Giants Report Card: Not Good, Folks. Not Good at All

Let’s get something straight.

Pat Shurmur’s play-calling in the fourth quarter, while curious to say the least, is not solely to blame for the Giants’ disappointing loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

While I didn’t agree with the sequence, in theory, how can one dispute putting the ball in the hands of Saquon Barkley, the tam’s best playmaker, at a critical juncture of the game? Sure, the odds were against him, but still, those odds of him picking up a chunk play were probably higher than any other Giants skill position player’s odds.

With that said, Kliff Kingsbury and his staff outwitted the Giants’ brain trust. More on that in a moment. And more on the turnovers, the sacks and all the ugly elements that remind us that this Giants team has a long, long way to go before it can be taken seriously as a team that might make some noise in the playoff hunt.

Passing Offense: F

You name it, and it went wrong. There were dropped passes, including one by Barkley and two by tight end Evan Engram. There were the eight sacks, one shy of the franchise record for a single game (9) set on November 1, 1981, against the Jets. There were turnovers, including two lost balls by Daniel Jones that Arizona turned into 14 points. And there were receivers who didn’t always get open.

Yes, folks, the passing game delivered a colossal and collaborative failure. But here’s the thing.

The eight sacks were not all on the offensive line—Jones, who is cutting his teeth as a pro starter, had instances where he held the ball too long. The interception Jones threw—and he just barely missed throwing a second one—came as a result of a read that he could have done a better job with.

The ball security issues? I’m not so sure there’s anything that can be done at this point in the season to fix those, though I’d start with getting him to stop dangling the ball out there when moving around.

The bottom line, though, is that this is a rookie, and growing pains were to be expected, though I doubt anyone expected them to be this ugly.

Rushing Offense: B

The numbers—107 yards on 22 carries—weren’t horrible and in fact, might have been even better had a holding penalty not wiped out a long run by Barkley.

And speaking of Barkley, it looked like that ankle was still an issue in terms of him cutting and changing direction. There was one play in the first half where Barkley broke a tackle and not to the second level where if he got past one defender, he’d have nothing but daylight in front of him. Instead of cutting, Barkley ended p trying to overpower the defender, who brought him down.

Run Defense: F

The Giants had no answers for the Cardinals rushing offense, which finished with 156 yards on 38 carries and three touchdowns.

The problems –and stop me if you’ve heard this before—included guys not maintaining their gaps, second-level defenders unable to shed blocks and guys taking poor angles, or failing to wrap up ball carriers.

The media doesn’t get to see the practices during the season, but I think it’s probably a fair question to ask how much time is spent on the fundamentals that the coaches and players keep talking about yet continue to struggle with.

Pass Defense: C

The Cardinals ended up not having to pass much int his game thanks to the success they were having on the ground. Kyler Murray completed 14 of 21 attempts for 104 yards, and no Cardinals receiver had a reception for more than 12 yards. Heck, even the great Larry Fitzgerald had a quiet game, catching one ball for 12 yards.

So why the lower grade? Although Markus Golden managed to get a sack, the Giants only managed one quarterback hit all game. That’s not good enough.

Special Teams: B-

This week was a mixed bag for this otherwise stable unit. Obviously, the big punt block and recovery for a touchdown was a huge play.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you had the missed field goal by Aldrick Rosas, his second of the year (he had one miss all last season), and rookie Darius Slayton deciding to return a kickoff he fielded at the minus-1 yard line, a return he only managed to bring out to the 12-yard line.

Coaching: F

We all know about the fourth quarter play-calling sequence. Still, the biggest concern that I think is developing with this group is how the coaches appear to be emphasizing scheme more than putting players in a position to succeed.

I wasn’t in the scrum when safety Michael Thomas was speaking to a few reporters, but he said something interesting and very telling when he was asked how the Giants should respond to new offensive schemes.

“We’ve gotta execute better. We’ve gotta figure out, 'OK, they’re not doing anything that they were doing maybe the first five, six weeks of the season. They’ve transitioned to this, make those adjustments, and go out there and just make plays. Tackle. Set edges.

“At the end of the day, whoever’s out there has to execute the fundamentals. Set edges. Tackle. Get to your gaps. Then let’s make adjustments as soon as we get back to the sideline.”

Coaches talk all the time about fundamentals and how they’re so important. You have to wonder given how this team has played of late just how much time they spend covering the fundamentals in practice because whatever it is they're doing isn't consistently showing up in games.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is on the coaching.

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