Big Blue View
Let’s get to the ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’ for the New York Giants 22-9 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. It wasn’t a pretty night, especially for the offense.
Cam Skattebo — The rookie running back was the Giants’ offense vs. the Chiefs. Tyrone Tracy was off to a good start with seven carries for 29 yards and two receptions for 7 yards before leaving late in the first quarter with a shoulder injury.
That left the backfield to Skattebo, with a few snaps for veteran Devin Singletary. Skattebo carried 10 times for 60 yards and a 13-yard touchdown, and caught six more passes for 61 yards. He was about the only thing the MetLife Stadium crowd got excited about when the Giants had the ball.
Skattebo brings energy, toughness and talent when he is in the game.
Brian Burns — The veteran edge defender was a presence on Sunday. Burns filled just about every column on the stat sheet. He had six tackles, his fourth sack of the young season, a tackle for loss, two quarterback hits, two passes defensed and a forced fumble.
Burns is off to a phenomenal start this season. He is certainly doing his part.
Kayvon Thibodeaux — The fourth-year edge defender did not fill the stat sheet the way Burns did, but he was a force. Thibodeaux had just two tackles and two quarterback hits, but he seemed to be buzzing around Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes all night.
Andrew Thomas — This was a successful, if abbreviated debut for Thomas in his return from Lisfran surgery. Thomas played 28 snaps, giving up no pressures in 12 pass blocking snaps. He was replaced late in the first half by Marcus Mbow.
Russell Wilson — “We want Dart.” The chants from Giants fans for rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart started in the second quarter after Wilson’s second interception. In the fourth quarter, when Dart replaced Wilson for a couple of plays with the Giants in the red zone, fans booed when Wilson came back in the game and Dart exited.
As good as Wilson was last Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, throwing for 450 yards and three touchdowns in a throwback performance, he was that bad against the Chiefs. Wilson ended up 18 of 32 for 160 yards and two interceptions Sunday night.
Wilson and the Giants never really figured out a way to successfully attack Kansas City’s two-high shell. From NextGen Stats:
The Chiefs utilized a split-safety coverage shell on 30 of 38 dropbacks (78.9%) in their Week 3 win over the Giants, the highest rate by any team in a game this season.
It was also their 3rd-highest split-safety rate with Steve Spagnuolo as defensive coordinator (since 2019). When using split-safety shells, the Kansas City defense allowed 13 completions on 24 attempts for 133 yards and an interception, forcing 12 pressures (40.0% pressure rate), sacking Russell Wilson twice.
The first interception, an attempted...
