Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
2019 Week 7: Player-by-Player Review
WHY THE GIANTS DEFENSE STRUGGLED AGAINST ARIZONA
By Chris Pflum
The New York Giants' defense faced a serious test Sunday afternoon when they squared off against the Arizona Cardinals and their college-inspired offense.
The Cardinals' offense is built around Kliff Kingsbury's take on the Air Raid offense which has taken college football by storm.
Even at Texas Tech, Kingsbury didn't run a “pure” Air Raid, and concepts from the scheme have seeped into almost every NFL offense.
But even so, the Cardinals have been leaning further into the Air Raid than almost any other offense in the League. Their offense has found success by weaponizing spacing, using receiving threats to stress a defense from sideline-to-sideline as well as vertically.
Adding to the stress placed on a defense is the presence of Kyler Murray, who brings rare athleticism and to the quarterback position.
Not only is he quick, fast, and athletic, but his baseball background lets him threaten every area of the field with his arm from the pocket or on the run.
The Giants' defensive front has been dominant at times this season, but their defense as a whole has been a question mark for much of the season.
So how they would deal with an offense that attacks in ways most NFL defenses aren't built to defend was always going to be one of the major storylines surrounding this game.
We saw the Giants' answer to the Cardinals' offense early in the game, with the Giants showing their hand on Arizona's opening drive.
New York opened the game in their usual nickel package, with Grant Haley on the field as a slot corner while Jabrill Peppers joined Alec Ogletree and David Mayo at the second level.
But once Arizona brought out their 10-personnel four receiver package, the Giants opted to use their “dime” set, taking Mayo off the field and instead playing a sixth defensive back.
At times the Giants would even take Ogletree off the field and play a seven defensive backs behind their defensive line.
The emphasis on coverage players helped them take the air of out Arizona's offense. Murray only attempted 21 passes, completing 14 for 104 yards and no touchdowns.
As of this writing, Murray was second in the NFL for throws into coverage per NFL NextGen Stats, with a 23.8% aggressiveness.
Between Kyler Murray's elusiveness (and the need to play disciplined and not give up big quarterback scrambles) and Arizona's play calls, the Giants didn't generate much of a pass rush.
However, their coverage allowed forced Murray to keep the ball in his hand. On one occasion it led to a big sack as Murray tried to keep the play alive and wound up taking a sack for a 15-yard loss.
The Giants also played more soft coverages than we have seen from them in their better defensive performances. It was, however, a calculated risk.
By playing off-coverage the Giants were able to keep an eye on Murray and not let him break contain for a run with the defense's back turned.
Likewise, while Murray was allowed to complete 66.7 percent of his passes, he only averaged five yards per attempt, less than three air yards per completion, and a completion percentage of 8.5 points below expected.
All of that would be a big win for the Giants defense. Except for the fact that the part of the game that was almost taken for granted—that their defensive front would dominate the line of scrimmage, didn't really happen.
The downside of the Giants' adjustment to Arizona's personnel groupings was that it made them light and spread their defense thin. That showed up in Chase Edmond's breakout performance with David Johnson injured.
Edmonds carried the ball for 126 yards, including three 20-yard touchdown runs.
The Giants' defensive backs did not tackle securely, and for much of the game, they lacked the speed to the perimeter to catch Edmonds before he was able to get the edge.
When it came to defending runs up the middle, the Giants' defensive line wasn't able to keep Arizona's offensive linemen from being able to block the Giants' smaller defenders.
As expected, Arizona also sent the kitchen sink at the Giants from a scripting and sequencing perspective. They made frequent use of jet and sweep motion from receivers at the snap of the ball, while still handing to the running back.
They also gave the ball to the receivers on occasion (though those went down as passes), making good on the threat of the sweep.
Arizona also made use of wide receiver screens and swing passes to Edmonds, and the Giants simply could not keep up with the Cardinals' offense while trying to keep track of everything going on.
The Giants did adjust to Arizona's perimeter runs in the second half and began swarming to the ball on every toss or outside zone run.
It's because of that, and the repeated tackles for a loss on Edmonds, that Arizona didn't have even more yards rushing.
It was almost enough to keep the Giants in the game, but not enough to overcome the offensive miscues and turnovers.
All told, there were some good things from the Giants' defense as they were forced to deal with a unique offense. However it was too little, too late, and they weren't able to slow Arizona down until the damage had already been done.
QUARTERBACK
Daniel Jones: This was the rookie’s most discouraging performance of his young career, but boy he sure didn’t get a lot of help out there.
The top culprit was the offense’s lack of preparation/game plan, which rarely beat the Cardinals’ defense to the punch. This one falls on the coaches, folks.
To be so completely unprepared for the Cardinals’ incessant blitzing and having zero answers for their rookie quarterback to beat it with after 10 days to prepare, was a coaching failure, plain and simple.
Only one of the Cardinals’ eight sacks came in the first half, but it came on an early blitz that preceded one of Jones’ worst decisions, a throw into double coverage for his only interception.
Unfortunately, this bad play by Jones set up the Cardinals early 14-0 lead that the Giants never really did recover from.
With all the pressure he was seeing and all the blitzes taking him out of rhythm, it was tough to watch Jones struggle and have so few answers out there.
The one constant in Jones is his battle level, which never wavers as it did not today. He responded to the Cardinals 17-0 lead by orchestrating a solid touchdown drive, finishing it off with one of his prettier throws of the year to tight end Rhett Ellison from 28 yards out for the score.
Jones next responded to the Cardinals 24-14 second half lead with an 8-play, 82-yard, 4th quarter scoring drive (5 throws, 3 runs including a Jones 9-yard scramble to set up the score).
Jones gave his team a fourth-quarter chance but the incessant holding penalties (four on the Giants offensive line, three in the second half) were as damaging as it gets.
There were a handful of drops as well, but on a rainy day like today it was never going to be an aerial show.
The Giants never did establish the running game that was so important on a day like today.
The Cardinals seemed to blitz into most every one of Saquon Barkley’s touches. In fact, the Cardinals seemed to beat the Giants offense to the punch all game long.
Talk about throwing into tight windows—we’re trying to remember the open receivers that Jones found; there were few and far between. He’s really hampered by the lack of playmakers in his receiving corps.
Watching Cody Latimer cradle accurate throws and fall to the ground with room to run is maddening.
This rookie who is learning on the go really needs some speed on the outside. He could also use a pocket that isn’t collapsing from the edges on nearly every single drop back.
On Jones’ first fumble, he’s still waiting on the screen play that was taking its own sweet time to form on the opposite edge.
That fumble was on Barkley, but it was also delayed because the Cardinals were flooding the field around Barkley.
All Jones needed was one big play to beat the blitz, which would have stopped it. He never got it and was left to get pounded for eight sacks and 12 other pressures.
This week was the first time the rookie looked a bit shell-shocked out there. His head coach needs to do something to get this offense playing crisper ball.
This week was a slog-fest out there, and we’re not just talking about the weather. The whole group seemed sluggish, which once again falls on the coaches.
The rookie quarterback needs some easy completions, something these coaches can’t seem to get him.
RUNNING BACKS
Saquon Barkley: It wasn’t a great return from injury for Barkley, who despite a sluggish performance still put up credible numbers on the ground (18-72-4.0, 1 TD) but a disappointing eight yards through the air.
His best run of 32 yards was called back by one of those incredibly frustrating holds that continue to creep up.
Regardless, Barkley had his fair share of odd decisions with the ball, choosing not to follow his blocking on a couple of snaps that was frustrating to watch.
His pass-blocking, which has not improved much from his poor rookie season, was porous.
Barkley has no problem with identifying the blitz, but he simply does not seem to have the taste for sticking his nose into his blitzer’s chest.
We have yet to see him stone a blitzer in two years of trying. Too often he fails to play strong with his blocking, getting pushed aside and oftentimes turning his back on the block.
It’s surprising, owing to his attention to detail in every other aspect of his game, how poor he is as a blocker.
He seemed to aggravate his ankle injury in the second quarter, but he returned to the game and did not look the worse for wear, especially on his scoring run where he ran with patience and power from 7 yards out. It was one of his better runs of the day.
The coaches simply have to find a way to get Barkley the ball out of the backfield. He caught 3 of his 5 targets, but they included an 8-yard loss on a screen.
He also had a couple of other negative plays when he reverted to his early rookie tendency of trying to hit a home run on every touch. Barkley needs to play better in every aspect of his game.
Wayne Gallman: Getting his only snaps when Barkley had to leave with his injury midway through the third quarter, Gallman looked his reliable self, getting 10 yards on a run off left tackle but it was called back on a hold. It was Gallman’s only touch.
The extent of his playing time was five snaps, when Barkley returned to the game on that same possession.
Elijhaa Penny: Getting perhaps only a half dozen or so snaps as a lead blocker, Penny was sharp with his physicality and positioning on every one of his blocks, alas, his back didn’t always follow him.
TIGHT ENDS
Evan Engram: Getting both Engram and Barkley back should have been a boon to this Giants offense, but instead it was a bust, especially on Engram’s end.
His one chance for a big play came on a deep sideline route that he executed to get himself wide open, but then saw the perfect pass bounce off his hands for one of the biggest negative plays of the day for this offense.
It was a big play that was left on the field by Engram and it hurt.
Of his five targets, Engram caught only the one for a measly six yards against a Cardinals defense that had allowed a league-leading 599 yards to opposing tight ends.
Neither he nor the coaches could shake him free on a day where his big-playmaking ability was really needed.
Engram’s blocking has continued to improve this year to an acceptable level. Anyone blaming him for Daniel Jones’ first fumble off a blindside sack would be wrong, as Engram (isolated against Chandler Jones of all people) wasn’t expected to hold this block longer than it was supposed to take for the screen pass to be thrown.
The delay by Barkley setting up, and Jones’ holding onto the ball, as a result, were the real culprits to this sack-fumble-turnover, not Engram.
Rhett Ellison: Continuing to play solid, winning football on a down-to-down basis, Ellison’s best season as a Giant continued today with another solid and well-rounded performance. Ellison’s blocking, rarely of the dominating variety, was solid nevertheless with positioning and getting a piece of his man.
His best block came on Barkley’s 7-yard touchdown run when Ellison took out not one but two Cardinals defensive backs at the point of attack.
All Barkley had to do was follow Ellison into the end zone, much like a lead block, except Ellison had lined up in a 3-point stance on the line of scrimmage. That’s a great block.
Ellison contributed big-time in the receiving game as well, finishing off the offense’s lone big play of the day when he ran a perfect corner route into the red zone and pulled in Daniel Jones’ perfect throw at the 4-yard line, and then powered into the end zone.
It was the offense’s biggest play of the day.
That’s one of the things wrong with this offense: its lack of speed.
Ellison caught one other ball and was as reliable with his play as it can get.
RECEIVERS
Golden Tate: Tate went over the middle on the first offensive possession but stopped in mid-route appearing to not be comfortable going over the middle.
This is where the Giants miss Sterling Shepard, as he has no fear on the slant passes underneath.
On the same drive, Tate was covered by two defenders on third down. Jones tried to get the ball into a tight spot. Both defenders cut Tate off and the pass, which shouldn’t have been thrown, ended up being intercepted.
Tate tried to go deep against Patrick Peterson late in the first quarter. Peterson, back from a six-game suspension, did a solid job in coverage here as Tate could not shake free.
Tate made a nice grab on an out pattern early in the second quarter. He is much better at working the sidelines as opposed to working over the middle.
Although we don’t like Tate as much over the middle, he did make a good third-down grab in traffic late in the second quarter for a first down.
Tate also made a nice catch on a quick screen late in the third quarter. He is not overly fast, but he is elusive once he gets in the open field.
Tate also might have gotten away with a little shove on a first-half ball thrown by Jones that should have been picked off.
Tate shoved the defender just enough and in just a way that the officials didn’t see it, but that shove knocked the defender off his mark to make the interception.
Bennie Fowler: Fowler did a good job on an out pattern late in the 2nd quarter. He came back to the ball and made the first down reception.
On the very next play he lost his footing and dropped the pass. This would have been another first down grab.
With Daniel Jones being rushed late in the third quarter, he was able to get the ball to Fowler underneath. Fowler made a nice diving grab. This helped set up a pass play on fourth down where Jones was able to covert to Tate.
Jones seems very comfortable with Fowler which obviously helps the young quarterback.
Darius Slayton: The rookie made his first grab of the game late in the 2nd quarter.
Slayton made his second reception of the game early in the fourth quarter on a long in route and resulted in a 20-yard gain.
We’ll cover this more under special teams, but Slayton filled in for Corey Ballentine as the kickoff returner.
We expected more of a burst from him on kickoffs. Also on the final kickoff return at the end of the game, we are not sure this was executed correctly. With the Giants needing to conserve time it really did not make sense to return the ball out of the end zone.
First, it used up too much time and secondly the return was poor pinning the Giants inside their own fifteen-yard line.
Back to the passing aspect, overall the Cardinals were using a lot of single-high safety in this game which should have opened things up for deep routes. With the deep routes being open the one that could have taken advantage is Slayton.
Cody Latimer: Latimer got involved in the action early in the third quarter by catching an out pattern for a seven-yard gain.
In the middle of the third quarter, he made a third-down grab for the first down. It was a good job running the route right beyond the first down marker.
Latimer logged another grab early in the fourth quarter, continuing to display very sure hands.
Latimer had a busy second half as early in the fourth quarter he worked into the seam for a first down grab. We like the way he is finding the soft spots in the zone.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Nate Solder: We stopped counting how many times Daniel Jones’ blindside collapsed on him but when it got to double figures, we knew it was a big problem.
Solder’s inability to play consistent ball on his edge is a problem that’s just not going away. It wasn’t like he was faced with the Cardinals’ best pass rusher– Terrell Suggs is probably a future Hall of Famer but he’s almost probably on his last legs right now.
Still, Solder couldn’t keep him from bull-rushing his way into the backfield on a very regular basis. Solder simply cannot hold up to power any longer.
The only answer we see is the offense being constructed along the lines of the Patriots, with a bunch of slot receivers stopping-and-going in the short zones and throwing quick and short all game long.
Expecting Solder to protect the current pocket version of Daniel Jones is just not working out.
Solder was also called for a hold on a running play. In our analysis, he has graded out as the offensive line’s worst performer in six of this season’s seven games.
It’s getting hard to watch, and it’s doing nothing for the development of this team’s prized rookie quarterback.
Mike Remmers: Remmers didn’t exactly set the world on fire either, but he at least had the excuse of dealing with Chandler Jones, the Cardinals’ best pass rusher, all day.
We’re not excusing Remmers from all of Jones’ four sacks, but we also don’t think Remmers was as bad as all that.
Two of Jones’ sacks came off of blitz pressures—one came on blitz miscommunication, and another on Jones closing down on a scramble after being blocked.
Not one of Jones’ sacks came from beating Remmers one-on-one. We’re not saying that Remmers didn’t allow pressures, but for the most part, he really held his own.
Remmers’ run-blocking had its moments too. We dare to say that, despite the Cardinals’ eight sacks, Remmers had a positive game.
It was the blitzing that lead to most of today’s sacks. The pressures were there of course, including from Remmers’ edge (his inability to hold up to power continues to be an odd but very real fact), but Remmers’ quick set-up really helped him deal with Jones’ speed.
Will Hernandez: We thought Hernandez was once again this unit’s best player, playing an all-around very good game especially with is pass-blocking, the unit’s best by far.
Hernandez had more than his fair share of positive running game moments, but when he got flagged on Saquon Barkley’s 30-yard burst through the hole that Hernandez’s block had created, we cringed.
We’re not really sure what the officials are seeing that warrants a flag for holding, at least not in this instance, but suffice it to say, it’s becoming frustrating to see a penalty wipe out a huge positive gain.
Kevin Zeitler: Also playing very good ball in every aspect of his game, Zeitler had a handful of very good moments in the run game and looked as healthy as we’ve seen him, leading us to believe that the 10-day break from the previous game really benefited his sore shoulder.
The veteran’s pass blocking was very sharp and stout, giving up space begrudgingly and not very often. We didn’t see him responsible for any of today’s sacks and few if any pressures.
If we’re being hard on Dave Gettleman for the Solder signing, we need to applaud him for the Zeitler acquisition.
Zeitler is a plus player week in and week out who gives this offense a reliable interior presence on a snap-to-snap and game-to-game basis.
Jon Halapio: We wouldn’t put today’s offensive problems on Halapio; most of the pressure came from the edges and off of many un-read blitzes by the rookie quarterback.
Halapio had a decent-to-good game and was only pushed back on a handful of pass blocks, for the most part holding his own.
Halapio was called for one hold today and it was a stupid one, coming in space on a screen pass that was in the process of being blown up by the Cardinals (it was declined).
There weren’t any egregious flubs by the Giants center, no bad snaps, no missed inside stunts or calls. There was a bit too much push and not enough punch in his game but that’s not going to change, he is who he is.
Halapio’s run-blocking was also decent but his footwork remains plodding and a problem in space.
We’d like to call Halapio a power player, but he doesn’t hit enough people to earn that phrase.
He’s a leaner who gets in the way well, but he rarely creates space of any kind. He’s an okay player, but we think the Giants can and will upgrade.
DEFENSIVE LINE
B.J. Hill: Grading Hill’s performance this week—in fact throughout this season—has been a difficult one.
He’s consistently physical at the point of attack and he moves his feet in pursuit more often than not, but he’s rarely disengaging from blocks and he’s getting zero penetration on passing downs.
One lonely assist on the stat sheet in a season where there’s the norm rather than the exception is just not enough production out of one of your starting defensive linemen.
We watch Hill and we see effort and hustle and disciplined play, but we think he’d be more visible if the edge contain on this defense would be able to funnel stuff inside once in a while. Hill’s usually there waiting, but the contain is not.
Dalvin Tomlinson: Also playing physical power football inside, we’re seeing a more active presence out of Tomlinson than we see out of Hill, particularly in the last few weeks when a light bulb seems to have gone on in Tomlinson’s head.
He’s playing more active, even pro-active at the point of attack, and he’s shedding blocks when he’s not controlling his man.
Like Hill, Tomlinson sure would benefit from some edge contain out there but this defense is getting gashed on the edges, week in and week out.
Tomlinson made one tackle in the backfield and took care of his reads inside throughout. The lack of a pass rush would also be helped by better edge play collapsing the pocket from the edges.
Who knows, Tomlinson might get the occasional mop-up sack with a little more help from his edge friends.
Dexter Lawrence: All of Arizona’s misdirection did a bit of a number of Lawrence’s penetration game, as did Kyler Murray’s mobility slowing down what the defense was trying to do upfront.
Lawrence was also getting picked off on those edge runs that were gashing the defense, slowing down his pursuit chances.
All in all, it was a very quiet game (2 tackles) from the defense’s best pit player to date.
After a very shaky first half, the Giants defense finally got a handle on how to defend Arizona’s wide-open style of play—Arizona rarely went north-south, it was so much east-west.
Lawrence never did get into the swing of things outside the tackles where so much of the action was occurring.
R.J. McIntosh: If there was an appearance by McIntosh along the defensive line at any point in today’s game, we did not spot it.
Olsen Pierre: Getting perhaps a dozen snaps on passing downs, Pierre actually stumbled his way into a sack when, after getting absolutely plastered to the ground, he got up and kept his feet moving towards the scrambling Kyler Murray, who eventually ran into him for the sack.
Of the four Giants pass rushers on this play, he was the least worthy of the sack, but sure enough, it was his.
Otherwise, Pierre played a contain game at the front of the pocket and did not have much of a hand in the outcome of today’s game.
EDGE RUSHERS
Markus Golden: Golden started out strong, with several knifing penetrations that disrupted Arizona’s first two running plays, and he worked hard to run himself into five total tackles, most of them in pursuit.
They came in pursuit because Arizona was not running at Golden at all, leaving their edge attacks to the opposite side of the field.
Golden is the lone Giants edge rusher who can be trusted with his edge contain, and opposing teams know it.
On the Pierre sack, it was Golden who actually created the initial pressure, and the subsequent pursuit, but he just missed getting the final credit.
Most all of Golden’s edge rushes were of the speed variety and none of them got close to getting home.
It was a frustrating return for Golden, playing against his former team, but we had no problem with what he brought to the game, which is what he brings every week: an intensity and physicality that never lets up.
Lorenzo Carter: There was more good than bad out of Carter this week.
The good was all about his ball awareness and mobility and playing in pursuit. These are his strengths.
He played smart and he stayed disciplined, which are necessities when playing a quarterback like Kyler Murray.
Carter was the only Giants defender who got a hand on one of Murray’s throws. He played solid contain on his pass rushes, rarely taking himself out of a play.
But the negatives of Carter’s game—his inability to turn the corner on the pass rush and his softness at the point of attack—reared their ugly heads once again.
Carter’s pass rush contain was fine but containing his edge against the run was another exercise in futility.
Seeing Carter knocked back out of his contain by a solo tight end block on one of the Cardinals’ big edge runs was as bad as it gets.
This week’s theme, as it seems to be every week, is this defense’s total lack of edge contain.
Carter is not this defense’s most serious offender, but he’s one of them.
With that said, he does too many things well not to keep on the field, but his lack of physicality at the point of attack is a serious detriment to this defense, which is why we still believe he would be a better position match at off-ball.
Oshane Ximines: When the theme of edge contain comes up with this defense, it’s always with a bullseye on Ximines’ rookie chest.
Sure enough, he was targeted early on one of the Cardinals’ big edge runs, Ximines once again struggling with his alleged contain.
The coaches eventually decided, or had game-planned it this way, to limit most of Ximines’ field time to playing the middle on passing downs and using Ximines to shadow Kyler Murray.
Sure enough, on a key 3rd-and-11, what did the Cardinals do? They ran a draw right up the gut for the 12 yards they needed and a first down.
This kid is just not equipped right now to defend the run no matter where he lines up, but the coaches keep running him out there because he’s got some pass-rush potential, he’s tough and he hustles.
He shows so little instinct for what’s going on around him out there that it’s worrisome that he hasn’t even once, just once, sniffed out a run and reacted in the right way to close it down.
Offenses are batting a thousand against him, finding him and running at him and succeeding at him.
He again came up empty on the stat sheet despite significant playing time. This kid, who is playing more snaps because of Kareem Martin’s injury, is going through some major growing pains of his own that the team apparently will have to deal with until it all falls together for him.
OFF-BALL LINEBACKERS
Alec Ogletree: We were hoping to see a more proactive game from Ogletree than the Giants got out of him this week.
Unfortunately, we think he did too much guessing (as opposed to remaining true to his gaps) and it always hurts the defense.
On one of the Cardinals’ edge touchdown runs, Ogletree took a false step to the weak side where Kyler Murray had option-faked, leaving his run gap untended for the Cardinals to exploit for another one of those untouched edge runs that have been killing this team all season.
The coaches decided NOT to send Ogletree on the blitz this week, leaving a four-man rush to fail to get home, while taking away Ogletree’s best ability – his blitzing.
This left Ogletree to try and play an honest, disciplined game and that’s just not his style. He’s a cowboy who likes to gamble and take chances, and yes, he did run his way into eight tackles and that’s good production, but against this wide-open offense he was a non-factor who made most of his tackles in coverage downfield.
We wouldn’t mind giving Ogletree some snaps on the edge to see if he can provide the edge contain that is missing, but that would mean inserting someone else inside, but that someone probably not yet on this roster.
David Mayo: Kept off the field for the majority of the defensive snaps in deference to the wide-open nature of the Arizona offense, Mayo was on the field and couldn’t get to the edge in time to stop those too-easy touchdown runs around the end and got in on three tackles.
Mayo also knocked a ball away in coverage, the ball deflecting high in the air but harmlessly to the ground.
We don’t think Mayo is a good match-up with this wide-open offense as his foot speed and agility is somewhat lacking.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
DeAndre Baker: Baker made a nice play on a flat pass on first down where he came up and stopped rookie wide receiver Andy Isabella from the University of Massachusetts in the flat. He came up strong and made a nice tackle on this one.
Two plays later, it was Larry Fitzgerald who made the first down grab to easily beat Baker.
In the middle of the second quarter, wide receiver Damiere Byrd went deep against Baker. Baker was all over Byrd and was able to knock the pass away.
On a sweep in the middle of the third quarter, Baker did a nice job holding the edge on a sweep resulting in only a short gain.
Michael Thomas: Tight end Charles Clay made the catch in front of Thomas for a first down on the first possession, a play in which Thomas was too loose in coverage.
Thomas’ biggest contribution this week came on special teams on the blocked punt early in the 2nd quarter.
He did a great job coming right up the middle. The nice thing was he got so much of the ball that it stayed in the field of play and allowed the Giants to recover for a touchdown.
As a bonus, he had the wherewithal to not go after the ball after it’s blocked; had he recovered it, it would have been a safety instead of the touchdown.
Jabrill Peppers: Peppers was asked to play a linebacker role when the Giants went to a seven-defensive back set.
On the first possession, Fordham graduate Chase Edmonds ran the ball left after a fake end around right. This left Peppers flat-footed and unable to then scrape down the line to get in the hole.
The problem with using a safety in this role is they don’t have the ability against the run to work through blockers and close up a hole.
Antoine Bethea: Bethea did a poor job on the second 20-yard touchdown run by Edmonds.
Bethea was free to come up and make the tackle and completed whiffed resulting in a far too easy rushing touchdown.
Bethea had an easier job in coverage this week as the Cardinals really did not go down the field very often.
Grant Haley: Haley had very good coverage on Pharaoh Cooper on an out pattern late in the first quarter, but Cooper made the catch for yet another third-down conversion.
Haley did a nice job tripping up Murray as he tried to run in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Haley made a nice play on the second defensive possession stopping Edmonds on an off-tackle run. This was a solid open-field tackle, something you did not see enough of in this game.
Haley did a much better job in slot coverage in this game.
Janoris Jenkins: Jenkins had deep coverage against wide receiver Trent Sherfield late in the first quarter. The Giants were offside on the play, so it was a free play.
Kyler Murray made a good move going deep on this play and the result was a pass interference call on Jenkins.
We didn’t think there was a lot of contact here, but despite the challenge, the call stood.
Jenkins did a very good job covering Fitzgerald on an out pattern late in the second quarter. Murray was scrambling in the backfield for a while on this one, so Jenkins needed to hold his coverage for quite some time.
Jenkins did a nice job covering Fitzgerald, making him a non-factor which is usually a good way to get a victory against Arizona. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald is just one part of the equation.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Aldrick Rosas: Rosas’ strangely quiet year continued with just one field goal attempt, pretty much an extra point from 37 yards, which he clunked off the right upright for the miss.
It’s true that Rosas prefers to kick from the left hash, and the rainy conditions didn’t help much while kicking a wet ball, and the snap was low as well—all factors that perhaps contributed to the miss.
Rosas ultimately bears the responsibility, as the ball was down and he kicked the ball in rhythm, but the miss was a deflating one with the team down 10 points in the third quarter and trying to get back in the game.
It was a bad miss, only Rosas’ second this year but it’s a year where the kicking opportunities have come few and far between for him. He’s got to capitalize on these chances.
On the plus side, three of Rosas’ kickoffs were touchbacks while his fourth, a high mortar kick, was mishandled by the Cardinals returner and had to be fallen on, giving the Cardinals poor field position.
In the wet conditions, a mortar kickoff was a smart play. We wish we had seen it tried more often today.
Riley Dixon: For the second week in a row, Dixon had a punt blocked, though technically this week’s was merely a deflection (as opposed to last week’s disastrous full-on block that became a game-turning touchdown).
Neither block was a reflection on Dixon’s approach quickness or technique but blocking that was just not stout enough at the point of attack.
This week’s deflection turned Dixon’s punt into a 38-yarder. He also had punts of 43 and 31 yards, the latter a positive pooch and the former yielding a return of just 3 yards.
After a couple of shaky punts last week, Dixon was a positive performer today, as he’s been most of the year.
He handled a difficult low snap on the failed place kick, once again performing under-appreciated yeoman duties as the team’s holder.
Zak DeOssie: When you get punts blocked in two successive games, you have to see if the deep snapper has played a role in that.
Whether it’s DeOssie tipping off his snaps, or more likely the issue of a lack of speed on his snaps tightening the punter’s window on getting the ball off, it’s time to take a closer look at the punt protection team and why it’s started to come up so short.
Rhett Ellison: Last week it was the since-waived Nate Stupar failing to hold his ground on a punt block.
This week, it was Rhett Ellison getting pushed back into the punter’s pocket for the deflection.
This week it wasn’t as catastrophic as the punt still resulted in a 38-yard punt, but Ellison’s punter was creamed during the deflection, which is the kind of hit that you don’t want your punter taking. Ellison’s got to be stouter at the point of attack.
Golden Tate: Continuing to look sharp as the team’s main punt returner, Tate only had one opportunity and he made good with it, turning in a sharp 17-yard return by showing off his great feel and feet for making yardage in the open field.
For the first time in a long while, we feel comfortable with this team’s punt returner. It’s cheap yardage that has too often been passed up by the unreliable returners this team has been trotting out there.
Darius Slayton: With Corey Ballantine inactive, fellow rookie Slayton got the call at kickoff returner and it didn’t go well.
Slayton got his opportunities—four returns in one game is a lot in today’s touchback-happy NFL—but Slayton’s great speed never got itself into play because he didn’t show a very good feel for this skill, nor did he show the vision that’s a requisite for this position.
None of his three better returns reached beyond the 25, while his worst one—and worst decision—came at the 2:09 mark of the fourth quarter when Slayton returned a kickoff from one yard deep in the end zone and got himself tackled at the 12.
For a team looking to make a last-ditch drive to win the game, starting out at your own 12 (and having a stoked-up Arizona defense further stoked by the tackle at the 12) didn’t help matters much.
In retrospect, wouldn’t it have been smarter for the coaches to direct the inexperienced Slayton to stay in the end zone so the offense could start out at the 25 and save the time that the return burned from the clock?
Michael Thomas: The Giants' biggest play from any of the three units was turned in by this veteran captain of special teams when he timed a Cardinals punt from out of their own end zone and blocked it straight on, the block turning into a game-changing touchdown for the Giants.
They don’t come much bigger than Thomas’ block as it energized a lethargic first-half performance by turning a 17-7 deficit instantaneously into a tight 17-14 game. This play made it “a game.”
Before that, the Giants had been totally out-played and were in jeopardy of being run out of their own house. Thomas changed all that with his madcap dash right up the gut past a surprised Arizona fullback for the big block.
And how about Thomas’ alertness in not chasing down the ball once it was blocked? Had he done so, it would have been a safety instead of a touchdown.
Elijhaa Penny: The only other pass rusher on Thomas’ big punt block was Penny, who was only too happy to pounce on the loose ball in the back of the end zone before it could roll out of it. If the ball kept on rolling out of the end zone, it would have been a safety.
Penny’s dive and secure of the free ball earned his team an additional five points.
Penny has been showing up around the ball a lot this year on specials as he’s proving himself a contributor on every special team.
In fact, Penny was robbed of the punt coverage team’s lone tackle when his solo wrap-up was given to Josiah Tauaefa. (we firmly believe it was Penny’s.)
We wonder how long it will take for the coaches to realize that Penny might be equally as valuable as a contributor out of the backfield on offense.
Josiah Tauaefa: The rookie linebacker not got credit for the solo tackle on the Cardinals lone punt return today, but he also downed the ball on the deflected punt.
It’s always a good sign when a rookie starts showing up around the ball so much and getting his feet wet, as this kid has been doing the two weeks he’s been active since his promotion from the practice squad.
Tuzar Skipper: On the Cardinals’ muff of a mortar kickoff, Skipper got credit for the tackle when he was the first one on the scene and downed the returner.
I ON STRATEGY
By Mike Iannaconi
The primary goal of the defense this week was to keep the dynamic Kyler Murray in the pocket.
The key to this was discipline in the pass rush making sure to not let him get out of the pocket. They did a very good job at this.
Part of the way to do this was to use a lot of six defensive back sets. This helped slow down Murray but set up three touchdowns for Fordham graduate Chase Edmonds.
Edmonds almost walked into the end zone on his three scores of 20+ yards. Also, late in the game when the Giants needed a stop, Edmonds ran a draw on third and 11 and got the first down.
The linebackers, after a solid outing against the Patriots, were poor this week. Both David Mayo and Alec Ogletree did not play well. They could not get off blocks and did a poor job of filling the gaps.
Also, at times Jabrill Peppers played a linebacker role. This made sense as a way to control Murray but what it did was give a lot of running room for Edmonds.
Peppers had a very tough time shedding blocks which left gaping holes for Edmonds.
The Cardinals really use the whole field when running their offense. They like to use or fake the jet sweep and work sideline to sideline instead of straight up the field.
This should have helped the Giants because they have had a tough time covering deep routes down the field. In fact, this led to an easier afternoon for Antoine Bethea and the cornerbacks in deep coverage.
In summary, using all the defensive backs shut down Murray in the passing attack but left the Giants very short-handed in run defense, and the Cardinals took advantage.
On the offensive side, the Giants missed Sterling Shepard. Shepard is a player that can get the tough yards over the middle on slant routes.
None of the other Giant receivers were able to fill that role this week.
The Cardinals played a lot of tight coverage at the line of scrimmage with a single high safety.
This should have opened things up for a deep pass down the field but the issue there was Jones did not always have enough time to throw the football.
We would have liked to see Darius Slayton try to stretch the field, but he never got the opportunity.
The Giants really could not get the running game going on a consistent basis. Having Saquon Barkley back was supposed to be a boost for the offense but there were too many times this week that the Giants were faced with a third and long.
This was a result of not being able to successfully run the ball on first or second down.
On the pass receiving end, we would still like to see Barkley used on a wheel route that pits him against a linebacker on the sideline. This is a mismatch the Giants have to try and take advantage of.
The other issue was Evan Engram, also back from an injury, was not able to get on track.
With Patrick Peterson blanketing one of the Giants receivers they needed Engram to break free. He did not and this really hurt the offense.
The tight end that made some noise this week was Rhett Ellison who made a very nice touchdown grab in traffic.
Inside Football is an independent publication that is neither sponsored by, nor affiliated with, the New York Football Giants or the National Football League (NFL). Publisher: Inside Football LLC. Senior Editor: Patricia Traina (member, Pro Football Writers of America). Senior Analysts: Mike Iannaconi, Bob Folger. Analyst: Chris Pflum. Copyright 2019.
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