Grading the Giants' Offense: Winston Struggles, O-Line Crumbles in Rams Loss

The New York Giants' promising start to the John Harbaugh era hit a brick wall as the offense couldn’t get anything going, especially after the team lost quarterback Jaxon Dart seven snaps into the game.

A 28-6 road loss to the Los Angeles Rams raised several concerns, most notably what the team will look like if, as feared, Dart needs to miss multiple weeks with his MCL sprain.

Backup Jameis Winston was all over the map with his passing, missing several makeable throws. The running game struggled as the offensive line didn’t get much push, and star receiver Malik Nabers managed only one yard on one reception, while also dealing with a shoulder issue that forced him out for a handful of plays.

Suffice it to say, the grades reflect the ineptness. Let’s dig in with a little more detail on where they fell short and what early-season trends, both positive and negative, are starting to take shape.

Quarterbacks

Jaxson Dart

The disaster that the Giants did not want to see was their quarterback getting sandwiched hard by two edge rushers on his seventh snap of the night.

Dart stood in there, took the hit, and lofted a very catchable deep ball that should have been caught.

He limped off the field and returned to the sideline looking perturbed but not severely injured; the diagnosis was a sprained MCL, which, depending on who you believe, could sideline him from a couple of weeks to a month or more, depending on the outcome of the imaging tests he was due to have.

Dart finished 3-of-5 for 20 yards, and likely would have given the Giants a chance. Sadly, we’ll never know.

Jameis Winston

This backup's play never gave his team a chance; that’s how poorly he played. Winston came into the scoreless game and looked like someone who wasn’t ready to compete and hadn’t practiced with the starters in a while.

That doesn't excuse the poor reads, the late throws, the throws to nowhere, and the inaccurate throws, which were baffling given his experience.

Winston’s lone highlight was hitting Darnell Mooney on an intermediate crosser for 33 yards, the night’s biggest play. But Winston didn’t back it up. He threw desperation heaves and did nothing on the run despite having several chances.

Winston is a pocket passer, which means you need a great arm at the very least. His arm is strong enough, but his arm talent is only average. His accuracy was completely unreliable.

More than that, it was above the neck where Winston was outmatched. He didn’t seem to be seeing the field and held onto the ball a bunch of times. When the Rams blitzed, he panicked.

The timing of too many plays was off, and that’s mostly on the quarterback. The numbers were horrid: 11-of-27, 111 yards, 2 sacks, 1 horrible interception.

Granted, Winston didn't get much help from his blockers, but the fact remains: he made very few plays out there, in a position that demands playmaking.

Running Backs

Cam Skattebo

Skattebo struggled through a difficult night himself — 12 carries for 26 yards (3.0 average) and 19 yards on four receptions — and the offense couldn't get anything going, leaving him to run into traffic with little chance to break anything.

His best play was a second-quarter 19-yard catch-and-run, but the big play went for naught. His longest run went for 5 yards.

Skattebo’s pass-blocking wasn’t very sharp. He’s much too aggressive and eager to hit someone with his punch. He needs to be much more patient with this part of his game.

Devin Singletary

Getting most of the rotation snaps, Singletary had a very vanilla performance. He recorded nine yards on three carries and came up empty out of the backfield, though his lone screen pass was set up perfectly except the quarterback badly overthrew him.

Singletary’s pass-blocking was Mr. Reliable-level.

Najee Harris

Getting some important snaps on a mid-second-quarter possession, and then more snaps deep in the red zone, Harris did not look like a difference-maker, logging six yards on four carries and failing to squeeze any more juice out of two touches that had potential.

Harris’ great size is certainly appealing, but so far he has not shown enough niftiness in his lower half to make things happen.

Tyrone Tracy, Jr.

The coaches tried to surprise the Rams by inserting him into the game after a turnover in the red zone, but the wide run, which tried to use Tracy’s speed, was well defended on the edge and resulted in a 3-yard loss.

But wait! The Rams were flagged for being offsides, thus removing Tracy’s name from the stat sheet.

He did appear on special teams, though, filling in for Deonte Banks on kickoffs since Banks was inactive.

Receivers

Malik Nabers

Nabers spent most of his night going up against one of the best cover corners in football, Trent McDuffie.

To say that Nabers lost this match-up is to put it mildly. He was dominated, finishing the night with 1 catch (out of four targets) for 1 yard.

Nabers also suffered what was termed a shoulder injury midway through the contest. Though he eventually returned to the game, the McDuffie domination continued.

It didn’t help that Nabers lost his starting quarterback early and didn’t get many chances to make a play.

McDuffie turned the night’s long interception in when Nabers was blanketed in the end zone, forcing a poor throw and an easy INT.

Nabers’ best chance to make a play came on a deep ball that the two combatants went up for, but it fell incomplete.

Nabers did not look like himself when he came back from the injury. Then again, few players looked like themselves this week.

Malachi Fields

The big rookie caught two of his six targets for 14 and 16 yards. He blocked well when he picked the right guy to block, but he made several terrible decisions.

His timing on several move blocks also seemed to be off. Fields was also flagged for pass interference on a deep desperation ball that was overthrown.

He also just missed hauling in another deep ball when he dove in desperation, but the catch wasn’t there.

Darnell Mooney

The team’s most productive wideout tonight, if you want to call two catches productive, Mooney hauled in a 33-yard crosser and a 15-yard in-cut to give the offense a semblance of professionalism out there.

The 33-yarder was the offense’s biggest play. Mooney looks like a nice complement to Nabers, as he can line up both in the slot and on the boundary.

Odell Beckham Jr.

Getting just a smattering of snaps and zero targets, Beckham continues to fill a secondary/depth role on this unit. We were rather surprised that he didn’t have a larger role on offense.

Braxton Berrios

Also getting a smattering of snaps, this veteran seems to have settled into his special teams and backup/depth roles in the receiver room. That said, he has now been elevated twice, with one more elevation left before the team must decide whether to sign him to the 53-man roster.

Tight Ends

Isaiah Likely

Leading the team in catches (5) and third-down conversions (3), Likely averaged a mere 6.6 yards per catch on 10 targets and did not drop a single one.

He even turned in a spectacular one-handed catch on an early off-target Jaxson Dart throw that moved the sticks.

Likely was also solid with the handful of blocks he was asked to execute on the edge.

Theo Johnson

Is it too much to ask Johnson to come down with a tough catch? That’s what happened on the Jaxson Dart injury play when the quarterback lofted a deep ball that hit Johnson in the hands, but he failed to secure it against contact.

Johnson followed that up with a handful of poor edge blocks (one of his worst blocking games as a pro) plus a false start. Johnson had 4 targets tonight but did not come down with any of them. To say we were disappointed with his play this week is putting it mildly.

Chris Manhertz

Getting just a handful of snaps, Manhertz held up to the physicality of his responsibilities, but he failed to sustain his blocks long enough to make a positive difference on any of them.

Patrick Ricard

This veteran lead blocker had his moments leading things up the gut, but whenever he was asked to clear space on the edges, the Rams seemed to have too many bodies out there to move.

To these eyes, the best place to attack this Rams defense is between the tackles, but the Giants failed to do enough of that to make a difference.

Offensive Line

Andrew Thomas

Playing one of his poorer pass-blocking games in ages, Thomas allowed a good half dozen pressures where he was both out-muscled and out-quicked.

Thomas did not show he had much of a mirror, as his punch and hand-fighting did not create much space, which ended up crowding him and allowing his man to separate.

His lower-body movement in reverse also wasn't up to snuff, likely because of the groin issue he labored through, not to mention the knee and ankle issues that landed him on the injury report in the first two weeks.

The good news? Thomas’s run-blocking was as solid as ever; he remains this unit’s best run blocker, but his pass-blocking fell well short of the mark.

Jermaine Eluemunor

We’re not accustomed to seeing this O-line being beaten on the edges, but that’s what happened this week. Eluemunor was the guilty party on the big pass rush that ended his quarterback’s night.

The veteran was beaten around his corner on this play and several others with speed. He was also walked back into his quarterback’s lap on a handful of other snaps, his man getting under his pads a bit.

Eluemunor is known for having a sturdy anchor, but even that was abused at times this week. His run-blocking was only average.

Jon Runyan Jr.

Playing a rough-around-the-edges game, Runyan missed several more inside stunt handoffs tonight, which resulted in pressure right up into his quarterback’s face. Nothing is worse in the pocket than inside pressure.

Runyan has had a tough couple of games in this respect. He was also flagged for a hold on a running play.

His run-blocking was much less impactful than last week’s version, as the athletic Rams’ front beat him to the punch too often.

Francis Mauigoa

The rookie held up reasonably well throughout, until his game began to show cracks later in the game. Some of it was communication problems with his center, which need to be cleaned up.

The rookie’s short pulls did not find much success tonight. His drive-blocking had its moments. His double-teams are usually a treat for his partner-in-crime, which is usually his center, but there wasn’t as much of that tonight.

Mauigoa’s most embarrassing play might have been that head-scratching sequence down by the goal line when the Giants ran four straight running plays. On Najee Harris’ three-yard loss, Mauigoa helped blow up the play: instead of stonewalling a Rams defender, he ran into his own man, allowing the defender to blow up the play for the loss.

We’re trying to find this unit’s best player tonight, and this rookie had his moments, but overall it was just another average grade.

John Michael Schmitz

This young veteran center had some positive moments tonight, but communication issues with his guards have been a problem throughout two games. We know it’s tough to pitch a shutout every week in the pit, but we expected a cleaner performance from this group.

Tonight’s game was lost in the trenches. Schmitz lost several blocks in space when the coaches put him in difficult positions to block.

He was solid when kept within the confines of his two gaps.

Overall, Schmitz’ pass-blocking was better than his run-blocking, which is usually the case.

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