Patricia Traina - SI.com/NY Giants Maven
Inside Football's 2019 Week 4 Game Review
FIRST QUARTER REVIEW
By Chris Pflum
It's hard to believe that the New York Giants 2019 season is already a quarter over. After an interminable off-season just four weeks doesn't seem like much, but it's still a fairly major milestone in the course of a season.
But on the other hand, this has already been a long season, and much has happened.
The Giants came into the season with a young team and questions regarding various parts of their roster after a tumultuous off-season. Since this is a milestone week, it makes sense to take the opportunity to look back at the first month of the season and see where the Giants stand.
QUARTERBACK
If we are going to look at the New York Giants’ offense, we have to start with the quarterback position.
Not only is it the most important position on the field, but it’s the position of greatest change for the Giants. Coming into the season the Giants had 16-year veteran franchise quarterback Eli Manning starting under center.
But after the selection of Daniel Jones at sixth overall, it was just a matter of time before the team made a quarterback change.
Most were targeting the time around the Giants’ bye week to expect the change, while some (myself included) were expecting it to come after their Thursday Night Football game against the New England Patriots.
Few were expecting it to come after Week 2, but that was when the Giants made their move.
Manning was not playing poorly at the time of the change, but he also wasn’t playing so well that it was enough to keep the rookie on the bench.
Jones has looked like what he is, a promising rookie. At times he has played well, living up to the excitement he generated in the preseason, but he has also had his miscues, which are to be expected.
OFFENSIVE LINE
So far, the Giants’ offensive line has remained something of a work in progress. While it is certainly improved over the line the Giants fielded in 2018, it still isn’t the strength which fans hoped it might be.
The offensive line did a great job of pass protecting and run blocking in the first week of the season and continued to open holes in the running game in the second week.
However pass protection hasn’t been what it was hoped to be, giving up pressure and constricted pockets starting against the Buffalo Bills in the second week of the season.
The good news is that both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Bills have very good, if underrated, defensive fronts and there is still time for the Giants’ line to return to the form they showed against the Dallas Cowboys.
OFFENSIVE SKILL POSITIONS
There were questions coming into the season about the Giants’ collection of offensive weapons without Odell Beckham Jr.
Everyone knew how good Saquon Barkley was, but what about Evan Engram, Sterling Shepard, and the rest of the offensive weapons?
So far, both Shepard and Engram have stepped up to be reliable options as well as playmakers in the passing game.
The Giants don’t really have a player who can scare defenses through the air the way Beckham could, but they have been able to give the team enough through the air while also creating big plays with good play design.
The rest of the Giants receiving weapons, players like Darius Slayton, Cody Latimer, Bennie Fowler, and Rhett Ellison, have done what is needed from them, but also haven’t consistently distinguished themselves.
With Barkley injured, the Giants will need to make sure to scheme opportunities for Shepard and Engram, while capitalizing on whatever the defense offers with respect to their other players.
DEFENSIVE FRONT
Nobody knew what to expect from the Giants’ defensive front in 2019. Third year defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson has become the longest-tenured Giant in the front, starting every game since being drafted in 2017.
There were serious questions about the Giants’ pass rush entering the season, and those fears were seemingly justified by their play against the Dallas Cowboys’ formidable offensive line.
But starting around halftime of Week 2, the Giants started to be able to generate pressure with the help of James Bettcher’s blitz schemes.
The team took advantage of spotty offensive line play by Tampa Bay and Washington to rack up 15 sacks through the first four games.
Whether or not they will be able to continue to generate pressure against some of the better offensive lines in the NFL remains to be seen, but they are taking advantage of the opportunities they have gotten.
The Giants’ run defense has been pretty good so far this year. The poor offensive line play they faced in the third and fourth weeks has contributed to that, but the Giants are still 10th in the league in rushing yards allowed.
Injures to their linebacking corps might make that difficult to sustain, but the ability of their defensive linemen to win along the line of scrimmage will help going forward.
SECONDARY
The Giants’ secondary got off to a rough start in 2019. Amari Cooper and Randal Cobb ran roughshod over the Giants’ corners, they struggled to match up against Buffalo’s anemic passing attack, and Mike Evans had enough production in one game to make two good weeks—while largely taking the second half of the game off.
The Giants largely played soft coverages through the first two and a half games of the year, and their corners struggled. However, they began to play more aggressive coverage around halftime against Tampa Bay, and the secondary responded well. Tighter coverage allowed the corners to disrupt routes at the line of scrimmage and stick with receivers downfield.
It also allowed the Giants to be more aggressive calling blitzes, which along with better coverage has helped their pass rush be more effective.
The Giants’ secondary was almost completely rebuilt over the course of the 2019 offseason and it shouldn’t be a surprise that there have been growing pains. Hopefully, the Giants will be able to build on their improved play as they go into the second quarter of the season.
QUARTERBACK
Daniel Jones: After last week’s quasi-spectacular game in his first NFL start, Jones came back to earth a bit with a lesser, but still a completely winning performance.
We’d label it “solid.” If we had to give it a grade, a solid B seems about right.
The negatives were, of course, include the two interceptions that he threw, both coming in the second quarter (on successive throws) and both of them a bit forced under pressure.
His alternatives on both plays were the same—take a sack or throw it into the dirt. He chose to be a bit of a gunslinger and he paid the price.
There were a couple of other dicey throws that fell harmlessly to the turf, but that’s about the gist of the negatives. The positives far out-weighed them.
For the bulk of the game, Jones’ decision-making was top-notch, most notably with his feet. Not only was his movement in the pocket subtle yet effective, but each time Jones took off it seemed to be an important play.
One 11-yard run was called back by penalty. His best was a 16-yard jaunt right up the gut on a third-quarter 3rd-and-13 for a big first down, with the score still only 17-3.
Soon this Jones possession would be knocking on the door once again. His best quarterback play came in the first half when he directed three time-consuming drives of 8, 10 and 13 plays.
He had to make plays under pressure in each one (though the only sack he absorbed today was overturned by a defensive penalty), but he also took what Washington was giving him, especially on third downs where he converted a handful of times by throwing in front of their zones, taking the easy play when presented. It was smart decision-making with the ball.
We feel very comfortable with Jones on third downs as he’s got a really good feel for where to go with the ball, which is, in fact, a testament to Pat Shurmur’s offensive scheme giving him solid options on nearly every play.
His best throws could have been several out of the backfield tosses to the opposite hash, hitting Wayne Gallman right in stride for positive yards-after-catch.
His ability to hit Evan Engram in stride on his short crossing routes is another strength. In fact, Jones has a lot of strengths to rely upon. One of them, however, is NOT forcing intermediate-to-deep throws into tight windows because he just doesn’t have the uber-arm strength that’s needed there (another deep middle throw should have been intercepted last week).
It’s probably a part of the field that he should consider avoiding right now. Overall, Jones’ passing numbers were solid—23 of 31 for 225 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs—while his scrambles netted 35 yards on 3 carries (less two end-game kneel-downs).
He also made a handful of passing plays outside the pocket, once again using those feet and throwing accurately while on the move.
This kid’s got a bunch of skills to fall back on while he learns this NFL game. It’s just a bonus that the team is winning while he’s doing it.
P.S. Another big plus was Jones not putting the ball on the turf once. If you don’t think that’s notable, you should see what the quarterbacks around the league are doing with the ball nowadays.
RUNNING BACKS
Wayne Gallman: With Saquon Barkley inactive, Gallman got the start and the bulk of the snaps in today’s game. Like his quarterback, he was solid while coming up with big plays sprinkled between the 1- and 2-yard runs into traffic.
On an early 3rd-and-17 Gallman took a flat pass right in stride and aggressively milked 15 yards out of it, setting up the offense for a 4th-and-2 that they then converted.
Shortly thereafter he was hauling in a 6-yard pass for the Giants first score of the day.
A second-quarter 22-yard run, finally bouncing one outside of the tackle box, got the offense down to the 1-yard line where he subsequently powered it in for his second touchdown of the day.
On a third-quarter 2nd-and-20 he took a screen pass and got the first down, nosing the ball over the first down marker. Soon thereafter the Giants were kicking a field goal take their 17-3 lead into the half.
Gallman also had a 21-yard gain through the air (his 55 yards on 6 catches nearly matched his 63 yards on the ground). That’s a nice and tidy 118 yards total yardage. His blocking was solid as well.
The only negative was a fourth-quarter run that he turned over, and some questionable reads on some early runs.
Jonathan Hilliman: Getting his promotion late in the week from the practice squad, Hilliman got his number called early on, touches on the last play of the first quarter and the first snap of the second quarter (7 yards, his longest gain on the day).
The coaches trusted him enough to give him the ball on the offense’s final possession of the first half that resulted in a field goal.
Thus emboldened, Hilliman’s best string of plays came late in the third quarter during a long, time-consuming drive.
There was nothing spectacular but lots of solid 3- and 4-yard runs. Then the rookie had to go and ruin it all by fumbling at the 2-yard line, turning the ball over.
Hilliman got one more touch and ended up with a decent stat line of 10-33. His pass blocking was alert and solid.
We like how Hilliman is built so low to the ground, and we really like his vision. Ball security, however, will always keep you off the field.
Elijhaa Penny: Getting three late touches to help run out the clock, Penny was solid and powerful running these plays right up the gut.
More impressive were a couple of solid lead blocks thrown while the game was still in doubt. We suspect that the coaches are going to give Penny a few more touches as good things seem to happen when he is in the game.
TIGHT ENDS
Evan Engram: Continuing his rise to the top of the tight end receiving charts, Engram caught only four balls for gains of 12, 31, 3 and 8 yards.
Thus, three of his four catches either directly converted first downs or set up the offense to convert.
The two big yardage plays came on those crossing routes that he and Daniel Jones seem to be so attuned on, Engram catching both in stride and taking off to the races with that speed of his.
His totals were 4 receptions for 54 yards.
Engram’s blocking continues to be very much of the hit-and-miss variety. The in-line stuff is most often missed. His blocks in space are almost always hits.
Rhett Ellison: Playing his most complete game in quite some time, it was Ellison’s inconsistent blocking that turned around today.
In fact, we’d hazard to say that he had perhaps his best blocking game as a Giant. Time and again he was able to seal his edge, most often against outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan who had a quiet game against the Giants.
Kerrigan had very little fight in his game, handing Ellison plenty of opportunities to win one-on-ones.
Ellison was actually rather solid with his blocking against the opposite outside linebacker, Montez Sweat. Ellison didn’t have to pass block once, which is a strategy we support as tight ends blocking pass rushers rarely has a happy ending.
In the passing game, Ellison had 3 catches for 24 yards, numbers, 22 of it coming on a late-game 3rd-and-3 play-action when the offense was running out the clock.
RECEIVERS
Sterling Shepard: On 4-and-2 on the first possession, Shepard ran a very precise out pattern to get the first down. Shepard is very good against zone coverage and in the red zone, and on this play, he just sat right in front of the safeties and made the catch for the first down.
Shepard also came up with a big catch on a quick slant on the second to last play of the first quarter. He beat the cornerback to the spot and the safety did not get there quick enough. This play reminded us of the route we used to see Odell Beckham run for the Giants.
Shepard’s lone rushing play was a well-done jet sweep in the middle of the second quarter where he picked up the first down. This was Shepard’s third run of the year; he offers a nice change of pace when running these types of plays.
Shepard made a good catch late in the first half to help move the chains and stop Washington from getting the ball back. Again, he is so good at finding the soft spot in the underneath zone and getting the first down and it’s nice to see the Giants take advantage of this.
Darius Slayton: The rookie caught an in route in front of the cornerback for a first down.
We were looking for Slayton to run some deep routes, but the Giants did not go that direction in this one, perhaps out of concern for Slayton’s hamstring and not really wanting to turn him loose just yet.
Slayton made a catch on a quick out pattern in the middle of the third quarter, doing a nice job to pick up eight yards.
With Golden Tate back this week, some of the Giants receivers will receive fewer reps. We hope that Slayton stays involved because his ability to stretch the defense is very important.
Bennie Fowler: Speaking of receivers who might see a reduction in time once Golden Tate returns, we suspect Fowler might be one.
Fowler did not get that involved in the passing attack, but he did a nice job blocking down the field.
On the jet sweep to Shepard in the middle of the second quarter, Fowler’s blocking helped Shepard get a big gain down the field.
Early in the third quarter, Fowler got involved in the receiving end. He caught a pass right at the first down marker to help move the chains.
Cody Latimer: On 1st-and-goal from the 2-yard line late in the second quarter, Latimer went in the end zone for the fade route. The pass fell incomplete and he was called for pass interference.
It seemed like a touchy call, but the first half was riddled with flags for pass interference with the calls in all instances other than this one going the Giants’ way.
Early in the third quarter, Latimer had a 50-yard gain called back for yet another pass interference.
In reviewing this, it probably could have been challenged as Latimer is allowed to make contact with the defender in the first five yards.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Nate Solder: This week was certainly a huge improvement from Solder’s performance last week when he was party to four sacks.
This week, the number was zero. In fact, the entire unit pitched a shutout but that doesn’t mean the entire group, or Solder, was perfect.
Solder started out strong and handled Montez Sweat rather adroitly we thought, but when Washington put a smaller, quicker defender over Solder, he had his problems keeping up.
His technique went into panic mode a few times, putting him into chase mode which is not something you want to see.
Solder’s run-blocking was decent but like the rest of his unit, nothing to write home about.
Mike Remmers: The two holding penalties against Remmers were tough to take and hardly the kinds of calls we’re accustomed to being called in this league for the last couple of decades.
Officials seem to be watching these games with a fine-tooth comb, not allowing the slightest tug to go unpunished, and it’s getting to the point where it’s ruining the flow of the game.
This goes for calls in the defensive backfield as well. There are just too many touch fouls being called out there.
Remmers is the type of blocker who has sticky hands, but as long as you’re moving your feet and maintaining position, that should be enough.
Veteran defenders baiting the refs into throwing flags is just a bad optic for this game.
Remmers is still getting pushed back into the pocket too often, and what we’ve noticed is that he’s playing awful high. He’s a big, physical dude, but unless you can bend those legs, you’re going to set yourself up to lose physical battles. That’s what’s happening out there.
Remmers is not getting beaten with speed, but with power, and that just doesn’t compute.
His run blocking has been bad-to-worse as he continues to fail to create any movement or sustain any contact.
He’s a weakness in the running game, and that’s not something we thought we would be seeing.
Will Hernandez: We were also surprised by the way the offensive line’s interior were pushed around today, including Hernandez.
The second-year pro wasn’t pressured or attacked often, but he had a couple of whiffs in pass protection including the pressure right in Daniel Jones’ face on his first interception.
Allowing a free runner right up into your quarterback’s grille is not the way to play winning football in this league.
Last week it was Jones’ edges that were constantly under attack. This week, the front of Jones’ pocket was an issue. Hernandez only allowed one more penetration that we noticed, but we were most bothered by his lack of involvement in some of the inside running plays.
We’re a big fan of Hernandez on the move—he was got out beautifully on Wayne Gallman’s big 22-yard run down to the 2-yard line—but Hernandez’ in-line participation didn’t seem particularly inspired.
There was a bit too much standing around and watching from him, and that’s just not going to cut it.
Kevin Zeitler: Today’s weakest pass-blocking performer was Zeitler, and it surprised us how much penetration he was allowing on a snap-to-snap basis.
Last week, Zeitler was a rock in pass pro, but this week he was being walked back on a regular basis. We know the shoulder is an issue, which would explain the drop-off.
Problem is, with this week’s performance on film what’s to stop the powerful Vikings next week from just pushing Zeitler into Jones’ lap all day long. We have no problem with Zeitler’s positioning, it’s the lack of power.
When you play inside you need to be able to hold your point because pressure in your quarterback’s face is just as damaging as around the edges.
Zeitler was called for one of the few legitimate holds today. It was a tough day for the vet.
Jon Halapio: For the second week in a row Halapio was ineffective at the point of attack. His best block was out in space today on a screen, his block on the move springing Wayne Gallman on a 21-yard gain.
In-line, Halapio may have been the worst of the offensive line’s blockers as he was beaten with both quickness and power.
Halapio had more success on the pass block with his calls and coordination, but this offensive line’s run-blocking woes continue and it all-stars over the ball.
Nick Gates: Getting a couple of blocking tight end snaps at the goal line, it was Gates’ power collapse of the entire right edge that gave Wayne Gallman all the room he needed to tip-toe into the end zone for the offense’s second score.
Give Gates a ton of credit for firing out and nailing a big defensive end and crashing him down into any semblance of pursuit, which could not arrive thanks to the congestion Gates’ heavy-handed block created.
DEFENSIVE LINE
B.J. Hill: We remain satisfied with Hill’s effort every week, but his production is just not cutting it.
We realize that a lot of what Hill does is scheme-oriented—use his big body to create stand-offs and take away space—but he’s been such an invisible force on the pass rush that it’s starting to concern us.
Hill is consistently being stuffed at the line of scrimmage and seems too often content to maintain contain at the front of the pocket, rarely even getting his hands up.
He’s been much more effective against the run, where his controlled pursuit surfing the line of scrimmage rather than his power that gets him into the action.
Hill did have a major presence in the red zone that helped keep Washington out of the end zone and force them to settle for a field goal.
Another plus is that all of his tackles come at or behind the line of scrimmage, which means he’s rarely getting pushed downfield.
Another strength is his feel for fending off double-team blocks, where his “fight level” wins many of those battles.
We’re just waiting on some semblance of a pass rush out of a player who seems too often stuck in the mud.
Dalvin Tomlinson: What the heck happened with Tomlinson? He was the interior defensive line’s most disruptive presence and the most mobile we’ve seen him play in 2+ years.
We counted several legit pass pressures that never made it onto the stat sheet, and how he got credit for two measly assists on the stat sheet when we saw at least a couple of solo hits and finishes is a mystery.
Tomlinson did finally get credit for a half-sack when he collapsed the pocket and helped wrap up the quarterback. It was well-earned as he was so active all day.
Perhaps it had something to do with the downturn in the level of his opposition—Washington was missing two starters inside plus they were lining up ex-Giant Ereck Flowers inside as well—but give credit to Tomlinson for taking advantage of his opportunities and making a more concerted effort to move his feet and avoid rather than absorb contact.
On the Jabrill Peppers interception, it was Tomlinson who was right in the quarterback’s face—and that wasn’t his only pressure.
From start to finish he was a big factor and one of the reasons the defense played such a positive game.
Dexter Lawrence: This precocious rookie is easily this defense’s best interior pass rusher, and right now he’s doing it all with power and presence.
Whenever Lawrence is isolated with single blocking, we can almost guarantee a serious pocket push and big mitt in the quarterback’s face.
With all of Tomlinson’s pressures, Lawrence was better, and he’s been better for three games now.
Somehow, he got credit for one measly assist on the sheet, but he was constantly stuffing up the middle and throwing his body around on the pass rush, which is exactly what this defense needs him to do.
Lawrence was the only defender who sniffed out Washington’s biggest gainer, a 39-yard screen pass, just missing swatting down the ball as he scampered towards the wide-open back.
We suspect that in a couple of games he’s actually going to finish this play as he improves his recognition skills, which seem rather advanced already.
Lawrence remains one of the more exciting youngsters on this young team who will only get better with experience.
R.J. McIntosh: Getting his rotation snaps—he typically gets 15-20 snaps per game—McIntosh continues to show a big, physical presence between the tackles with the ability to get upfield when the opportunity presents.
Right now he’s content with holding his point of attack and contributing against the running game.
McIntosh’s pass-rushing acumen remains undeveloped at this level and needs work. He’s slow off the mark against play-action and when lined up on sure passing downs, but we like how he uses his long arms to ward off blocks and get them up to at least disrupt passing lanes.
McIntosh got his two tackles, which seems to be his average, which is pretty good production for his limited snaps. Both of those tackles came against the run and a few too many yards downfield, which means that McIntosh is playing more of a contain game right now.
We’d like to see him become more proactive off the snap, as he’s doing a bit too much reading-and-reacting.
We still remember his college film and how quick he was off the ball. That player seems to have come and gone.
Olsen Pierre: Getting more snaps than McIntosh, and once again as many as the starters, the versatile Pierre fought through some soreness this week and got himself a uniform, and then he proceeded to play a very active game that somehow never produced his name on the stat sheet.
We thought he was very visible around the ball most of the day. Pierre’s game is growing on us. He seems to be lighter on his feet these last two weeks and is getting upfield on passing downs.
He finds and follows the ball well and plays with his eyes open. We suspect there is more production ahead for this young vet who can play both inside and outside with equal aplomb.
EDGE RUSHERS
Markus Golden: Continuing his positive comeback from knee surgery, Golden was active once again on his edge and earned half of a coverage sack in the second half when he never stopped coming, despite being initially neutralized.
We love Golden’s attitude which is all-out and to the whistle on every down. He’s throwing his body around out there and playing with abandon, which is the only way to be an effective defensive player in this league.
As he’s done every week, he once again led the defense with pocket pressures with a variety of power and speed moves, his favorite being stunting inside in tandem with B.J. Hill’s power outside push.
They have formed an effective relationship on passing downs. Golden is not shy about throwing his body into running play scrums and rarely leaves the field. He’s as much a team leader on this defense as anyone and much a playmaker as anyone.
He’s been bringing it every week off the edge without a letup. We really like this player and hope he’s more than just the one-year Giant that his contract says he is right now.
With next year’s big cap number available to the Giants, we would hope that Golden is one of the young vets that this team will target longer term as he’s the kind of player that this team needs to build around.
Lorenzo Carter: There are a lot of things that Carter does well, including an awareness of the situation that usually gets him around the ball. The one thing he does not do well—and we hate to harp on this but it’s hard to miss—is that he lacks the physicality to be an effective player at his position.
An outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense needs to be able to play with power when needed, but Carter is consistently targeted with power and he cannot get his long arms to keep blockers away from his body.
He’s absorbing too much contact and it’s going to wear him down, like what happened this week when he suffered a neck injury on a play where he was out-muscled.
The lack of physicality shows up on the pass rush to as he’s got zero power, but he also lacks the ability to bend and turn the corner.
We like his height, mobility, nose for the football and instincts, but when push comes to shove you need to be able to hold your point of attack. He is always being pushed around.
His great effort and pursuit usually get him around the ball, to the tune of two assists, but a starting outside linebacker in this scheme needs to produce a lot more than that.
We just aren’t sure if Carter is starting material, but we like his team approach and all-out hustle style of play. He has a place, but we need to see much more if he is to become a core player.
Oshane Ximines: This rookie has a real chance to be the edge threat that Lorenzo Carter is not. Ximines is getting a lot of snaps for a rookie and is starting to encroach on Carter’s playing time.
The assets in Ximines’ game include really active hand technique combined with active, happy feet and a good feel for the action that gets him to a lot of places on the field.
He showed great instinct on the pass he knocked down in the flat when his rush was stifled but he still followed the quarterback’s eyes and anticipated the throw for the knock-away.
He also worked his way into another half-sack as he buzzed around the pocket and never stopped working it, and just missed on another half when his initial hit on the quarterback was shrugged off.
He has got good closing speed, while against the run he’s holding his edge with a smart feel and power and usually is able to disengage and wrap up.
What he has to work on is his power, or lack thereof, as he’s being knocked to the ground on too many pass rushes.
He’s getting overpowered at times, but he’s also shown an ability to attack blockers that occasionally knocks them off their spot, and that shows some natural strength that needs to be added to in the weight room.
We like this rookie’s aggressive demeanor off the snap, which should only improve with experience. He got in on three tackles this week and played his reads well.
We think he’s got untapped potential. It’s great that he’s getting so much playing time (35-40 snaps a game) which is great for his development.
Tuzar Skipper: This youngster plays the outside linebacker the way we like to see it played—with total power and physicality, with a sprinkling of mobility added to the mix.
In Kareem Martin’s absence, Skipper is this defense’s edge enforcer. He cannot be overpowered on running downs, while his pass rushes are almost exclusively power-oriented and thus brimming with contain.
Skipper’s not running himself out of any plays out there, and that means something.
We don’t know if he can ever develop a pass-rush package since his footwork is lacking, but we have always been a fan of physical players in this league, and Skipper brings that physicality on every snap, which included one of those half-sacks this week when he used low power to push the tackle into the quarterback’s lap, leaving him to wrap up to complete the play.
Skipper also got away with a facemask on this play when his grab on the quarterback went undetected.
OFF-BALL LINEBACKERS
Ryan Connelly: The good news from this game was Connelly getting his hands on another interception (two in two weeks) and continuing to play solid, smart and quick run defense to the tune of five tackles that included his first NFL sack.
Alas, the good fortune couldn’t last as the rookie suffered a torn ACL in his right knee, thus ending his season. The injury occurred while running down a ball carrier in the open field and was a non-contact injury.
Losing this kid is a big blow to this defense which has had a lot of holes thus far. He has helped to plug up some of them all by himself, primarily against the run.
His two interceptions and sack was just icing on the cake and a reward for him always being in the right place. It sounds simple, but a lot of linebackers don’t get it. This kid does.
He’s smart, and he plays to the strengths of this defense and has indeed become one of those strengths with his quick reads and nose for the action.
David Mayo: The nice surprise coming out of all these linebacker injuries is Mayo’s play these past two weeks when he had to be called into the action on an emergency basis.
Both times he’s been more than up to task, in fact leading the defense this week in tackles with eight and playing a solid, alert and aggressive style of defense.
Mayo’s got enough size to hold up to the physical in-line demands of the position and seemed to play his reads reliably enough. He made plays outside the tackles as well as between them.
He’s not a great mover in space but more than half the battle is being where you’re supposed to be out there and just playing smart team defense.
So far, Mayo is fitting that bill and seems like a solid and reliable plug-in who’s going to have to start for the foreseeable future.
Nate Stupar: After Connelly went down, Stupar got a handful of snaps as the last remaining healthy inside linebacker, but never did find the ball, though he did run around out there with a purpose.
DEFENSIVE SECONDARY
Grant Haley: Washington did not take long to attack the Giants deep. They had a single-high safety on the first play from scrimmage and sent wide receiver Trey Quinn deep against Haley. Quinn beat Haley, but the pass was poorly thrown and fell incomplete.
Haley was playing in a lot of the zone coverage schemes. In the middle of the first quarter, he was in the underneath zone but gave up too much room as Wendell Smallwood made the first down grab underneath.
In the middle of the second quarter, Quinn caught an underneath pass in front of Haley, despite the corner’s decent coverage.
On the next play, Haley stopped Washington short as he played the zone perfectly, settling in right at the first down marker to deny Washington the first down.
In the middle of the second quarter, they again went deep with Quinn against Haley. Haley was beaten again but thankfully again the ball was thrown very poorly.
Haley did do a solid job late in the second quarter on a sweep to Chris Thompson. He helped string the run out then came up to disrupt the play.
Janoris Jenkins: After not getting much help last week and having a rough game, the Giants changed things up.
Wide receiver Robert Davis tried to run a slant against Jenkins, who stepped in front of Davis, knocked the ball in the air. Linebacker Ryan Connelly came up with the interception.
Jenkins did a nice job midway through the first quarter on a wide receiver screen to Paul Richardson. He attacked the ball carrier and helped make the play for no gain.
Kelvin Harmon caught a pass in front of Jenkins for a first down late in the 2nd quarter. Despite the reception, Jenkins played good tight coverage here and made a nice tackle immediately after the catch.
Midway through the 3rd quarter, Richardson caught a pass in front of Jenkins. Again good coverage by as Jenkins was right on the receiver after the grab resulting in a short gain.
DeAndre Baker: For the second week in a row, Baker had a quiet afternoon while Jenkins was again targeted quite a bit. We are surprised they did not attack Baker more.
Overall, Baker had a good game. We look for the Vikings to try and take him on next week.
Antoine Bethea: Things were pretty quiet deep down the field, so we didn’t hear too much from Bethea.
On two occasions in the first half, they tried to go deep, but Case Keenum was not accurate.
On the first deep pass, Bethea came in on the play leaving Haley all alone in coverage.
His speed has been suspect and does not give him a good chance to cover a lot of ground down the field.
Jabrill Peppers: Peppers had his best game in his short Giants career, highlighted by his 32-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Jeremy Sprinkle came across the middle and Peppers jumped the route and intercepted the pass. Once he made the catch, he had clear sailing as he used his speed to blast into the end zone.
Peppers was also very strong in run defense and was much more active in his zone coverage down the field.
In the 4th quarter, the Giants had a very important coverage sack and we attribute this to the defenders being much more active in their zone.
Peppers seemed to have a better feel for the defense and thus was able to fly around the field.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Aldrick Rosas: So far this year the Giants special teams have not had a significant impact on any of their four games.
They seem to be wasting a Pro Bowl placekicker who had another quiet game, converting on three extra points and a 30-yard chip shot field goal.
That’s all well and good and just how the cookie crumbles, but Rosas is a strength of this team and he’s just not getting the opportunity to show it. It’s a long season, so let’s hope he’ll be impacting in the games ahead.
The only excitement for Rosas seems to come on kick-offs, where he mortar-ed two this week.
The first one was covered well and tackled at the 19-year-line. With the score 24-3, the coaches decided to give the specials another chance to cover so they had Rosas mortar another one.
This return turned into an 81-yard return that an iffy holding call brought all the way back. Instead of being at the Giants 17, Washington had to start their possession at their own 10. That’s quite a turnaround for a hold that really had no effect on the play.
The Giants were fortunate on this play, but in the future, they might want to lighten up on the mortar kicks, especially late in the game when legs are tired, and the intensity might be a bit off with a big lead.
We think it would be smarter to just have Rosas to blast his kick-offs through the end zone than risk a big return of any kind.
We also recall Rosas having to make some tackles in the preseason and he’s just too valuable to risk injury on returns that really shouldn’t be happening.
Riley Dixon: Continuing his rather fantastic 2019 season, Dixon punted three times, each one landing inside the 20, two of the three landing out-of-bounds, and not a single one of them traveling less than 50 yards!
His only returnable hit was his first punt, but it was covered immaculately for a 6-yard return, and that was it.
His punts, in order, went 57, 54 and 54 yards, respectively. The Giants strongest special teams unit has been its punting and punt coverage group, as it’s turned the field position battle in the Giants favor from Day 1.
It’s not their problem that the extra yardage just gives its porous defense that much more real estate to yield, but this group has been doing a bang-up job right from the start, and its leader has been Dixon, who has consistently given his coverage positive situations to exploit.
Kudos to this punter, who is also continuing his top-shelf holding duties on placekicks. The Giants haven’t had this level of punter since Jeff Feagles, and before that, Dave Jennings.
Dixon has been punting at their level through four games now. Let’s see if he can keep it up for an entire season.
Zak DeOssie: Continuing to perform at an acceptably high level with his snapping, DeOssie also continues to get downfield under control on punt coverage, contributing to today’s lone tackle opportunity with solid contain.
TJ Jones: The lone negative on specials, Jones muffed not one but two punts—his first two of the day—which forced the coaches to replace Jones with Jabrill Peppers just to have somebody back there who could catch the ball.
Washington’s punter is a lefty with a big, unpredictable leg which apparently gave Jones more problems than he could handle.
He was extremely fortunate, as he’s been on previous muffs, to have the muffed ball bounce right back into his hands both times. At least he had the smarts to simply fall on the ball and not make things worse.
With the big second-half lead, the coaches went back to Jones, but he still seemed to be fighting the track of the ball. He did field two second-half punts without incident, but his return yardage was limited to 4 yards on each return.
The good news is that he didn’t lose any of his muffs, but the bad news is that he put his offense in a couple of difficult field position situations.
We’re not sure where this team is going on punt returns, but with the return of Golden Tate to the roster next week, we wouldn’t be getting too comfortable around the locker room if we were Mr. Jones.
Corey Ballantine: Ballantine the kick-off returner did not have a single return opportunity.
Ballantine the gunner blocker continued to provide top-shelf blocking of his man on punt returns.
Cody Core: We were impressed that Core showed impressive speed running down the Washington kick-off returner on that 81-yard return that was called back.
Every special teams needs a speed guy to help contain the big plays, and Core looks like he’s got the speed to be that guy, on top of all the other things he brings to specials including being the team’s top gunner.
Antonio Hamilton: On Washington’s lone punt return it was Hamilton who beat his blocking and made the solo tackle, showing off his skills once again as one of the premier gunners in this league.
He’s just a step below Core to our eyes, but they’re both high-level gunners.
Michael Thomas: Thomas drew the holding call that brought back the big gainer on Washington’s longest kick-off of the day.
Nate Stupar: Signed off the street because of the team’s injuries at linebacker, Stupar stepped right into every special teams group and immediately contributed by making the solo tackle on the game’s opening kick-off.
That’s sure a great way to make an impression on a team that is not only decimated at his position but can always use another playmaker on special teams.
I ON STRATEGY
By Mike Iannaconi
The much-maligned Giants defense was much better this week. Before we get ahead of ourselves, we need to acknowledge that Washington has issues on the offensive line, were without their very good rookie wide receiver (Terry McLaurin), and, most importantly, inserted their rookie quarterback (Dwayne Haskins) into the game.
That being said, the Giants had fewer breakdowns in coverage and were much better down the field.
Last week Janoris Jenkins was put on an island in coverage as the Giants tried to protect rookie cornerback DeAndre Baker.
This week they played in more straight-up but for some reason, Washington did not attack Baker at all.
Instead, they continued to go after Jenkins, and he was more than up to the task this week.
With the issues at linebacker, the Giants used a lot more seven defensive back coverage.
With Jabrill Peppers having the ability to play a linebacker-type position the Giants are able to go to this seven defensive back approach.
It worked well as it allowed the Giants to play a much tighter zone and make the Giants much faster on the field.
Next week it will be tough for them to use this as much because the Vikings have a running game that is very difficult to deal with.
On the offensive side of the field, running back Wayne Gallman must be given credit for having a very good game.
He runs very hard with his main liability being he does not hesitate to allow blocks to set up and is not as adept at bouncing the play to the outside.
His strength is he runs hard and is fearless on the field.
The other thing we liked is the way he caught the football. He caught every pass that he should have and ran well after the catch.
We really liked the wheel route they ran to him in the third quarter. The pass fell incomplete, but he was wide open. This route pits the running back with a linebacker on a route down the field.
The final thing Gallman does well is pass block which is one of the most important things a running back must do.
On the pass receiving end, Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram have been a big help to Daniel Jones.
If teams continue to play zone against the Giants, Shepard will repeatedly have big games. There are not many receivers as good as him when it comes to working against a zone.
Where Shepard runs into issues is against man-to-man coverage.
The Giants receivers have not proven to be big-play receivers and we were surprised how loose Washington’s zone was.
When it wasn’t going directly to Engram, it was going in the direction of Engram who continues to do all the things that were expected of him when he was drafted.
These two (Engram and Shepard) will both benefit from Golden Tate’s return to the line-up this week.
Washington definitely made sure they kept an eye on Daniel Jones running the ball.
Jones did a few run-pass options but did not keep the ball this week. It is interesting to us how much speed Jones shows when he decides to tuck the ball in and run.
We look for him in the upcoming weeks to run the ball more, especially when he ends up faced with man-to-man coverage.
Again, with all the zone coverage played by Washington this week, there was not as much opportunity to run the ball.
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).
