2019 Week 9: Player by Player Review Plus a Look at the Strategy and the Play Calling

Let's break down the Giants' 37-18 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

Patricia Traina, SI.com Giants Maven

Why the Giants Struggles to Run the Ball vs. Dallas

by Chris Pflum

Fourteen carries, 28 yards, a long of 8yards, and a grand total of 2.0 yards per carry.

That was Saquon Barkley's production as a rusher Monday night against the Dallas Cowboys. 

Really.

There were a few things we pretty much all knew going into that game. The first was that if the Giants were going to complete the upset, then they would need Barkley to be the game-breaking offensive weapon we know he can be. 

The second was that even with linebacker Leighton Vander Esch out with an injury, the Giants had their work cut out for them against a Dallas front that has gotten better since the two teams played at the beginning of the season.

But even with a tough match-up ahead, nobody expected the kind of futility on the ground which the Giants hosted the Cowboys.

The Giants loss can be attributed to a bunch of different factors, but the most stark is Barkley's lack of production outside of his 65-yard catch and run. 

The Giants lost by a similar amount in Week 1, but even then, Barkley had 120 yards on the ground and averaged over 10 yards per carry. 

So what contributed to the Giants' almost complete inability to run the ball Monday night?

We can't say that Dallas was selling out to stop Barkley. Per NFL NextGen Stats, he only faced a loaded (eight or more man) box on three of his 14 carries, which was roughly the median number for running backs this weekend.

There really isn't any single answer as to what happened to the Giants' run game Monday night, but we'll look at some of the factors that contributed.

Penetration from the Cowboys

Going back and re-watching Barkley's run plays, this was probably the most striking aspect. Dallas had the Giants' running plays well-scouted, coming downhill without hesitation and then getting into the backfield with little delay. 

The Giants' offensive line struggled to hold up to Dallas' speed on the defensive front. Whether it was DeMarcus Lawrence, Michael Bennett, Malik Collins, Jaylon Smith, or Sean Lee, the Cowboys were routinely attacking their gaps and getting into the backfield almost before Barkley had the ball.

Most of a running back's every-down success is attributed to the offensive line's ability to create space for him, and the Giants were simply overmatched at the line of scrimmage.

Even when the Giants' offensive linemen were able to get their hands on Dallas' defenders, they created little movement up front. 

Instead, they were turned sideways, pushed into the backfield, or the Cowboys were able to string runs out. 

However it happened, the Cowboys were routinely able to force Barkley to stop his feet in the backfield, which made it easier for their defenders to keep him from making something out of nothing.

There were also questionable decisions within the blocking scheme, such as the decision to not block Lawrence on a 2nd-and-10 from the 14-yard line that went for a loss of four yards, or the decision to ask Evan Engram to block Michael Bennett on a 2nd-and-6 from Dallas' 8-yard line.

Swarming to the football

In 2018, much of Barkley's success came from his ability to make individual defenders miss, string together physics-defying moves, make decisions at lightning speed and execute them. 

Per Football Outsiders, the Giants had one of the worst run-blocking offensive lines in the NFL in 2018, but Barkley's ability to explode in open space made the Giants the best “open field” running team in the league.

Against Dallas--and really going back to the game against Tampa Bay--teams haven't been lining their defenders up to get beat by Barkley one at a time like goons in an action movie. 

Instead, teams have been coaching their defense to slow Barkley and swarm to the ball. Dallas' speed on defense, from their line to their secondary, made the plan all the more effective. 

The speed of their line and Jaylon Smith let them get hands on Barkley early in the play, while the ever-impressive processing speed of Sean Lee made up for any steps lost as he aged. 

Barkley was simply unable to evade or out-muscle the waves of defenders who flocked to him every running play.

The Giants need to take a second, and probably third, look at their running schemes to see if they are telegraphing their plays and making keys too easy for defenses. 

This isn't just a “Dallas” problem--even the Lions' bad run defense was able to hold Barkley to just over three yards per carry.

Barkley might not be fully healthy yet

It was obvious watching Barkley in his first game or two back from his high ankle sprain that he wasn't fully healthy. He obviously lacked the explosive spring in his step to really execute the style of football that makes him dangerous. 

Against the Cowboys, we did get to see Barkley crack the throttle in the open field and it's apparent he still has wheels. He topped out at 20.43 miles per hour on his 65-yard catch and run, which was just two-hundredths of a mile per hour shy of being tied for the 7th fastest ball carrier in the NFL, and he looked light on his feet in doing so.

But opening his stride and hitting full speed is different from cutting and exploding in a short area.

In the last two weeks, Barkley has lacked the electric “spring” to his cuts which we have come to expect from him. Instead, he looks much more human and defenders aren't being forced to over-commit and be left in his dust like they were a year ago.

Final Thoughts

There is no quick and easy solution to the Giants' running woes. The good news is that they should be better against the New York Jets than they were against the Cowboys, but they can't claim exploiting other bad teams is an improvement – that's like lowering the difficulty on a video game and claiming you got better. 

There isn't much the Giants can do about their offensive line right now and the players they have are the players they have. But it's an area they will (once again) need to address in the off-season.

Perhaps the Giants should look to what Arizona is doing and include more jet motion in their running game – if not to give the ball to receivers to run, then to give the defense that much more to process. 

If they are able to take defenders out of run defense with personnel, play design, and misdirection, that should help Barkley find more open room and take some of the pressure off the offensive line.

And finally, the Giants should look at using Wayne Gallman and Buck Allen against the Jets. Barkley will obviously be their starter, but if he isn't fully healthy yet, they should lighten his load and hope he can make strides during the Week 11 bye. 

If Barkley isn't healthy enough to work his magic behind the line of scrimmage, there isn't much advantage to playing him over their other backs and could just make the problem last longer than it needs to.

One thing is for sure: If the Giants are going to build their offense to run through Barkley, they need to figure out how to get him going consistently if they want to get any kind of consistent production from their offense.

Quarterback

Daniel Jones: It was another learning experience for the rookie that included a bunch of offensive stumbles that were as much related to the players around him failing, as Jones himself failing. 

The rookie had two huge mistakes. The first was the deep ball interception he threw near the end of the first half that gifted the Cowboys three points and the halftime lead. 

We’re not sure this one is entirely on Jones as it was the play called in from the sideline, and it was a rookie throwing to a rookie under 3rd-and-long duress, the final result being the big turnover. 

This mistake seemed as much the coaches calling a low-percentage play and Jones simply following orders. 

The other blatant mistake Jones made was losing the ball on a scramble when he dove forward to get the first down but lost the ball going down. It was a risky but necessary play – if he had slid, Jones does not make the first down and the Giants have to punt. 

The turnover gave Dallas the ball at midfield and point resulted. The media will moan and groan about Jones’ continued ball security problems but we don’t really care about that now. 

All that matters is that Jones experience a bunch of situations from which he will learn. His development is the prime directive of this lost season. It’s an investment in this team’s future. 

It’s obvious that this entire roster needs upgrading in practically every area, but the quarterback is every good team’s biggest playmaker. The quicker this team gets Jones seeing things faster and getting up to the speed and talent level of the league, the better for this offense. 

A quick-thinking quarterback can mask a lot of ills. Not every ill, but a lot. The kid will need a much better offensive line – he got hit 15 times, sacked 5 times, and lead the offense in rushing yardage by a large margin, absorbing several more hits. His toughness is not in question, that’s for sure. 

This week the coaches finally unleashed Jones’ mobility, as two of his big runs came off read-options. Jones has to continue to feature this moving forward, as well as his scrambling ability. He’s not unusually quick but he has straight-line speed and enough footwork to tap out of trouble. 

His numbers were rather pedestrian, which is to be expected against another good defense – 26 of 41 for 210 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. 

One of the two fumbles was on him, as mentioned. He’s got to continue to work on tucking that ball into his chest with two hands upon contact. 

The coaches also have to find a way to keep this kid from getting plastered on his dropbacks. His pocket was once again a crumbling mess. He stood tall after every hit, but they will eventually take their toll. That is our biggest worry. 

Never mind the defense, this organization needs to commit to protecting this kid and it needs to start now.

Running Backs

Saquon Barkley:  Ever since Barkley returned from his high ankle sprain three weeks ago, he just doesn’t seem the same to these eyes. 

He’s just not taking the between the tackles stuff, choosing to dance around on too many runs instead of planting-and-go, running it up in there and getting the tough yards. 

He’s avoiding contact, dancing out of bounds away from traffic a bit too often, the contact avoidance being our biggest red flag. 

We’ve been a big critic of his poor pass-blocking--the pass- and run-blocking clinic that Zeke Elliott put forth should be required watching for Barkley--but it makes us wonder if Barkley just doesn’t have the taste or the toughness for blocking. 

He certainly has the frame to hold up to it. If it’s a toughness problem, then that’s a much bigger issue. 

We didn’t question Barkley’s toughness in his rookie year, but this year it’s popping up all over the place and that’s a concern. It all could be related to the ankle issue, of course, so it’s not for us to question the young man’s heart as all of this may be injury-related; we’re just reacting to what we see on film. 

His wonderful athleticism and balance showed on his big 65-yard screen pass catch-and-run, Barkley finally getting some space to work with and exploding north-south into the open field. 

We were frankly disappointed that he didn’t find a way to finish this run into the end zone, as he stepped out at the 11-yard line. The offense eventually had to settle for 3 points and that hurt, as the team really needed 7. 

Otherwise, Barkley was really quiet, recording 14 carries for 28 yards on the ground and catching six balls for 67 yards through the air. 

That’s right; on his 5 other catches, Barkley totaled 2 yards. Ouch! 

We suspect that the Dallas coaches out-coached the Giants staff, especially when it came to getting the ball to Barkley in space. It happened one time, and look at the result. 

The Giants coaches have to do a better job with Barkley.

Wayne Gallman: Getting 13 snaps in relief of Barkley, Gallman was ignored on a couple of red-zone snaps by the rookie quarterback, who was locked onto his inside receivers in order to get rid of the ball quickly. 

Holding it another count, and perhaps pump-faking it inside and going to Gallman running alone on the edge might have been a better option, but it never happened. 

Gallman never got to touch the ball, but he did throw a couple of hellacious blitz pickup blocks as you draw it up on the chalkboard.

Elijhaa Penny: Getting five snaps, Penny’s blocking was more than acceptable but the coaches did not utilize his talents at all. 

We’ve been calling for higher usage of the versatile fullback in the game plan, but it’s just not happening.

Tight Ends

Evan Engram: Though Engram caught 6 balls for 48 yards, he really had little impact on the game, other than a negative one. 

On a 2nd-and-3 end-around, he had a chance to cut it upfield but instead, he faded away to the sideline and failed to get the first down. 

Engram usually shows a great nose for the marker but on this play, he really came up short. 

Most of his catches were simple sit-downs in front of the middle zones. Engram wasn’t schemed into any screen passes or such, while his blocking uniformly came up short. 

We were a bit surprised to see Engram taken off the field on a fair number of red-zone snaps, when he’s one of the team’s few legit threats in that area. 

We were also surprised to see him left in to run block as often as he was, and then becoming alarmed at seeing him limp after a couple of these failed battles. 

Engram had an early-season knee injury, which perhaps explains the lack of targets in the passing game but doesn’t explain the rather heavy use of Engram on important runs. 

In the red zone, asking Engram to make an impossible block against Demarcus Lawrence was just asking for trouble, a 3-yard loss the result. 

Engram remains near the top of the league in catches and yards at his position, but we still get the feeling practically every week that he’s being under-utilized, while his blocking is hurting this team.

Rhett Ellison:  Most of Ellison’s blocking was sharp and gritty and successful, but his few failures were blatant ones. 

This offensive unit seems to get beaten to the punch on so many running plays, it’s as if opposing defenses can predict what’s coming. 

That this group doesn’t adjust well to the unexpected is another problem that this group can’t seem to overcome, Ellison included. 

He dropped one pass, caught two others, and was covered well on a red zone out-and-up in the end zone that pressure off the edge prevented a chance for this completion.

Kaden Smith: We spotted Smith on the field on three snaps. On one of them, he handled Demarcus Lawrence on a running play, completely dominating the otherwise big thorn in the Giants’ side all night long. 

Smith gets one of the few passing grades this week, folks.

Receivers

Cody Latimer:  In the middle of the first quarter, Latimer went down the sideline. It looked like it could have been pass interference on Chidobe Awuzie but it was not called. 

We can live with the missed calls, but what we can't live with is the inconsistency we've seen in officiating this year, especially when plays are challenged.   

Early in the second quarter, Latimer made a catch in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown after running a solid route that left him wide open for the easy touchdown.

Golden Tate: Early in the second quarter, Tate went up with one hand and caught the ball on the sideline to make the catch on an off-target and give the Giants the ball on the 1-yard line. 

Tate followed this up with a first down grab on a quick out pattern in the middle of the second quarter. 

The very next play was a reverse to Tate which resulted in a first down run thanks in part to a very good block by Daniel Jones on the play to help give Tate extra yardage. 

Tate made another grab late in the second quarter and he battled forward for the first down.

Darius Slayton: After averaging 10.0 yards per reception, Slayton's hot streak cooled down. 

The first pass he had targeted to him was the middle of the second quarter when he came on an out pattern. He did not get enough separation and the pass was knocked away. 

Daniel Jones seems to favor throwing to Slayton but in this one, Slayton struggled to consistently get open.  

Bennie Fowler: Fowler made a grab late in the third quarter for a first down. He did a nice job coming back to the ball while still getting the necessary yardage for a first down. 

Fowler continues to make minor contributions on a team that just does not have enough wide receiver weapons.

Offensive Line

Nate Solder:  Solder completely dominated Robert Quinn all night long with his pass blocking. Quinn barely got a whiff of the pocket except in clean-up duties late when a half a sack fell in his lap. Otherwise, Quinn was as quiet as a church mouse thanks to Solder’s positive game. 

Solder did yield the night’s final sack in garbage time when a Dallas back-up spun around him and hit his quarterback's hand just as he was throwing the ball, the sack/fumble being returned for a touchdown when Solder also failed to recover the loose ball. 

Solder’s game vs. Quinn was on our radar, and he won that match-up handily. 

Solder missed a couple of quick-thinking run blocks--that is, a quicker thinker would have made the block but Solder reacted too late--but he also sustained enough contact on a fair share of others. 

We sure don’t know what to expect from week to week with Solder, but this week, he was at the top of his game, though to be completely fair, we didn’t think that Quinn challenged him in the least.

Mike Remmers: On the other edge of the spectrum, Remmers had the night’s toughest assignment going up against Dallas’ best defender, Demarcus Lawrence, and boy did Remmers come up small. 

On an early set-up, Remmers was beaten to the inside right into Daniel Jones’ grill for one of the hardest hits and sacks you will ever see. How the rookie got up after this hit and held onto the ball was impressive. 

On the very next snap, Lawrence looped inside through the vacant center hole on a stunt and laid another big hit on the quarterback. Lawrence accounted for only one of the Cowboys 5 sacks, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t always buzzing around the pocket at Remmers’ expense. 

Late in the game, when the Dallas coaches moved some backups over Remmers, the pressure just kept on coming. In fact, the entire right side of the offensive line came up way short all night long, Remmers’ failures leading the pack. 

He had a terrible game--perhaps his worst of the year--and not coincidentally, it came against a really good player. No surprise there. 

The coaches gave Remmers help blocking on a number of occasions, but whenever the solo-block was asked for, he invariably struggled. It was one ugly night on that edge of Daniel Jones’ pocket.

Will Hernandez: The offensive line’s best blocker once again, Hernandez gets our kudos for standing up to the Dallas player who pushed his quarterback out of bounds, and for also mixing it up the rest of the way with the Dallas defensive line against whoever was foolish enough to want to mix it up. 

Hernandez never drew a single penalty while drawing at two unsportsmanlike conduct flags from DeMarcus Lawrence and another from another Dallas defender. Thus, Hernandez was the only Giants blocker who actually had some success against Dallas’ best pit player. 

It was nice to see someone on this Giants offense show some fight. With his blocking duties, Hernandez was a positive performer all night long, handling all of his solo pass-blocking chores easily--and there were a bunch of them--while getting his licks and throwing his run blocks. 

Hernandez was one of the few positive performers on offense, but sticking up for his quarterback the way he did warmed the cockles of our heart.

Kevin Zeitler: Playing his worst game of the season (by far), Zeitler was a bit of a turnstile on the pass block, which surprised us he’s been such a positive contributor in that regard all year long. 

Not this week, folks. Zeitler had a hand in at least three sacks, as he struggled as much with stunts as he did with solo pass blocks. We couldn’t give a reason why he struggled so much, as several of the sacks allowed came from non-descript Dallas players. 

Of course, three of Dallas’ five sacks came late with the game out of reach. When it was still a game, Zeitler and company had more success but when it was time for Dallas to pin back their ears, the sacks came a-flooding. That’s how it goes.

Jon Halapio:  Performing just as poorly in the run game as he has all year, Halapio was a non-descript presence in the pit where his total lack of footwork and mobility rendered him completely useless at any level outside of his little snapping area. 

Asking Halapio to have any success at anything else but over the nose is just asking for too much. 

On the offense’s first red zone early on, Halapio whiffed on middle linebacker Jaylon Smith so badly that it was comical. 

If the center could just get in the linebacker's way a little, Saquon Barkley might have scored. Smith made the easy tackle with Halapio standing by searching for answers. 

On another Barkley run, also otherwise well-blocked, Halapio was surprised to have no one to block and bumbled his way into Barkley as the back prepared to enter the second level, knocking Barkley down and killing another big play. 

Halapio’s inability to get his unit to pick up a Jaylon Smith blitz resulted in another sack. He also left his middle gap untended on several looping stunts that also turned into hits right up into his quarterback's grill. 

It was a bad game from Halapio every way you look at it. He simply cannot hold up to any kind of quickness on these defenses that continue to flummox him with mobility week after week.

Nick Gates:  Getting two snaps in short-yardage, Gates pancaked Dallas defenders on two of them, and otherwise executed his blocks with aplomb.

Defensive Line

B.J. Hill:  The number of assignment errors committed by the Giants’ front seven while defending the run was just too numerous to count. 

Everyone was guilty, and though we have a particular bone to pick with the Giants linebackers, the defensive line must accept some of the blame for the 172 yards yielded on the ground. 

Hill wasn’t the most egregious offender but he contributed. He did make one big solo hit on Elliott but he also committed a neutral zone infraction that was unacceptable, turning a 2nd-and-7 into a 2nd-and-2. But at least the kid was trying to make a play by anticipating the snap. 

Otherwise, Hill was decent while having his snaps a bit limited--he received just 18 defensive snaps this week.

Dalvin Tomlinson: Though his assignment errors were rare, Tomlinson was handled one-on-one a few too many times tonight for our taste, never once truly controlling his solo blocker, and that’s just not good enough. 

After last week’s sack, we were heartened to see Tomlinson produce one really good inside pass rush, but the pass was released quickly just before Tomlinson arrived on the scene. 

The big guy finished with two tackles, one of them coming at the sideline in impressive pursuit. Like Hill, he was decent but not spectacular in his 35 snaps.

Dexter Lawrence II:  Also playing “decent” ball, Lawrence did finally muck up a couple of late runs, but for most of the night he was handled by solo blocking, while several of his late pocket pressures were just a bit late getting home. 

His lone hit on the quarterback came when he chased Dak Prescott out of bounds on an incompletion. Meanwhile, Lawrence’s two tackles were a bit too little and not enough. 

Lawrence’s waning production as the year wears on is certainly a sign that he’s hitting a bit of a wall. He remained rock solid at the point of attack but his inability to shed a block on those numerous Dallas stretch runs was one of the defense’s failures.

Leonard Williams:  Williams was easily the D-Line’s most disruptive player, doing most of his damage on the pass rush, which happens to be where this defense needs his help. 

Though he got credit for only one hit on the quarterback, we counted at least a half dozen legit pressures, and he drew one holding call. He also committed a rather idiotic roughing-the-passer penalty early on that really hurt. 

Williams had the initial legal hit on Prescott but for some reason, he had to drive the quarterback into the ground, drawing the legit flag. Williams has to be a lot smarter than that. 

Williams finished with just three tackles but he was flying around out there, especially early on. He seemed to tire as the game wore on. 

He made two of his three tackles late against the run and were important plays, but overall he was, oddly, a non-factor defending against the Dallas stretch runs, allowing the Dallas blockers to ride him while sustaining contact all night long. 

This front needs some disruptive plays from various players, and Williams created some of them. 

One of his stunts drew multiple blockers and opened up a lane for his stunt partner, one of the things that this upfield guy can help produce. 

We liked how he looked coming around the corner from the defensive end spot on some early passing downs (that’s when he drew a hold). 

He had a bit of success pass-rushing from the inside, but ultimately he never did get home. 

It was a positive first impression, but far from a spectacular, big game, playmaking one.

Olsen Pierre:  Getting nine snaps in rotation, Pierre didn’t get on the stat sheet as he played his honest, active but lack-of-impact team game between the tackles, most of them coming on passing downs.

Edge Rushers

Markus Golden: All night long, Golden showed his teammates how it’s done by containing his edge by making big plays on enough of those snaps to discourage Dallas to run his way. 

One of those plays went for a 3-yard loss when he not only blew up the edge but dominated it while finishing it off with the solo tackle. 

Golden accrued all his five tackles against the run, as nearly all of his pass rushes were easily handled by the Dallas right tackle La'el Collins. 

Late in the game, the coaches moved Golden to the weak side without any success. 

We remain very much a fan of Golden’s physical game, but he showed tonight that he can be handled rather easily on the pass rush as he’s lacking that extra gear to turn the corner and win with speed. 

He’s a pursuit, hustle, scratch-and-claw type of pass rusher which will always have a role, but this defense still desperately needs a true big-time edge-rushing playmaker, which they haven’t really had since Jason Pierre-Paul was a rookie. 

Lorenzo Carter:  We thought Carter would be gifted with a cheap sack when Dak Prescott fumbled a shotgun snap and was quick to react and close on the quarterback, who was trying to get up to his feet to throw a pass before the quick-arriving Carter’s contact.

However, the stat keepers decided this should be recorded as a simple no-gain run, despite it being a loss of 5 yards.  

Carter had perhaps his third positive game in a row and seems to be coming into his own. He produced several dangerous, knifing pass rushes from his weakside edge, and hooked up once with Leonard Williams on a dangerous looking stunt that resulted in a blindside hit on the quarterback, whetting our appetite for more. 

Carter also made two plays in space that were more the result of smart play rather than athletic play, and that’s something you don’t say or see very often from this defense. 

Carter dropped into middle coverage and tracked the correct crossing wideout, and then even made this third-down tackle well short of the marker, to force a second-half punt. 

Getting stops on third down has been this defense’s biggest problem, but this week, Carter was a part of several big third-down stops. 

On a Prescott read-option the quarterback kept the ball but Carter smartly stayed home and made the solo tackle of the elusive quarterback in space, again well short of the marker and again forcing a fourth down. 

Things are certainly looking up for this versatile edge player who is slowly but surely showing some dangerous attack play from the outside, while at the same time continuing his solid positional play. 

Carter was also lined up inside on passing downs – as if a middle linebacker – and blitzed from those occasions. He had to re-direct to defend a run from that spot and did not look out of place. 

We have speculated about Carter’s projected ability to play inside linebacker in this defense, but his versatility may be his best asset as his edge playing has improved significantly these last few weeks. 

Carter seems very much a player on the rise, even if his lack of physicality failed on several edge runs. That will always be a weakness, but Carter looks like he’s much more of an asset utilizing what he does bring to the table, which is his length, speed and agility. 

He also plays a smart game while also capable of playing an attack game.

Oshane Ximines:  The trade for Leonard Williams summarily removed Ximines from the inside passing down rotation that the rookie had been utilized in the past couple of weeks. 

That’s a good thing for this defense, folks, as Ximines has yet to show himself as an inside player. 

Ximines did get a handful of snaps on the edge on passing downs, where he belongs, but he was once again a non-factor as his growth into a legit NFL player remains snail-like in its progress. 

As every team does, Dallas targeted Ximines the minute he got on the field with an edge run that the kid was powerless to recognize and/or defend. 

He did manage to get a hit on the quarterback with one of his edge rushes, but on one of Dallas’ second-half touchdowns passes he slowed up, effectively giving up on the play when a fellow defender stepped into the neutral zone. 

That gave the quarterback just enough time to loft the touchdown throw while Ximines was unblocked and late arriving on the scene. 

To be fair, Ximines is seeing a lot of stuff week in and week out that he has never seen. We’re still waiting for him to start reacting properly to the demands of his position.

Off-ball Linebackers

Alec Ogletree:  All night we kept asking, "Where is Ogletree on all these cutbacks off of stretch runs?" 

A mere 6 tackles despite never leaving the field once again, we remain very much a non-fan of how Ogletree plays this game. 

Defending Dallas’ stretch runs requires discipline and assignment-true group play, not one who over-reacts to the edges time and time again and is nowhere to be found on the cutbacks. 

There’s a proper space to attack on every running play, which rookie Ryan Connelly saw and knew before his unfortunate injury. When Connelly was starting, the run defense was at its best. 

With Ogletree back at the controls, this run defense lacks the teamwork that Connelly’s play legitimately produced. 

We can also talk about Ogletree’s sorry pass defense but that could go on all night long. Mind-bogglingly, on an early Dallas red zone passing down, Ogletree had his back to the line of scrimmage as the ball was snapped! We couldn’t believe our eyes. 

Ogletree doesn't play disciplined pass coverage and reacts late to everything that occurs in his area. He allowed several big completions to Jason Witten in solo coverage with some of the most uninspiring play you will ever see. 

It’s right there on film, folks, just like what the coaches see every week in the film room.

David Mayo:  Mayo made one good play in red zone coverage against an out-and-up while isolated on a running back, forcing an incompletion, but he was also out-quicked by Jason Witten on several easy catches by the tight end, who somehow gouged this defense for 8 catches despite moving at glacial-type speed. 

Witten also handled many of the run-game responsibilities against the Giants linebackers, making the Giants the only team that can’t seem to play with this future Hall of Famer, but slow-moving player. 

Back to Mayo, all three of his tackles came against the run – he didn’t miss any tackles out there – but he was also one of the over-reacting inside linebackers who couldn’t do anything about the Dallas stretch run cutbacks all night long. 

The lack of coordination between the first and second levels on this defense is frightening. Mayo was late arriving on the scene of several pass completions as his coverage skills remain susceptible. 

He has little stop-and-go ability and really shouldn’t be on the field on passing downs. He is a classic two-down linebacker who needs to do a better job fulfilling his reads.

Deone Bucannon:  There are snaps where Bucannon makes the right read, steps up and forces a running back into the pursuit that eases the pain of missing Ryan Connelly out there. 

Then there were times when Bucannon also looked overmatched on several blitzes and did not impress overall. 

On one third-down blitz, he attempted to contain his edge but he took a terrible angle, did not shed a half-hearted Zeke Elliott block, and watched Dak Prescott easily scamper around him for an easy first down. 

We’re still trying to figure out what the Giants have with Bucannon as his run instincts seem well-honed, but we’re still waiting to see him make a play in space. 

He doesn’t seem particularly mobile or agile, which at his smallish size (6-foot-1, 211 pounds) is a bit of a problem. 

If he’s going to stay on the field and play between the tackles Bucannon needs to play fast, and we haven’t seen that yet.

Defensive Backs

Antoine Bethea: Dak Prescott opened the game with an interception on a slant pass. Good job by Bethea to secure one of the easiest interceptions he'll probably see all year.

The touchdown pass in between the hashes in the middle of the fourth quarter to Amari Cooper was another instance where Bethea was just too loose in deep coverage, which allowed for an easy catch-and-run after the catch for a touchdown. 

Bethea is a savvy football player, but the growing reality is that he lacks the speed to play deep safety.

DeAndre Baker:  On the second defensive possession, Michael Gallup easily beat Baker on a slant pass. Baker was playing man-to-man coverage but was not tight enough. 

On 3rd-and-13 late in the first quarter, Dak Prescott was under pressure and tried to go to the corner of the end zone to Amari Cooper. Baker was all over Cooper and the pass fell incomplete. 

Early in the second quarter, Cooper ran a route against Baker which put Baker on the ground and left him wide open for an easy first down. 

Nice play by Baker late in the second quarter as he made a tackle after a catch by Cooper, keeping him short of the first down. 

Midway through the 4th quarter, Cooper went down the sideline on Baker and pass interference was called. This was a similar play that wasn’t called pass interference earlier in the game. 

We are probably in the minority here, but we do think Baker is improving, though we would prefer his assignments to be executed a lot more cleanly. 

Jabrill Peppers:  On the second defensive possession, Jason Witten was wide open on two flat passes both of which resulted in a first down. As the Giants were focused on stopping Ezekiel Elliot and on the play-action, Witten consistently broke free. 

We are not sure how this continues to happen with a player like Witten. He is way past his prime, but was impossible to contain the entire game. 

In the middle of the first quarter on an inside run by Elliott, Peppers did a nice job knifing in and stopping him for a short gain. 

In the middle of the second quarter, Randall Cobb caught a pass over the middle. Peppers did a nice job putting his helmet right on the ball and creating the turnover. 

Finally, early in the fourth quarter Peppers stepped in and knocked a pass away from Witten before he was able to make the grab.

Janoris Jenkins: In the middle of the first quarter Tony Pollard ran off-tackle. Jenkins needed to make the tackle, but instead he tried an arm tackle and missed. 

Late in the second quarter, Blake Jarwin caught a 42-yard touchdown going down the sideline and Jenkins, perhaps making a business decision, did his best to impersonate a matador. 

We were really not happy with the effort of Jenkins on this one as he made a veiled attempt at an arm tackle. It seemed like he could have shed the block and make a better attempt to keep Jarwin out of the end zone. 

Jenkins has never been a good tackler but he needed to make a better effort to avert the touchdown. If we're the coach, we think about sitting him down if he's going to pull stunts like this as there's zero excuse for such a poor effort.  

Corey Ballentine: Ballentine was tabbed to replace the struggling Grant Haley in the nickel. 

We liked his aggressive play and his tackling ability. In the middle of the second quarter, Witten went over the middle and Ballentine came over to make a nice hit. 

Ballentine came on a blitz in the middle of the third quarter. He got to Prescott to force an early pass and nullify the first down. 

In the middle of the third quarter, Ballentine did a good job breaking up a pass intended for Cobb near the end zone. 

Cobb caught an in route on Ballentine at the end of the third quarter. Corey gave up the pass but made a nice tackle after the catch to keep it to a short gain.

Special Teams

Aldrick Rosas: Rosas had a rather spectacular kickoff game, nailing three positive mortar kickoffs a mere 31 yards of return yardage. That’s unheard of in this year’s touchback league, which may be leaning towards more of the mortar kick since there’s been similar success lately. 

Rosas’ kickoffs pinned Dallas on their 12, 21 and 24-yard lines. That’s really good stuff. Each one was a directional kick too, as he kept each one out of the middle of the field and thus limiting the amount of space the Dallas returner could use. 

He also produced four additional touchbacks, mixing it up according to how the coaches wanted it. Rosas also nailed all four of his field-goal attempts (each one shorter than an extra point), but he failed on one of his extra points when he allowed a poor snap to affect his kick, which faded off to the right and hit the upright and bounded back. 

Rosas has to be able to handle a little bit of a disruption to his kicks as not every snap is going to be perfect. On the miss, the ball was still placed down in plenty of time so it’s on Rosas to better deal with the less-than-smooth operation.

Riley Dixon: Punting three times, Dixon did well to punt for distance as two of his three punts came from deep in his own territory and required distance. 

These two punts went for 58 and 48 yards and thus yielded 24 return yards, Dixon himself getting credit for a tackle when he guided the returner out of bounds. 

Dixon’s third punt was a successful pooch. However, Dixon’s best work was handling poor snaps which he had to do on two of his punts and at least four of his place kick holds. 

Dixon was really good dealing with these difficulties without it affecting the operation, getting his snaps down in time while dealing with one low and one high punt snap. 

Kudos to this under-rated skill that this under-rated player performs without incident.

Zak DeOssie:  The more that this veteran’s season unwinds, the more we wonder if the Giants held onto their special teams captain a year too long. They had a good young snapper in training camp in Taybor Pepper who impressed, was waived, and immediately picked up by Miami, where at age 25, he has snapped well.   

Getting back to DeOssie, we thought he had his roughest game snapping this year tonight and has Riley Dixon to thank for handling a different tough snap on nearly every place kick. 

On the missed PAT,  DeOssie’s snap was low. His next one was high, but Dixon handled it. 

This season has seen several unexpected Rosas misses as well as the two blocked punts, all of which DeOssie has had a hand in. 

His punt snaps lack bite while his kick snaps lack consistency. We will always appreciate all that DeOssie brought to the table in his career, but when you’re re-building a roster and you let a younger player walk out the door who can do the job, that's just not a smart move.  

Golden Tate:  The coaches seem to be alternating the team’s punt return duties. Last week it was Jabrill Peppers, the week before Golden Tate. 

This week they went back to Tate, who has had more success to date. Tate’s lone return tonight was a nifty 15-yard return which he took correctly north-south right into the teeth of the coverage, bleeding every yard out of it. Tate fair-caught his only other chance smoothly.

Cody Latimer: Getting the kickoff return job, Latimer had good returns right out of the box to the 26 and 26, then followed those up with near-spectacular returns to the Giants 48 and 48 on successive kickoffs. 

The Cowboys were mortaring their kickoffs just as the Giants were tonight, but Dallas paid a dear price with Latimer’s consistently positive returns. 

As the game deteriorated late Dallas’ coverage improved, tackling Latimer at the 24 and 21. 

When the night was done, Latimer finished with an unusually high total of 181 total kickoff yards by any NFL returner this year, one of the highest totals in the league.

Elijhaa Penny: On the Giants' pooch punt, Penny went dangerously low in his block while his man (Robert Quinn) was engaged with Josiah Tauaefa. 

That drew a personal foul for a chop block that was very much the right call. It was an uncharacteristic play from the reliable and classy Penny. He’s such a mistake-free player, but this one was all on him.

Corey Ballantine:  After two weeks on the shelf with a concussion, Ballantine returned to the game this week and immediately made an impact as a gunner on Golden Tate’s 15-yard punt return with fellow rookie Julian Love.  

Josiah Tauaefa: Continuing to slowly but surely find himself around the ball week in and week out, Tauaefa got in on two of the special teams tackles (punt and kickoff), and also performed well with his blocking on specials. 

Tauaefa’s fine natural instinct for his place on the field is a good sign that this rookie plays this game with his eyes open and under control. 

He’s carving a little niche for himself. We’d really like to see how he reacts lining up at inside linebacker on defense, but that may have to wait till next year. 

For now, he will have to continue to make his mark on specials, which many rookie linebackers have had to do to start off their careers.

I on Strategy 

by Mike Iannaconi

It was a sloppy first half, but the last 55 seconds of that half in which the Cowboys scored 10 points to take the lead, were, for all intents and purposes, the catalyst for the Giants' fifth straight loss.  

First, Dallas had the ball and a simple out pass to the sideline led to a 42-yard touchdown. 

The Cowboys tight ends were open all day, with Jason Witten, who moves at a slower pace than he did prior to his one-year retirement, somehow finishing with 58 yards on 8 receptions.

On the 42-yard touchdown, it was the other tight end (Blake Jarwin) who ran free for the score with no Giants linebackers to be found and with cornerback Janoris Jenkins making what looked like a business decision on the "tackle attempt."  

The Giants got the ball back with three timeouts and under a minute to go. The goal here was to play this down the middle. 

They were getting the ball to start the second half so it would be nice to score here but what you didn’t want to do is give the ball back to the Cowboys who also had three timeouts and who were on a roll.

So what happens? Yes, another head-scratching play-calling sequence by head coach Pat Shurmur. The best play choice here would have been a screen or a draw that, if it picked up yardage, would have set up the offense to proceed downfield with a more aggressive attack. 

If it did not, Dallas would be forced to use a time out, which is important. 

So what did the Giants do? They threw the ball downfield three times. All three were incomplete and all three times stopped the clock. 

The Cowboys, still with their timeouts, proceeded to kick a field goal to end the half. This was a 10-point swing from which the Giants never recovered.

Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot had 139 yards rushing and was basically unstoppable. 

The defensive line collectively did not make an impact and the linebackers did not come up and fill the gaps. 

Safety Jabrill Peppers made a few nice plays, but for every nice play he makes, there is another play where he guesses wrong that creates a huge hole in the defense. 

The only thing that kept the Giants in the game was Dak Prescott who had the early interception and throughout the game missed some open targets down the field which would have resulted in touchdowns.

Going into the game everyone wanted Saquon Barkley to get the ball more. He ended up with 14 carries for 28 yards. It is hard to get on Barkley but Dallas is a quick defense and the more dancing you do in the backfield may not be the right way to attack this defense. 

He might have been better served hitting the hole quicker than trying to make one move once he got to the second level. 

On the pass-catching end, he did end up with 6 catches for 67 yards but statistics are deceiving as one play went for 65 yards. 

We continue to look for him to be used on more wheel routes down the field where he can put more pressure on the linebackers down the field.

Daniel Jones did not have consistently good protection and when he did, receivers were not consistently getting open. 

The big issue was the red zone, where they settled for field goals instead of touchdowns on four out of five visits. 

This started on the opening drive after the interception and continued throughout the game. With his size and speed, tight end Evan Engram needs to make more of a presence near the goal line. 

We would like to see him work over the middle more instead of down the sideline, yet on at least one red-zone possession, Engram was on the bench. 

The toughest pass to cover is the slant route and it is also the easiest pass to throw. With the loss of Sterling Shepard, the Giants are without the one player who is not afraid to go over the middle. They definitely missed that this week.

Also, there is a lack of any real deep threat. Here again we feel Engram can play more of a role on earlier downs. 

He seems to spend too much time running horizontal and not enough time going vertical. Also, Darius Slayton was quiet in this one, and when he got his chances, he had at least one bad drop. 

Overall there wasn't much to be thrilled with this week as this season continues to crumble.  

The Official Review 

The Giants got away with one on Cody Latimer's first long kickoff return when they double-teamed one of the defensive players at about the 20-yard line. 

The hit on Daniel Jones as he went out of bounds was legal as contact was made initially inbounds, as stated by John Parry. The problem was that he ran into the sound guy. 

There are too many people on the sidelines in all NFL games and one of these days someone is really going to get hurt.

Although the holding call on DeAndre Baker was marginal, the DPI call was completely bogus. I am not sure what the official saw but if that was DPI, then there is DPI on every closely defended play.  

The non-DPI call that Pat Shurmur challenged was marginal (and I felt it was 60-40 DPI) but if the call on Baker was DPI, then this was certainly DPI. 

However, once the call on the field was that it was not DPI, Shurmur should know by now that it was not going to be changed and it was just a wasted timeout. Will he ever learn?

The PI challenge rule needs to be canned as quickly as possible. Although I can understand the onfield officials making or missing a call in real-time from ground level, the New York office has no excuse except incompetence--it's just a waste of time and the creation of more criticism.

The fumble by Jones at the end of the game was a good call as his arm had not started forward when he was hit. 

Although there were 18 accepted penalties (as well as some declined and offset), the officials did a reasonable job of keeping the game under control. 

This was a sloppy game played by both teams, which is seen too often today in the NFL, and the only way to try to keep control is with flags.

John Parry, Terry McAuley, Gene Steratore and Mike Pereira are all having a problem trying to figure out what New York is going to call. 

If four of the best referees in recent years are having that problem, then that doesn't bode well for the New York control center operations. 

PDF Version

Get the PDF version of this issue here.