Stats That Mattered in the Giants’ 30-7 Loss to Buccaneers

The Giants lacked any ounce of a spark in their blowout loss to the Bucs.

East Rutherford, NJ -- November 24, 2024 -- Tommy DeVito of the Giants on the bench in the fourth quarter as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to MetLife Stadium and defeated the New York Giants 30-7. / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The New York Giants sought a desperate spark to salvage their lost season from further spiraling in the final seven games. Still, with their 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, it looked as if they couldn’t get a tiny flame to shoot out of the metaphorical lighter. 

In their first game back from an eventful bye week that featured the benching and subsequent release of quarterback Daniel Jones, the Giants were completely embarrassed in front of their home fans for a sixth straight time amid a dominant performance by the Buccaneers, who had lost four straight themselves. 

Fighting to maintain their breathing distance in the NFC playoff picture, Tampa Bay flexed their muscles and just barreled over New York in all three phases. They produced 450 yards of total offense, 290 of which came in the first half alone, and never took their foot off the Giants’ necks as they limited them to 245 total yards, including 46 in the first 30 minutes. 

If it looked like everything hit its lowest in Week 10 against the Carolina Panthers, there was always room for the Giants to one-up themselves with their numerous mishaps. The offense averaged just 4.4 yards per play and couldn’t convert on a third down snap until nearly four minutes into the third quarter. 

The run game had just 76 total yards and featured another untimely turnover by running back Tyrone Tracy in the red zone that forced him to the sidelines per head coach Brian Daboll’s decision. 

On the other side, the defense added to their king’s ransom of missed tackles as the Buccaneers shredded them nonstop on the ground. 

It’s been an incredible five weeks since the Giants held a lead in a game, with the last one coming at 29-20 in the fourth quarter of the win against Seattle in Week 5. 

The Giants were smothered with boos as they left the field with an insurmountable 23-0 deficit at halftime and were forced to listen to another round of raucous cheers by the visiting fanbase as their own faithful were headed for the exits with over seven minutes left in regulation.

The franchise has said whatever they can to put lipstick on a pig, but their attempts to lower the temperature on the seats of their leadership are quickly waning. The team is now 2-9 heading into Thanksgiving when they’ll visit the Dallas Cowboys for the second divisional matchup. Frustrations are building, and they have taken sole possession of the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. 

The Giants will need to take a serious look in the mirror and at these stats and fix them if they want to prevent disaster in four days and what is getting closer to widespread changes across the organization.

80%

East Rutherford, NJ -- November 24, 2024 -- Baker Mayfield makes this pass to Mike Evans of Tampa Bay in the first half as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to MetLife Stadium to play the New York Giants. / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield was already putting forth an impressive season before he stepped foot into MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Still, he only added some extra icing on the cake with his outing against the woeful New York Giants defense. 

Mayfield, who came into Week 12 ranked in the top-10 quarterbacks for overall passing production, put on a clinic against the lackluster coverage of Shane Bowen’s defense. He completed an incredible 24 of his 30 passing attempts, good for a season-high 80 percent yield, for 294 yards and an average throw of 9.8 yards, giving him a 107.5 QBR for the contest. 

The Buccaneers offense was grooving behind their starting gunslinger from the first drive of the afternoon as the Giants’ group came out lifeless.

A man who plays with fun and a lot of swag, Mayfield got the party started by commanding his huddle on a game-high 14-play drive that spanned 70 yards and over eight minutes of game clock and ended in a Sean Tucker touchdown for an early 7-0 advantage. 

While he quickly connected with four different receivers on that possession, his aerial efforts refused to cool down throughout the first half. He completed at least passes on each of the Buccaneers’ next four turns before the halftime break and many of them helped convert those drives into three more scoring opportunities for the 23-0 midway advantage. 

Mayfield took advantage of the windy elements and the Giants’ poor tackling to crack them open in the short game, but he also showed no fear in letting it loose and trusting his receivers to come down with the deep ball. He had 14 passes go for 10+ yards and four for over 26 yards before getting stalled, which only worsened New York’s inability to get off the field defensively. 

Whatever Bowen tried to throw at him, Mayfield answered with gusto and thrashed an opponent that didn’t come as hungry for the win as he and the Buccaneers did to protect their season. He finished the win by connecting with 12 different receivers and added another four carries for 29 yards and a score with his legs. 

It’s been such a comeback story for a former No. 1 overall pick who was once discarded for struggling to be the difference maker in Cleveland. After two other failed stops, he is now playing his best ball for Tampa Bay, hoping to lead them back into the postseason.

4

East Rutherford, NJ -- November 24, 2024 -- Tampa celebrates a TD by Bucky Irving in the first half as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to MetLife Stadium to play the New York Giants. / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For as much as there have been improvements against the pass for defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s team, the same can’t be said about their answer against the run game, which was abysmal again on Sunday. 

After allowing at least 149 rushing yards to their last four opponents, the Giants went further in the wrong direction against the Buccaneers’ backfield. They allowed Tampa Bay to amass 156 yards and four touchdowns with their committee of three running backs to taint their bottom-third opponent rushing metrics further. 

The Buccaneers' ground game was responsible for the bulk of their scoring and fed off another display of woeful tackling by the Giants' defensive interior, which entered the contest ranked dead last in average yards per carry. 

They averaged 4.9 yards per carry by the end of the affair, but that number doesn’t reflect the constant gashes for 7-8 yards that defined the rushing response in the early quarters, including a 56-yard dash that was the longest of the game. 

After Sean Tucker’s touchdown that opened the game in the first quarter, rookie Bucky Irving was the next to join the rushing parade and find real estate in the blue-covered end zone. He led the Buccaneers with 12 carries for 87 yards and an average rush of 12.3 yards and capitalized their third possession of the first half with a 6-yard carry that put Tampa Bay up 17-0. 

Right behind him came quarterback Baker Mayfield, who sliced through the defense with three passes of at least 10 yards before taking it himself for a 10-yard rush and score that finished off a nine-play, 86-yard drive to put the Buccaneers up 23-0 at halftime. 

It was his second rushing touchdown of the year and became unforgettable as he celebrated it by mocking the infamous cliched finger signals made infamous by Tommy DeVito. 

The Buccaneers would tack on their fourth and final endzone visit with running back Rachaad White’s touchdown in the third quarter on their second-longest drive of the afternoon at 12 plays and 95 yards that started with the team backed up deep in their territory.

White landed second on the leaderboard with 12 carries for 37 yards, leaving two ball carriers with almost 40 percent of Tampa Bay’s offensive plays. 

With their feats, the Buccaneers became the first team in the 2024 season to notch rushing touchdowns with four different players, and it was just another instance of the Giants being on the wrong side of history.

0

Although he's still seeing plenty of targets, New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers hasn't scored a touchdown since Week 3. / Julian Leshay Guadalupe / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The rookie campaign of Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers has felt like a tale of two different seasons for a draft selection that was brought in to revitalize the offense and provide Daniel Jones a bonafide No. 1 option. 

In his first several starts, Nabers was electric and running away from the rest of the receiver position in the major metrics. 

He was nearly single-handedly powering the Giants passing offense, holding at least five receptions and 66 yards with three touchdowns in his first four games to lead the NFL in both receptions and targets. 

However, after returning from a two-game absence in Weeks 5 and 6 from a concussion, the production level of the young man out of LSU hasn't been the same. 

Part of that has been the way defenses have been playing him, taking him out of the game with double teams and more aggressive press coverage, but the remainder has been from an inability to find him own downfield in the same manner. 

Over the last month, with Jones still under center, Nabers posted just two contests with 7+ receptions and more than 50 yards receiving. He has been less of the attack each week, and in Week 12, his cold spell seemed to grow worse. There was no sight of him for nearly three quarters of football behind new gunslinger Tommy DeVito. 

DeVito’s defense found it difficult to establish any connection with any of his receivers in the first half. 

The Giants' offense line was horrific in protecting their vulnerable quarterback, allowing him to get sacked four times and hit twice as much. The line also gave up a 78 percent blitz rate to the Buccaneers, which was fueled by losing left tackle Jermaine Eluemenor during the first half. 

Nevertheless, finding Nabers in space was a real challenge, and he did not have a single target in the first 30 minutes, which featured only 46 yards of total offense for New York. 

He finally earned his first catch on the first play of the second half when DeVito found him on a 21-yard deep shot, but that solid drive was soon stalled by Tyrone Tracy’s fumble five yards out of the endzone. 

During the postgame media availability, the star rookie showed clear frustrations with this trend coming off a few games with plenty of examples of him and fellow receivers being wide open and missed by the participating quarterback and seemingly went to throw shade at the coaching staff for the mishaps on the offense. 

“I started getting the ball when it was 30-0,” Nabers said. “What do you want me to do?”

The Giants need Nabers to do more if they want the offense to thrive on any given Sunday. New York can’t rely on his talents alone to win consistently, but he has to be a key factor in their games because they drafted him to be such. 

The unfortunate part is he can’t throw the ball to himself, and the quarterback needs to do better at reading the field and seeing him gain separation as he does at an alarming rate. Nabers finished the day with six catches for 64 yards to lead the Giants receiving efforts.

2

East Rutherford, NJ -- November 24, 2024 -- Baker Mayfield of Tampa Bay throws the ball past Bobby Okereke of the Giants in the first half as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to MetLife Stadium to play the New York Giants. / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

At the same time that they couldn’t get a handle on the opposing run game, the Giants defense was equally incapable of laying a finger on Baker Mayfield in the Buccaneers backfield. 

It’s unfair not to recognize that the Giants' defense had a tall task ahead of them in putting pressure on the Tampa Bay front. The unit ranked 12th in team pass block win rate entering East Rutherford for Sunday’s contest but was missing a key protector in left tackle Tristan Wirfs, who has been top-20 in that category and should have left a weakness on the left side. 

Still, the Buccaneers' big men kept the pocket clean for their starting quarterback to put on his passing clinic, which left the Giants defense with no sacks and just two total pressures, both coming on rare quarterback hits. 

The lack of pressure continued a worrisome trend for Shane Bowen’s group, which started the season on such a high note in the sacks department. New York came into Week 12 with 36 total sacks, which was good for second best in the NFL behind the Denver Broncos with their 39 takedowns. 

In the last three games, the Giants have only recorded one sack, which came in Week 10 against the Carolina Panthers in Munich. The loss to Tampa Bay marked their second in three games without notching any sacks, and it has taken away the bread and butter of what the defense was supposed to thrive on—its edge rush. 

Even with the return of outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, who missed several games with a surgically repaired wrist, the Giants didn’t seem to have enough bull rushers to get the job done and make life harder for the Buccaneers to operate. 

They gave up conversions on six of the opponent’s 11 third downs, a handful of which were long yardage situations, and one of their two fourth down tries to keep their drives going effortlessly. 

The only two pressures came from Dexter Lawrence and Thibodeaux, who recorded the two quarterback hits as part of their six combined tackles. The rest of the defense was pushed back like bowling pins all day to leave with one of their worst performance of the season that saw Mayfield collect almost 300 aerial yards on them. 

Add to this failure the defensive front's weakness in forcing big stops inside the 20-yard line. They also gave up points to Tampa Bay on four of their five redzone visits, one of the highest opponents' success rates of the season despite being fifth in that category through 10 games of the 2024 season.

When the Giants switched from Wink Martindale to Shane Bowen in the offseason, the expectation was to show fewer exotic blitzes but still get to the quarterback with the front four and let the secondary do the rest in closing down the end zone.

 That entire game plan has recently deteriorated, and it became complete rubbish against the Buccaneers.

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