Big Blue View
One last look back at Giants-Steelers
The New York Giants are for the seventh time in eight years after Monday’s 26-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Rookie running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. finished with 145 yards on 20 carries with a score (7.3 yards per carry). He unfortunately left the game with a head injury and is currently in the concussion protocol, but not before establishing himself as the 1A back moving forward when healthy.
Below are several impressive Tracy Jr. runs that showcase not only his noticeable burst through the hole but also the nuances that have allowed him to average 5.2 yards per carry on the season.
(the above play was a negative rush by Tracy but an excellent play design by Teryl Austin)
The rookie has 376 yards on 73 carries with two touchdowns on the season. He is also a threat out of the backfield as a receiver; he’s caught 16 passes for 113 yards. According to Next Gen Stats, Tracy Jr. reached 20.6 miles per hour on his 45-yard touchdown run — the fastest speed by a Giants offensive ball carrier over the last two seasons.
Tracy Jr. has only allowed one pressure in 23 pass-blocking snaps on the season. That pressure was against the Steelers, but see why the play was still adequate for Tracy:
The Steelers run a mugged-up A-Gap twist at Tracy Jr. and center John Michael Schmitz. The rookie ensures the transition is enough for the center to handle before getting in the way of the other pass rusher. The pass did go incomplete, and I can’t say Tracy Jr. excelled on the play — rarely can one say that when a blocker has his back turned the opposite direction — but he still mitigated the rush and gave Daniel Jones a chance to complete a deep pass to Malik Nabers.
After watching the tape, I thought Daniel Jones played better than I anticipated. He connected with Darius Slayton for 18 yards on this third-and-8 backside dig route after going through his reads to the play side:
Later in the fourth quarter, while driving down by eight in the final minute, Jones did a fantastic job snapping into position — in one fluid motion — to orient himself to an open Malik Nabers on the sideline for a 15-yard gain:
Jones also did a great job finding Theo Johnson up the seam for 25 yards on the Giants’ final drive. It actually almost gave me some hope. In seriousness, this is an elite throw from Jones:
These are the types of flashes that allowed Jones to maintain his role as the quarterback over the past six seasons. Jones made several big-time throws in the game, including his first completion:
The Giants gained 43 yards on their first pass. I loved how Brian Daboll opened multiple drives, including this initial one. New York ran twice to start three drives in the game; he rotated a combination of DUO and Zone-Read, which look...
