it.

Najee Harris

Harris also had lots of tough inside running, including the two-point conversion he took hard into the end zone.

Harris had only nine carries for 30 yards (3.3 avg.) on a day that he nearly ruined with a lost fumble (punched out by an Arizona defensive back) early in the fourth quarter, but fortunately the defense held.

Harris has to be more reliable than that.

Tyrone Tracy, Jr.

Tracy got 12 snaps and only one touch, a run that had no chance of succeeding given the way he ran it. There was a cutback seam, but he totally missed it.

Tracy did very well with a stout blitz pickup, a good sign.

Receivers

Malik Nabers

Giants Nation held its breath when Nabers went up for a contested 39-yard catch and came down hard on his shoulder.

He stayed down, made it to the sideline under his own power, and eventually returned to the field three plays later to catch a pass, then went on to record his best game of the young season.

Nabers caught six of seven targets for 112 yards (18.7 avg.). He ran a seam route and caught a touchdown from 25 yards out, giving the Giants a 19-14 second-quarter lead.

Nabers also made a couple of contested catches, showing off his strong hands.

After Arizona took a third-quarter lead, on the first play from scrimmage the coaches schemed Nabers open deep left for a big 28 yards. This play jump-started the offense on a touchdown drive that retook the lead.

Notably, on the failed two-point conversion to Malachi Fields, the quarterback missed Nabers on a wide-open crosser, choosing to look away from the team's best receiver. That one should get a hoot in the film room.

Malachi Fields

Continuing to bring a physical presence every time he's on the field, this big rookie also made two big catches, both on broken scramble plays, that were as important as any of Nabers' catches.

On a third-and-4 late in the second quarter, Fields did well to turn his route upfield as the quarterback broke the pocket. Fields then presented himself to his quarterback and smoothly took in the 12-yard pass for the touchdown that got the trailing Giants back in the game.

On the offense's final scoring drive of the day, Fields once again found space against the deep Arizona zone on a scramble play and hauled in the 40-yard throw.

This kid has shown very reliable hands so far on his limited targets.

His only other target of the day turned into the team's second interception when the well-covered Fields was undercut in the deep middle by the defensive back on a terrible throw.

Darnell Mooney

Targeted just twice, Mooney was wide open on a deep crosser, but the ball sailed over his head. His other target was a "hospital ball," a short crosser right into the teeth of a waiting strong safety.

Mooney couldn't hold onto the ball against the immediate contact. This speedy vet remains a reliable complement to the team's WR1.

Braxton Berrios

Berrios got a rare target out of the slot in the first half, but the throw was way off. Berrios left the game with a foot injury at the end of the first half and did not return.

Tight Ends

Isaiah Likely

The team's sure-handed receiving tight end caught seven of his 12 targets for 66 yards. At least three of those misses were off-target throws as Likely and his quarterback left significant yards on the field.

Another miss in Likely's direction became an interception, again on a terrible throw with Likely open. The tight end's best moment came on another scramble play, where Likely worked his way open and leaped high to haul in a difficult throw that might have become a turnover if not for his great leap and hands.

This player has the best hands on the team, bar none.

Chris Manhertz

Continuing to get a majority of the run-game snaps, Manhertz has never blocked better than he has in this, his third year on the team.

Manhertz also found himself the target on the failed scramble-drill two-point try in the end zone, but he could not shake free, and the throw was easily knocked away.

Theo Johnson

Despite Manhertz eating up his snaps, Johnson still got 15 or so snaps on offense, and he really came up big when his number was called.

His 11-yard touchdown catch on a second-and-10 gave the team a third-quarter 27-24 lead that they held the rest of the way.

Not known for catching balls against contact, Johnson showed strong hands in going up for the short seam throw despite tight coverage and bringing it in for the important score.

Patrick Ricard

Continuing to get his fair share of run-blocking snaps, Ricard was sharp, physical, and reliable throughout. He even got a schemed checkdown throw as his first target of the year in the passing game, but the throw was high, and he could not bring it in.

Offensive Line

Andrew Thomas

The lower-body injuries that Thomas is dealing with are affecting his run-blocking more than his pass-blocking.

Though his pass blocks have been effective (but hardly dominant), his run-blocking this week was more hit-and-miss because of clumsy, at times uncertain footwork.

He's just not sustaining contact very well while he struggles with his health.

Jermaine Eluemunor

The veteran's pass-blocking was superb, but his run-blocking was mediocre.

Dominating his edge in pass pro kept his pocket relatively clean (one lone edge pressure).

The run-blocking comes and goes, but the pass-blocking is the key to his value, and he's holding up his part.

Jon Runyan Jr.

The two first-half sacks came right through Runyan's solo-blocking efforts, pressures that might have been avoided with better quarterback pocket feel.

There were additional missteps, notably in the run game, where Runyan perhaps was given more responsibilities than he can handle.

The veteran bumbled and stumbled too much. It was too often an ugly performance which likely earned Runyan this week's lowest O-line grade.

Francis Mauigoa

The rookie struggled throughout the game, most notably completely whiffing on a third-and-2 when he allowed an Arizona defensive tackle to swim past him, blowing up the play and forcing a punt.

Mauigoa also had an ugly first-half pass-blocking snap where he totally lost his balance and fell onto his backside.

There were a handful of unsuccessful moments throughout the second half, both in the pit and in pass pro (a sack allowed), as the rookie played his worst game as a pro.

Bryan Hudson

After John Michael Schmitz missed some practice time because his wife gave birth, the coaches decided to call on Hudson to step in. To his credit, he played as cleanly as the coaches wanted.

Hudson wasn't pressured one-on-one by defensive tackles Schmitz has been struggling against.

Still, he ran the offense smoothly, was very clean with his double-teams, got out to the second level consistently and under control, and pass-blocked efficiently with just a couple of 50-50 moments.

Otherwise, Hudson was an efficient blocker who while looking a bit small out there, wasn’t overpowered once.

Aaron Stinnie

The veteran got a couple of snaps as a blocking tight end and took up space well.

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