Big Blue View
We don’t need Pro Football Focus to tell us why the New York Giants lost 24-20 Sundayday to the Chicago Bears. And with Brian Daboll being fired Monday afternoon, this story won’t be high on your list of priorities. Let’s see anyway what they thought of the performance of individual players (PFF doesn’t grade coaches).
Here are the overall offense grades. The only point to be made is that when your quarterback, offensive tackles, and leading wide receiver and tight end all play well, offense is not the problem:
Let’s look in detail at how Jaxson Dart did in PFF’s eyes:
You probably think that Dart had a great game, and overall PFF did give him a very good 71.2. Passing, though, was a little lower. The reason is simple once you remember what PFF prioritizes. Dart had 2 big-time throws, but 3 turnover-worthy plays. That’s the story in a nutshell. He wasn’t actually intercepted, but PFF ignores that because they focus only on Dart’s responsibility, not the defense’s, in grading him. Dart did everything else you’d ask of an NFL quarterback yesterday, passing well under pressure, going through read progressions, and layering his throws to find receivers at intermediate depths against a zone defense:
It’s not just that Dart threw to intermediate (nine times) and deep (three times) parts of the field, it’s that he completed most of them (green circles). This is a rookie who is playing like a veteran. Were it not for the TWPs his grade would have been a lot higher.
Now the offensive line. First, pass blocking:
The pass protection was very good, with only 10 pressures and one sack given up against a good Bears defensive line, one of them attributed to Tyrone Tracy rather than the offensive line. Probably the worst thing was not picking up the two corner blitzes. Andrew Thomas had another stellar game, Jermaine Eluemunor, back from injury, played very well (albeit with one sack given up), and Austin Schlottman again played well at center in place of injured John Michael Schmitz. Jon Runyan was OK (one pressure) and Greg Van Roten a bit below average, but not terrible (two hurries).
The run blocking was a different story:
This is the Giants’ offensive line dilemma: It’s now a good pass blocking line, but other than the outstanding Andrew Thomas, it’s barely average to slightly below average blocking for the run. There was no better evidence of that than the Giants’ ill-fated attempt to ice the game with a field goal rather than a TD in the fourth quarter. If you don’t have confidence in your OL to get half a yard, that’s telling. You’re not going to have five studs on the OL (unless you’re the Eagles), but expect whoever the GM is in 2026 to try to replace both starting guards, and to look for someone who is good both in the pass and run games.
Next, the receivers:
As anticipated from the...
