Big Blue View
The New York Giants could not pull off the improbable sweep of the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, losing 38-20. This was an ugly slog of a game on a lot of fronts. Here are the initial ‘Kudos & Wet Willies.’
Jaxson Dart — The rookie quarterback’s stat line — 14 of 24, 193 yards, 1 passing TD, 1 rushing TD — isn’t great. It would have looked a lot better, though, with some help from Theo Johnson, Darius Slayton, and the officiating.
Dart did everything he could on Sunday. It was just never going to be enough. Tom Brady was impressed. That’s good enough for me.
Graham Gano — The Giants’ placekicker made it through the game healthy after spending four weeks on Injured Reserve with a groin injury. He made field goals of 47 and 34 yards, and a pair of extra points.
Brian Burns — Burns had his 10th sack, just 2.5 off his career-best, after just eight games. He is having an extraordinary season as a pass rusher.
Abdul Carter — Carter will get his first full NFL sack — some day. He continues to make an impact without one. He had three pressures on Sunday, drew a holding penalty, and made five tackles.
Kayvon Thibodeaux — Thibodeaux made a game-changing play, stripping Jalen Hurts of the ball on a Tush Push. He, and the Giants, just didn’t get rewarded for it. Thibodeaux had a quarterback hit, a pass defensed and five tackles.
After the game, Thibodeaux didn’t hide his feelings about the fumble that wasn’t.
Run defense — Embarrassing. That’s the only way to describe it.
The Giants gave up a 65-yard touchdown run to Saquon Barkley on the Eagles’ second offensive play of the game. They ended up giving 278 yards rushing, surrendering more than 9 yards per rush.
Barkley had 150 yards rushing on 14 carries (10.7 per carry). Tank Bigsby had 104 yards on just nine carries, 11.6 yards per attempt.
By the end of the game, would-be Giants tacklers were barely offering any resistance.
Just terrible.
Kickoff coverage — The Giants entered the game third in the league, surrendering just 21.3 yards per kickoff return. Will Shipley of Philadelphia had three returns for 99 yards, a 33.0-yard average, including 41 and 32-yard returns. The Giants also gave up a 17-yard punt return to Xavier Gipson, who was briefly a Giant earlier in the season.
Theo Johnson — When you are a 6-foot-6, 264-pound tight end, your job is to make contested catches in traffic. You cannot drop a ball that would give you a first down at around the 10-yard line, taking four potential points off the board. Even if there are two defenders there. Johnson dropped a ball he had both hands on before he was even hit. Too many passes get away from Johnson, who entered the game with a 10.5% career drop rate.
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