By the Numbers: New Week, Same Issues

Here's a look at some of the numbers from the Giants 37-18 loss to the Cowboys that pretty much told part of the story behind the loss.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey -- Let’s break down some of the most significant numbers from the Giants’ 37-18 loss to Dallas.

440 - This is the estimated weight difference between the Cowboys starting offensive line and the four-person front the Giants mostly fielded last night.

Now to be clear, the Giants’ front mostly consisted of Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams, each topping the scales at 300+ pounds. But the other two members of the front were usually a 240-50 pound linebacker.

Now according to Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion states that “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.”

So why would the Giants, against a Cowboys offensive line that collectively is estimated to weigh 1,598 pounds, expect a defensive front that was roughly 500+lighter, to have success?

Yes, it comes down to man vs. man, but again, wouldn’t it have made more sense to have a heavier front against that Cowboys line than a lighter front that, as Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott said after the game, allowed “the easiest (139) yards I’ve ever gained.”

54 - That’s the total rushing yards quarterback Daniel Jones recorded last night (on six carries).

Why is this significant? Because it led the team in rushing.

You read that correctly. Jones led the team in rushing yardage, outgaining Saquon Barkley 54 yards to 28, and averaging 9.0 yards per carry to Jones’ 2.0 yards per carry.

How is that possible, even though Barkley had 14 carries to Jones’ six?

Two reasons. First, it’s clear to anyone who watches Barkley that he’s still affected by his ankle injury and isn’t running anything like he’s capable of running. He’s also regressed into some bad habits, among them dancing to the line instead of just picking out a hole and hitting it.

The other problem has been the run blocking, particularly up the middle, where the coaches have sent Barkley consistently. Now against a Cowboys defense, which has speed from sideline to sideline, the strategy of sending Barkley up the middle isn’t a bad one.

But, if you’re going to do that, is it too much to ask to get a push up the middle?

Is it too much to ask to get to the second level and hit someone rather than stand around and then look back to see where Barkley is?

30.2 - That’s Cody Latimer’s kickoff return average. If nothing else, the Giants appear to have solved that problem after wisely removing rookie Darius Slayton (who had never really done it before) from the unit instead of trying to give him on-the-job training.

28 - This is the number of snaps linebacker Deone Bucannon received (out of 71) on defense.

Bucannon, who was highly touted as the centerpiece of James Bettcher’s defense in Arizona, has now been here two weeks, yet his snaps have been limited.

So why is it that a guy who supposedly has a good enough grasp on the scheme but who otherwise needed to learn the new wrinkles (which given his veteran status should have been able to pick all that up), is still getting only a handful of snaps on a defense that desperately needs to play better in coverage and which also needs to stop relying so heavily on a light front which has been gashed repeatedly on the ground?

5 - The Giants have now lost five games in a row, equaling their longest consecutive game losing streak under head coach Pat Shurmur, whose 2018 team lost five in a row between Sept. 30 and 10/28 last season. It is also the third consecutive season in which the Giants have had a five-game slide.

The Giants also fell to 25-39-2 on Monday Night Football that includes a 9-11 mark at home.

2 - As in two more fumbles for quarterback Daniel Jones, both of which were lost balls. For all the talk about how Jones doesn’t make the same mistakes over and over, the most glaring and repetitive mistake he does make that he and the coaches still haven’t fixed after seven starts plus a handful of snaps back in Week 1 is his ball security.

1 - That’s how many times (out of five) the Giants converted inside the red zone. New York’s only touchdown came in the second quarter hen Daniel Jones found Cody Latimer for a 1-yard touchdown catch. Otherwise, they got four field goals from kicker Aldrick Rosas, three of which came when the Giants drive stalled inside the Cowboys’ 10-yard line. That’s just unacceptable production by the offense.

Other Numeric Notables

According to NFL Research, the Week 9 game between the Giants and Cowboys was the first without Eli Manning as the starting quarterback. Manning first made his debut against the Cowboys in Week 5 of the 2004 season--5,503 days ago.

Current Giants starting quarterback Daniel Jones was seven years old back then, and Twitter did not exist.