Big Blue View
The New York Giants defeated the Los Angeles Chargers, 21-18, at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. For the first time all season, the Giants played complementary football. The defense forced two turnovers and pressured Justin Herbert all game; the special teams were crisp, and the offense did enough with a rookie quarterback and despite an immense loss to score two touchdowns en route to victory.
New York scored 10 points off the two turnovers that were both taken inside the 5-yard line. The red zone offense scored twice but still had plenty of issues, including a fourth-quarter turnover on downs where Wan’Dale Robinson failed to secure a touchdown pass from Jaxson Dart.
The loss of Malik Nabers is beyond devastating for the team. A profound loss that transcends just this game. Despite the injury, the Giants still found a way to defeat a formidable opponent. I included the Omarion Hampton play below, for the Giants’ inability to fit the run consistently is becoming an annoying problem. Here are five plays, or a sequence of plays, that led to the victory.
Play(s) 1: Takeaways
The New York Giants had just five interceptions last season, but they intercepted Justin Herbert twice, resulting in 10 points for. Herbert’s pass met the big paw of Dexter Lawrence at the end of the first quarter, and Lawrence nearly took it all the way to the house:
Unfortunately, the Giants lost a yard on three plays from the 3-yard line, and Jude McAtamney kicked a 22-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead. The Giants’ inefficient red zone offense was an issue, again, for New York, but the Giants DID score twice in the red zone. More on that later. First, Dru Phillips’ interception off the rub concept in the third quarter.
Tyler Conklin (83) set a pick for Ladd McConkey (15) and Phillips – who played exceptionally well – did a phenomenal job slingshotting around McConkey and coming away clean from the rub concept against man coverage. Phillips got his eyes up and located the Herbert pass for an interception. Two plays later, Jaxson Dart would “throw” his first NFL touchdown pass.
Play 2: Jaxson Dart’s first touchdown pass
Complementary football; Phllips gets the interception and Dart finds Theo Johnson underneath on a well-designed Kansas City Chiefs styled shovel pass:
Two receivers stalk blocking with the fake pitch/option to Cam Skattebo (44) displaced two second level defenders, and brought them closer to the line of scrimmage, which allowed Johnson to spin into the end zone. Jon Runyan Jr. (76) did a good job kicking out the fake play-side read defender. A rare successful and well designed red zone play by Mike Kafka.
Play 3: Omarion Hampton for 54 yards
The Chargers responded quickly and shrunk the Giants’ 11-point lead to a three-point lead after the Giants’ run defense failed to stop Hampton (8) and a 2-point conversion run by Justin Herbert:
Shotgun G/H counter against a middle-of-the-field closed look, with Tyler Nubin (27) as the deep safety....
