Big Blue View
Who played well for the Giants, and who did not
Let’s review Monday night’s gritty, but mistake-filled, 26-18 loss by the New York Giants to the Pittsburgh Steelers in our unique ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’ style.
Tyrone Tracy — The rookie is clearly the Giants RB1, and when given the opportunity and a little bit of space to work with is showing that you don’t need the No. 2 overall pick in the draft to run the ball well.
Tracy had 20 carries for 145 yards. He had explosive carries, like his 45-yard touchdown run. He had tough carries, grinding out yards and dragging tacklers with him. This kid is good. Too bad the Giants will likely be without him this Sunday against the Washington Commanders since he has a concussion and this will be a short week.
Azeez Ojulari — Two more sacks for the fourth-year edge defender, who continues to make splash plays in the absence of Kayvon Thibodeaux. Ojulari finished with two sacks, two quarterback hits, two tackles for loss, and seven total tackles.
Bobby Okereke — Fourteen tackles, a forced fumble/recovery that gave the Giants an opportunity late in Monday’s game, a half-sack. Okereke played with ferocity Monday night.
Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns — I am going to lump these two defensive stars together. Neither had a dominant night statistically. They were both, though, forceful and their presences were felt. Lawrence had four tackles and a quarterback hit, and seemed to create a lot of plays for his teammates. Burns had a sack, a tackle for loss, and three quarterback hits.
Lawrence and Burns are also both becoming forceful locker room leaders:
Darius Slayton — Four catches for 108 yards for Slayton, who is always a comfortable target for Daniel Jones. Slayton had catches of 43, 36, and 18 yards.
Deonte Banks — Where do the Giants go from here with their 2023 first-round pick?
The third time was the unlucky charm for Banks. After two instances where Banks was publicly and correctly criticized for lack of effort, he was yanked off the field in the second quarter Monday night. The Giants were apparently unhappy with Banks’ tackling.
“Just thought during that series needed a little bit more,” Daboll said.
Run defense — The Giants entered the game giving up a league-worst 5.4 yards per rushing attempt. That didn’t get better against the Steelers. Pittsburgh ran 31 times for 167 yards, exactly 5.4 yards per attempt. The Steelers had 81 of those yards — on just nine carries — after one quarter. The Giants can talk about run fits and gap responsibilities all they want. They just don’t have enough talent on the defensive line aside from Dexter Lawrence.
2-point conversion decision AND play call — I hated the decision to try for two points following Tracy’s 45-yard touchdown run that made the score 23-15 with 10:07 to play. I know analytics says go for 2...
