New York Giants Week 4: By the Numbers

Let's take a closer look at some of the key numbers from the New York Giants' 20-12 win over the Chicago Bears.

The New York Giants Week 4 contest with the Chicago Bears felt like a blast from their revered past.

On Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, the team hosted their first of two “Legacy Games,” commemorating the franchise's history with a retrofitted field and uniforms that gave an ode to the colors the franchise wore in the 1980s and 1990s. However, it wasn’t just the jerseys and helmets that bore nostalgia--it was the dominating play of the Giants on the ground as well.

Behind a dominant 262-yard rushing performance that conjured memories of the old “ground and pound” offense the Giants once boasted, New York survived the elements and the competition to defeat Chicago, 20-12, and improve to 3-1 on the season. The victory marked New York’s third in four games, an impressive feat after not reaching the mark until nine games in 2021.

The outing was headlined by an outstanding showing by quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley, both of whom torched the Chicago defense with their legs from the onset of the game.

Jones didn’t have his best day throwing the ball–totaling just nine completions for 71 yards in a game plan that de-emphasized the pass–but he made up for it with two early rushing touchdowns to boost the Giants’ scoring.

Barkley had his second-best game of the year, leading all team rushers with a career-high 31 carries for 146 yards.

In a game where most thought the weather conditions would be a huge factor, a few quick injuries in the second half tested the Giants' grit the most. Late in the third quarter, Jones exited the game with an ankle injury, leaving the fate of the offense in the hands of backup Tyrod Taylor for his Giants’ regular season debut.

Yet, only a couple of drives and nearly two turnovers later, the veteran Taylor would also have to leave the field after suffering a concussion, suddenly forcing Jones back onto the field and Barkley into the emergency quarterback spot. In the end, the Giants wildcat offense would outlast Chicago’s defensive heat down the stretch, the Giants capping off their homestand with a 2-1 record and another display of team football winning a close game.

“I think the players played good when it counted the most,” said head coach Brian Daboll. “Give all the credit to the players…and the assistant coaches and coordinators for the second part of it.”

With another wild finish in East Rutherford behind them, let’s take a deeper look at the numbers and contributions that powered the Giants’ latest win.

Jones and Barkley Combine for 214 Rushing Yards

Coming into Sunday’s contest, where light rain and heavy winds battered the area, it was understood by the two sides that scoring might be at a premium. Yet, with the Giants and Bears both lacking strong passing attacks, so were rushing yards, and a duo of New York ball carriers ensured their team secured enough of those to win.

Putting on a backfield clinic, Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley punished the Bears’ weary run defense from their first possession, combining for 214 of the Giants’ season-high 262 rushing yards. Not every yard came easy, and some took sudden creativity, but the partnership of Jones and Barkley helped expose a weakness in Chicago’s defense that the opposition had no answer to.

On two of the Giants' first four possessions, it was Jones who started things off with his own master class of deceitful rushing. After executing a 5-play, 54-yard drive that went down to the Chicago 21-yard line, Jones faked the handoff on first down and rolled out left, finding uncovered space and taking the ball the distance for his first rushing touchdown of the season and the 7-3 advantage.

Daboll admitted afterward that the Giants didn’t design for Jones to have a stylish run on the play. Instead, the Bears bit down on the pass elements to open things up for the quarterback to keep the football. To sweeten that surprise, it wouldn’t take long before Chicago was caught in the mix of confusion once again.

Two possessions later, in what would end as a 7-play, 75-yard drive spanning 4:15, Jones scrambled to the left off the play action fake to Barkley. Seeing green pastures ahead, the 25-year-old took off from eight yards out and cashed in his second rushing score to extend the Giants’ lead to 14-6.

Inspired by his teammates' first two-touchdown performance since Week 3 of his rookie season, Barkley would quickly rediscover his old rushing form from 2018 and join the rushing party.

In the first half of action, the 2018 No. 2 overall pick began by busting a 29-yard run that helped set up Jones’ second rushing touchdown of the day. He also averaged 4.7 yards per carry as part of the team’s 6.0-yard average, the second highest mark of the season.

What would amaze spectators at MetLife Stadium came at the 6:45 mark of the second quarter when Barkley would do the unimaginable. On 3rd-and-9, the Giants tried running a screen play to Barkley that was quickly collapsed upon by Chicago’s defense behind the line of scrimmage.

Nevertheless, Barkley would wiggle his way out of a defender’s grasp and start dashing back towards the left side of the field, following a lead block by none other than his quarterback up the middle for a gain of 15 yards and a first down. It was a highlight reel play circa 2018 that again helped the Giants in one of their most important drives of the game.

Barkley’s heroics would not stop there, either. In the second half, when both Jones and backup Tyrod Taylor exited the game with ankle and concussion ailments, the running back took command of direct snaps in the wildcat offense until Jones returned under center. The result was three plays with 18 yards that eventually set up a 43-yard Graham Gano field goal to extend the Giants lead.

After the victory, Barkley best characterized the Giants’ sudden late game adjustments as “like you were eight years old playing with your friends” and drawing up whiteboard plays on the fly. Those plays certainly worked, and the entire offensive product likely brought many Giants fans back to their youth days watching the team as well.

Giants Defense Swarms Fields Six Times

In our preview of the Chicago Bears offense, I discussed the Bears’ lackluster passing attack led by quarterback Justin Fields and the youth of their offensive line that somewhat paralleled that of the Giants. Those two things can wreak havoc on Chicago’s offensive success, and on Sunday, against the Giants’ pressure-heavy defense, they sure did.

With high-volume blitzes coming their way and an overpowered offensive line, Fields and the Bears offense struggled to attain any meaningful production through the air. The 23-year-old quarterback was held to just 11 completions for 155 passing yards, and the team finished with an 0-3 red zone scoring percentage.

However, the most impressive stat of the game for Wink Martindale’s crew was their total sacks, garnering a season-high six out of the porous Bears’ backfield. They all came from the Giants’ revamped defensive front and linebacking core.

The sack party started on the Bears second drive of the game when linebacker Jihad Ward stormed up the middle and flattened Fields for a loss of two yards. That sack would inhibit the Bears from reaching the Giants end zone, forcing them to settle for one of two early field goals.

Then with 11:03 remaining in the second quarter, Fields received a visit from one of the biggest playmakers of the day—Tae Crowder. Along with sacking the quarterback for a loss of eight yards. Crowder put on an impressive tackling outing by tallying 11 total stops and seven assists to lead all contributors on the Giants defense. It was a nice bounce-back effort for Crowder, who seemingly has to take over as the lead linebacker and has been quieter in the first three weeks.

Defensive linemen Dexter Lawrence would also have himself a day, posting two more sacks on Fields in the second quarter, with the former stalling a Chicago drive on third down and 6 for a loss of 9 yards. Yet, for Giants fans, one of the most exciting play of the day had to come from their long-awaited edge rushing duo of Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari.

Missing time in the first few weeks with respective injuries, the Giants have been longing for the returns of Thibodeaux and Ojulari to strengthen their pressure off the edge. Coming off their debut performances against Dallas, the duo combined for five total tackles, but their biggest contribution came in the turnover game.

At the 9:38 mark of the second quarter, with the opponent’s ball on their own 27-yard line, Ojulari, the Giants 2021 second-round pick, barged up the middle and sacked Fields for another loss of eight yards that set the Bears’ rare efficient drive backward. Succumbing to the hit, Fields would also fumble the football, leading to a big recovery from who else but Thibodeaux on the other end.

After waiting years to finally have a game-changing pass rush synonymous with those of their Super Bowl teams, it was no play more than that one by Ojulari and Thibodeaux that made the Giants fans feel like something special could be on the horizon for their defensive group. In reality, the play of the entire unit is making a difference for the team this season.

The Giants' defense now holds nine sacks through four games and averages 2.3 per contest, ranking 15th overall in the NFL. With the team expected to have close contests every Sunday and the absence of defensive stud Leonard Williams, it’s going to be imperative for the defense to step up and make these big-time drive thwarting plays if New York keeps escaping with narrow victories.

For now, Martindale’s crew has risen to the occasion once again, making Fields’ life miserable and extending the Giants’ recent hot start to 2022.

The Silent Wide Receivers Notch 82

The Giants' absent wide receiver corps is one of the biggest disappointments to come out of the first quarter of the 2022 season.

Through four games this year, the unit struggled to influence the team’s offensive production, accumulating just 642 yards of offense and three touchdowns, two of which came from tight ends. In addition, only three players have managed to cross 100 yards receiving to this point, one of those being running back Saquon Barkley (107).

The results of the wide receivers’ inefficient efforts have translated into the Giants’ offense ranking 28th in passing attempts (108), 31st in passing yards, 32nd in yards per attempt (4.6), and 27th in total touchdowns (3). Leaving Sunday’s contest with Chicago, they didn’t do much to improve those glaring statistics.

Playing against a Bears’ defense that ranked in the top five in opponent passing attempts, yards, and touchdowns, the Giants wide receivers remained practically nonexistent and forced a lot of the offensive production on the running duo of Jones and Barkley.

In total, the receiving targets accumulated 82 yards through the air—their lowest output this season—and only two managed to secure at least two receptions in their snaps.

It was even harder for Jones in the first half to find his receivers in the open field. Of his six completions in the first 30 minutes, the only receiver Jones connected with was David Sills V for a five-yard completion (Sills had a longer reception negated by a penalty earlier in the second quarter.)

Outside of Sills, the other contributors were tight ends Daniel Bellinger and Tenner Hudson, each finishing in the team’s top three receivers with 23 and 18 yards, respectively.

The Giants were expected to be at a disadvantage in the wide receiver entering Sunday afternoon, considering the damage to their unit. Veteran Sterling Shepard was lost for the season a week prior after tearing his ACL in the Week 3 loss to Dallas. Both Wan’Dale Robinson and Kadarius Toney were also unavailable due to lingering injuries.

Thus, it was expected that the team would need its remaining names—notably Kenny Golladay, Richie James, and Darius Slayton—to pick up the slack in their teammates' absences and prevent the offense from becoming one-dimensional. The three players didn’t answer the call, combining for just two receptions and 18 yards.

While James has been a pleasant surprise in the offense with his team-leading 155 yards receiving, there’s been consistent concerns for the futures of both Golladay and Slayton. Last season, the two-time Pro Bowler in Golladay was the team’s leading receiver, but he failed to secure one touchdown catch after tallying 21 during his four years in Detroit.

With four weeks in the books on his second season with New York, that goose egg still holds for Golladay, who holds just two receptions for 22 yards. That same daunting line gets scarier for his counterpart in Slayton.

A few seasons removed from being Jones’ favorite target and securing consecutive seasons with at least 740 yards receiving, Slayton appears to have fallen out of favor with the new Giants’ coaching staff. In the first three games, he saw no targets on the field as other players got their chance to fit into the present schemes.

Slayton finally earned an opportunity to make it into the gamebook against Chicago, but it was to little avail. Jones would target him once on a deep hall that the receiver dropped, and then Tyrod Taylor would try again for an 11-yard completion in the fourth quarter.

It’s been a wonderful start to the season for the Giants' rushing attack behind Saquon Barkley, who now boasts two games with over 100-yard rushing after having only one in 2021. Still, the team cannot expect to continue their offensive success against better football teams if they don’t get an increase in production from their wide receivers moving forward.

There were glimpses of that late in the second half Sunday as the Bears’ defensive front found creative ways to slow down the legs of Barkley in the backfield. Match up with an opponent who brings a top-ranked rushing defense from the get-go, and it could spell trouble for the Giants’ offense down the road.

3rd-and-Long Defense Stung Twice

If there was one blemish to be pointed out by the Giants' defense, it was their vulnerability to giving up huge conversions on third down and long situations.

On a handful of Sundays, including twice in Chicago’s territory, the Giants had the Bears’ offense pinned on this down with yards ranging from nine to 20 yards. Given the weakness of the Bears' passing attack, the defense simply had to play proper contain to prevent a big play or a surprise run by either Justin Fields or running back Khalil Herbert.

While New York did accomplish that on some Chicago drives, a few stood out as concerning and allowed the Bears to remain competitive in closer stretches of the ball game.

The most notable instance came with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter, with the Bears at their 49-yard line. Chicago was facing a 3rd-and-20 following a sack by inside linebacker Tae Crowder and the Giants were in prime position to force a punt and give the possession back to the offense.

However, sometimes no yardage is too much for the Giants' defense to succumb. Fields took the snap and quickly dished it short to Herbert, where suddenly the Bears had found a soft spot in the Giants’ coverage down the middle of the field. Herbert, following his blockers, weaved his way past several lines of defenders and managed 24-yards to convert the first down at the Giants' 27-yard line.

Luckily for the defense, that frustrating mishap would be avenged on the following play by a forced fumble and recovery by the dynamic edge rushing duo of Azeez Ojulari and Kavyon Thibodeaux. Still, Chicago would catch the Giants sleeping two more times on the back end.

Later in the quarter, the Bears faced a 3rd-and-10 from the Giants’ 35. This time, Fields exposed the soft spot, scrambling to the right of the pocket before taking it upfield, using his shiftiness to shed tackles and a first down at the Giants’ 23. The second mishap would be spared again by a Chicago penalty, leading to just a 40-yard field goal on the board.

Then, in the third quarter, with the Giants clinging to a 14-12 lead, the Bears put some pressure on the defense when Fields linked deep with receiver Darnell Mooney for an 18-yard catch that took Chicago’s drive inside the Giants’ 35-yard line. A rush by Herbert would get the Bears as close as the New York 14, but the Bears would then stall a third time and have to settle for a 35-yard kick by Michael Badgley.

The noticeable pattern within these possessions might be that despite the Giants’ defensive slips, the Bears still could not convert in the form of touchdowns on the other end. Indeed, the Bears never sniffed the goal line for the entire contest, finishing 0-3 in the red zone and earning all their points off the leg of kicker Michael Badgley, who filled in for the inactive Cairo Santos.

While that may work with a Chicago Bears team that is synonymous with the Giants in their struggle for offensive production, it will come back to bite Big Blue against opponents with better offenses in the coming weeks. With dynamic offenses in Green Bay and Baltimore waiting for them, the Giants' defense will need to be crisper and not allow their efforts to crumble in third and long situations.

The result will be more possession time for the offense, more chances to see what we saw from players like Jones and Barkley, and less pressure down the stretch than we’ve seen out of the Giants recent games. The prospect of not sweating out the final two minutes of a ball game would surely be a welcome respite for everyone in East Rutherford. 

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