Evan Neal — yes, Evan Neal — was Giants’ highest-graded offensive player vs. Carolina Panthers

A few bright lights in an otherwise dismal performance

We’re now into the looking-toward-2025 stage of the New York Giants’ 2024 season. Let’s see which players are making a case to stick around and which are likely to be elsewhere next year after the Giants’ embarrassing 20-17 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers.

Offense

PFF grades

• You may want to take a screenshot of this for your archives - a game in which the Giants’ starting offensive line earned five of the six highest offensive grades (the only non-OL grade among them being blocking tight end Chris Manhertz), with the highest being ... Evan Neal. Before you get too excited, Neal’s 80.6 grade, the highest of his Giants’ tenure, was largely due to his run blocking (92.4), which was his calling card at Alabama but had only rarely been seen in the NFL. His pass blocking grade was only 49.4, though (more on that below). The other four offensive line starters all graded above average or not far from it in both pass and run blocking. Here’s more detail:

Neal’s low pass blocking grade doesn’t seem consistent with the fact that he only allowed one pressure and no quarterback hits or sacks in more than pass-blocking attempts. Likely explanations are that he (a) was sometimes getting help from Manhertz and/or (b) lost his block but it did not affect the play because Jones rolled out in the opposite direction or got the ball out fast enough not to be pressured. PFF’s pass block grade measures only whether your man beats your block faster or slower than is normal, not what the result is after you’re beaten.

Jermaine Eluemunor, playing on the left side for the first time this season, had a bit of a rough go, surrendering a sack (the infamous flea flicker play), two hits, and four hurries, but overall his pass blocking was only slightly below average. The other three offensive linemen were all above average in pass blocking (the third game in a row for Greg Van Roten).

• You may be surprised to see Daniel Jones with an average (65.7) overall grade, a few points lower for passing. I was. This is what I suspect is one weakness of PFF grades. To my knowledge they grade how well a QB throws the ball, and not the decisions made or the timing. If you get the ball anywhere near where the receiver can catch it, you get an average grade, and that apparently was the grader’s assessment of much of his play. His two sacks were considered the offensive line’s responsibility, when in reality he took his time setting and winding up to throw on the flea flicker when an elite QB would have sensed the pressure and released the ball more quickly. Somehow he was not charged with a batted pass...maybe you can’t give a batted pass and an interception on the same play? I believe PFF doesn’t grade you down for not...