Big Blue View
The New York Giants continued to find unique ways to embarrass themselves in Monday’s 33-15 loss to the New England Patriots. The Giants’ seventh straight loss saw them fall to 2-11. Let’s get to the ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’ review.
Darius Slayton — The veteran wide receiver had a 30-yard catch-and-run touchdown in the first half and a 2-point conversion grab on a wild play by Jaxson Dart in the second half.
Devin Singletary — This was by far Singletary’s most productive game of the season, highlighted by a 22-yard touchdown run on a fake reverse out of the ‘Wildcat’ formation. Singletary finished with 12 carries for 68 yards (5.7 yards per carry) and three receptions for 34 yards to give him 102 yards from scrimmage. He also had two kickoff returns for 54 yards (27.0 yards per return), giving him 156 total yards on the night.
Zaire Barnes — The backup to the backup to the backup inside linebacker (that makes him the fourth option behind Micah McFadden, Darius Muasau and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles had the game of his life. Entering Monday, Barnes had 15 tackles in 10 career NFL games. Against the Patriots, he had 11 tackles, his first career sack, a quarterback hit, and a tackle for loss. He made the most of an unlikely opportunity.
Giants special teams — I would say the special teams display by the Giants on Monday night was a comedy of errors, except there wasn’t anything funny about it.
The Giants gave up a 94-yard punt return touchdown to Marcus Jones. Jones finished the night with 124 yards on three punt returns, a 41.3 yard average.
Placekicker Younghoe Koo failed to even get off a kick when he stubbed his toe in the turf on what should have been a 47-yard field goal attempt. Holder Jamie Gillan appeared to bobble the snap, throwing off Koo’s approach to the ball. That led to a New England touchdown.
Gunner Olszewski fumbled a kickoff return when he was concussed by a massive hit. That led to a New England field goal.
The Giants gave up a 39-yard kickoff return to Terrell Jennings on the game’s first play.
Maybe the Giants can go for the trifecta and replace Michael Ghobrial with an interim special teams coordinator.
Mike Kafka — The Giants’ interim head coach raised the white flag and might have tossed away any hope of getting the full-time head coaching job when he refused to go for the first down on fourth-and-1 at the Giants’ 40-yard line down 20 points with 1:13 left in the first half. Your team is 2-10, you have pounded away at the idea of being aggressive and you hand the Patriots another scoring opportunity? Which they, of course, took advantage of. Kafka also did not go for the first down on fourth-and-8 from the Giants’ 27-yard line down 30-15 with less than eight minutes to play.
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