Giants Defense and Special Teams Grades: Charlie Jones’ Fumble Turns the Tide in Loss to Saints

Let’s dive into this week’s New York Giants defensive and special teams player grades from the Week 6 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Defensive Line

D.J. Reader

The defense’s best interior player continued to produce this week with a whopping 7 total tackles from the nose tackle position.

Reader made plays in short yardage, stayed home to handle cutbacks, and regularly stood up blockers and double teams. Too bad he can’t rush the passer, because he does most everything else, primarily between the tackles.

Bobby Jamison-Travis

In his first pro game, the big rookie recorded 2 solo tackles simply by standing his ground and letting the play come to him.

Alas, he was pushed around a bit too easily and washed out of his lane without putting up enough of a fight. At times he seemed light on his feet but never heavy-footed enough to hold his ground.

Shelby Harris

Though he managed 3 total tackles this week, we thought Harris had a barely visible game, which is something we’ve seen from him lately. He started the season slowly and picked it up over the last two weeks, but this week he took a step back, got pushed around too much, and couldn’t find his way to the ball.

Darius Alexander

After what we thought was a more visible and combative game last week, Alexander was regularly pushed around and abused out there this week in the pit.

We saw several pancakes and a whole lot of too-late-to-the-party arrivals from the defensive tackle, who was rarely engaged at the point of attack without taking abuse.

Jihad Ward

Getting some rotational edge snaps, both standing up and in a 3-point stance, Ward proved too slow to close in space and not very physical between the tackles. He got in on 1 tackle, but his presence was negligible at best.

Outside Linebackers

Abdul Carter

Carter started the game fast with several pressures and two drawn pass-blocking penalties, but the Saints quickly adjusted and threw bodies at him, which slowed his impact.

In the second half, Carter played less and seemed slowed by the calf injury he suffered last week, which perhaps stiffened up at halftime.

Though he played physically throughout the second half, he lacked his typical explosiveness and never could find the ball. He finished the game with a solitary quarterback hit, his only mention on the stat sheet.

Without Carter’s big playmaking, the defense sagged, especially in the second half, when Carter didn’t appear until the seventh snap of the Saints’ opening third-quarter drive.

Kayvon Thibodeaux

Playing most snaps at outside linebacker this week, Thibodeaux got most of his 5 total tackles late in the game.

That was when the Saints pulled in the reins on their offense, and he physically closed down inside runs without a care in the world about containing his edge.

He was a complete non-factor on the pass rush all game long, unless you want to call his third-quarter roughing-the-passer penalty on a bootlegging quarterback a successful pass rush; it wasn’t.

Six games into his contract year, Thibodeaux hasn’t had a single impact play for his defense, despite getting plenty of playing time and opportunities.

Trace Ford

Getting another elevation from the practice squad, Ford got a heavy dose of outside linebacker snaps (especially with Carter struggling).

Like so many of his teammates, Ford did not impress. His 2 tackles came in pursuit and were flash plays, but when he couldn’t make plays on his edge, he showed a lack of the quick twitch and athleticism required.

Ford was sucked to the inside on a handful of edge contains that went around him too easily; his inside move is his go-to reaction, but it leaves the wide stuff too vulnerable. Ford’s pass rushes were easily neutralized.

Inside Linebackers

Tremaine Edmunds

Edmunds played another impactful game in the middle, and each of his 9 total tackles came at an important moment to stop the bleeding.

As the Saints extended their second-half lead, Edmunds’ tackles started to come farther downfield as the defensive pit crew wasn’t holding up.

There were no flash plays from the inside linebacker, but it was another solid effort from a free-agent signing who hasn't disappointed.

Arvell Reese

The Giants’ dynamic rookie continued to show improvement week to week. This week, his pass coverage really stood out. Reese not only recognized his reads and reacted quickly, but he stayed with them as the plays stretched and consistently blanketed his man.

On one edge play, Reese annihilated an O-lineman who flew backward into the ball carrier’s back for the tackle. The physicality is consistent from this kid. He made several face-up tackles between the tackles that shook the rafters.

Though he somehow finished with only 5 total tackles, Reese also recovered a second-half fumble that contributed to the team’s exciting but aborted comeback.

Defensive Backs

Greg Newsome II

After playing another positive, aggressive game, Newsome had to leave with a concussion and did not return. The injury came early in the third quarter and really affected the defense.

A player like Newsome may play the game too hard; he’s just not built for the physicality that he tries to play with.

Playing too hard doesn’t seem like something you want to tell an athlete competing at this or any level, but if it keeps taking you off the field, you may have to learn to play smarter. Newsome finished with 3 total tackles and a pass defensed.

Deonte Banks

Banks played another stellar cover game on the edges, and the coaches eventually moved him to cover the Saints’ best receiver, Chris Olave, after Newsome left the game.

Banks finished with 4 total tackles and another pass defensed as his coverage game continues to thrive in this aggressive scheme.

Put Banks in a zone, and he’s not the same player. Put him in the face of the opponent’s best receiver, and he’s psyched.

Unlike Newsome, Banks has the goods to hold up in a physical game, even though he does NOT play a physical game. If only he and Newsome could trade personalities.

Dru Phillips

The defense’s Top Dawg continues to play fine up and down the line of scrimmage. When a tackle needs to be made, and several others shy away, count on Phillips to step in and do the dirty work.

He recorded 4 more tackles this week, but he got lost in coverage in the end zone and gave up a fourth-down touchdown that really hurt.

Phillips was also beaten deep on a second-half all-out blitz, but the pass was overthrown. He did well to run with his man rather than grab him, and the blitz forced the quarterback into an early throw, ergo the miss.

Nic Jones

After Newsome went down with a concussion, Jones got all of Newsome’s snaps and was eventually targeted on a fade to Olave, who hauled in the perfect pass despite Jones’ tight coverage; Jones just missed knocking the ball away.

It’s tough to criticize Jones’ coverage here. We thought he played well otherwise.

Jevon Holland

Tying for the team lead with 9 total tackles, the team’s top safety played a quiet game, mostly a deep contain game that kept the Saints’ receivers in front of him.

He is a real asset whenever the defense calls one of those zero max-blitz things, as he is so alert and plays with such great instinct that the offense rarely beats the coverage.

A bunch of his tackles came early in run-support contain while the Saints gouged the defense on the ground.

Jason Pinnock

Getting the start, Pinnock was sharp on several of his early blitzes (a Pinnock specialty). In fact, we thought his alertness in coverage was a big plus for the Giants defense. He forced the second-half fumble and finished with 2 tackles and 1 pass defensed.

We’d have to say Pinnock is more of a coverage safety than a run-support one. His fall-off missed tackle on the Alvin Kamara 31-yard touchdown catch-and-run — a boundary tackle Pinnock had to make — should have been just a 3-yard gain.

Instead, it gave the Saints the third-quarter lead, and they never looked back.

Ar’Darius Washington

The uber-aggressive Washington, a blood brother in style to Dru Phillips, finished with 4 solo tackles, and each one seemed big. It’s hard not to like the way that Washington plays this game; not just hard, but fast. If he were just a few inches taller, he’d be an unquestioned starter in this league.

As it stands now, we hate to see him come off the field. We prefer our secondary to play hard, fast, aggressive football, as Washington does.

He’s not big enough to play a physical style, but he beats the other guy to the punch so often that he rarely absorbs a hit; he almost always delivers it. We’ll take him on our team any time.

Special Teams

Dominic Zvada

For the second successive week, the special teams came up short. Last week it was Zvada with 3 field goal misses.

This week the rookie flubbed the kickoff at the end of the game, allowing the Saints to bring it out of the end zone and burn the two-minute warning stoppage when he was supposed to kick it through.

That miskick cost the Giants at least 30 seconds on their last-gasp drive. Zvada converted both of his field goal attempts (34 and 41 yards), but at the end of these games, the little things often count. The rookie was told what to do; he just failed to do it.

Jordan Stout

After punting 5 times this week, Stout didn’t have his best game. His first punt was supposed to be a pooch inside the 20, but his low 44-yarder was returned for 21 yards. That can’t happen.

His next punt was a 66-yard boomer, but it was returned another 15 yards.

A 46-yarder had good height and yielded just a 3-yard return. A 59-yarder gave up a 23-yard return.

Stout’s final punt, a 56-yarder, had a 6-yard return. Though Stout’s gross average was a healthy 54.2, the Saints’ 68 return yards brought his net down to 40.6.

Ben Mann

Nothing wrong with this rookie’s deep-snapping day. Solid across the board.

Charlie Jones

The turning point of this week’s game was Jones’ reckless kickoff-return fumble at the 1:11 mark of the second quarter. The Giants led 10-3 and looked to extend the lead, but Jones failed to protect the ball, showing an egregious lack of ball-security focus as he entered traffic.

That play changed the entire texture of the game. New Orleans capitalized on the field position at the NYG 28 and scored to tie the game at the half.

It was like the air in the Giants’ balloon had been punctured. The Saints then dominated the third quarter, and that was that. Jones bounced back with solid returns and several catches, but the damage was already done.

On the day, Jones returned 4 punts for 33 yards and averaged 22.3 yards on 3 kickoff returns.

Notably, three special teams penalties erased 65 yards of the team’s returns. To say this team’s special teams played a sloppy game and are one of the culprits for the loss is putting it mildly.

Tyrone Tracy

If we had our druthers, we would promote Tracy to primary kickoff returner, as we trust him to take a hit and hold onto the ball far more than we trust Charlie Jones.

Tracy did return 2 kickoffs for 22.5 yards per return and held onto the ball.

Zaire Barnes

The special teams’ coverage leader had a tackle on punt coverage and another on kickoff coverage. Barnes also committed one of the more blatant blocks in the back on a punt return that you will ever see. Like the rest of the team this week, Barnes was plain sloppy.

Malik Harrison

Signed to the roster this week, the veteran Harrison led the special teams with 3 total tackles, 2 on kickoff coverage and 1 on punt coverage. Harrison is as solid on special teams as the night is long.

Nic Jones

Starting at gunner, the team did not get good gunner play this week from either starter, as none of the gunners could beat their blocking and cover tightly downfield.

Elijah Campbell

This veteran was dominated on the Saints’ longest punt return of the day, 23 yards around his abandoned edge. Campbell did get credit for the tackle when he chased the returner out of bounds.

Chris Manhertz

The Giants tight end was flagged for an iffy holding call on a kickoff return.

Thomas Fidone II

Adding to his woes on a day that he’d rather forget (translation: nothing went right for the young tight end this week), Fidone was flagged for a blindside “nudge” on a punt return, a very questionable call.

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