New York Giants Report Card: A Colossal Fail
Grades from the New York Giants' embarrassing 40-0 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.
Offense: F
From the poor pass blocking by the offensive line to the shaky snaps from center to quarterback Daniel Jones trying to force plays out of desperation, there wasn't a single thing to like about the Giants' offensive performance.
Jones was sacked seven times--nine if you count two sacks nullified by penalties--and hit 12 times, as he spent most of the evening running for his life. If you consider that Joens and the Giants lost 47 yards from the sacks, that means the Giants' passing game netted just 57 yards in a lost cause.
The offensive line? Terrible. Head coach Brian Daboll might have settled on a starting offensive line, but the same old problems continued from last year, from Evan Neal's struggles to a blown stunt to problems with the snap from center being consistent. Even the normally solid Andrew Thomas, playing at left tackle, had an off-night, drawing two penalties in this one.
"Well, we got into one of those games as the game went on where we were throwing the ball, and they knew we had to throw the ball. We were down a bunch," head coach Brian Daboll said.
"Have to look at the tape for some of the stuff. But, you know, obviously, it wasn't good enough. No area was good enough tonight, from protection to coaching, running, and tackling. Whatever it may be, you name it, it wasn't good enough."
Defense: F
For those keeping score at home, the Giants have gone three games without registering a sack against Cowboys quarterbacks. What makes this even more frustrating is that the Cowboys were missing starting left guard Tyler Smith, while left tackle Tyron Smith was banged up. Yet the Giants didn't even get a sniff of Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott or Cooper Rush, who was inserted into the game with 11:19 left.
The Giants had no answers for the Cowboys on third down, allowing them to go six of 13 (46.2 percent). Moreover, three of the Cowboys first downs in this game were a result of Giants penalties, including a big 37-yard defensive pass interference penalty called against rookie cornerback TRe Hawkins III that set up a Cowboys scoring drive that eventually made the game 19-0 in favor of the Cowboys.
Special Teams: F
Adding to this week's disaster, Joshua Ezeudu missed a block on kicker Graham Gano's first field goal attempt of the night; the blocked kick returned for a 58-yard touchdown by Noah Igbinoghene.
"You give up seven on special teams, and you give up seven on offense, and that's 14 points right there and, you know, a field goal, they missed the extra point," Daboll said. "It was 16 points early; you're still competing, but just could never really string it together in any area."
Gano, normally Mr. Reliable, rushed his lone scoring attempt of the night, a 36-yard field goal attempt toward the end of the first half, which he pushed wide left.
The return game? The Giants didn't return any of the eight kickoffs this week, all of which went for touchbacks. And rookie punt returner Eric Gray had one punt return opportunity for seven yards.
This loss wasn't solely on the special teams; the unit did nothing to help the cause.
Coaching: F
Sorry, but there's no way to absolve the coaching staff of this one. None. Simply put, this Giants team didn't look remotely close to being ready to compete, and that is on the coaching staff.
The Giants were so concerned with keeping their starters healthy all summer long that they limited their live game reps, and boy, did it show. A couple of years ago, we can remember blasting former head coach Joe Judge for making the same mistake with the starters, so it's only fair to question Daboll's decision to do the same with their starters this year.
Then factor in the back-and-forth in deciding what offensive line combination to go with, and is it any wonder why this unit looked so out of sorts?
Also, why did the coaches leave Daniel Jones in the game until about 90 seconds left? Daboll said he was hoping for a spark on offense despite the Cowboys having a 33-0 lead by the end of the third quarter and that the offensive line couldn't block anyone to save its collective life.
That Jones didn't get hurt, considering the beating he kept taking, is a small miracle in itself, but at the end of the day, it was a head-scratching risk the head coach took.
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