Big Blue View
In a season filled with close losses caused by blown fourth quarter leads, the New York Giants decided to be more efficient Monday night. They just didn’t bother to show up…many of them, anyway. We’ll see if there were some who did bother to play with pride in a 33-15 beatdown by the New England Patriots by looking at Pro Football Focus grades and snap counts.
First, let’s look at the entire offense:
Let’s focus first on the passing:
Jaxson Dart played all right in his return from the concussion protocol, but he wasn’t spectacular. He was not especially bothered by pressure; in fact, his only TD came when pressured. He only had one big-time throw, though, and one turnover-worthy play. The most damning thing in the chart above is all the short throws when he had a clean pocket. Dart only threw six balls beyond 10 yards downfield and completed only one of them, for 18 yards. Drake Maye by comparison only threw seven passes beyond 10 yards himself, but he completed five of them for 108 yards and a TD. Of course Maye was facing the Giants’ secondary, not the Patriots’ secondary.
Next, the offensive line. First the pass blocking:
Andrew Thomas had another great game, with a clean stat line and 100% blocking efficiency – why aren’t Giants fans voting him into the Pro Bowl? Jermaine Eluemunor gave up one hurry but otherwise played well also. Greg Van Roten also had a clean stat line and 100% efficiency. Jon Runyan Jr. gave up two hurries and had a penalty but otherwise played well enough, while John Michael Schmitz was just a bit below average and surrendered one hurry. The pass blocking was not the reason why the Giants scored only 15 points.
Now the run blocking:
Thomas had a spectacular night run blocking; see my previous statement about the Pro Bowl. The rest of the line was – as usual – OK but not great in run blocking, with everyone’s score within a few points of PFF’s “average” score of 60. As always (it seems), the Giants had a bunch of rushes for little or no gain in the first half, and then they started to open holes in the second half.
Speaking of the running game:
Devin Singletary, relegated to the bench early in the season as Cam Skattebo took over the starting job, has come on in the second half of the season: a TD, two missed tackles forced, 42 yards after contact. With Tyrone Tracy getting injured last night, he finds himself as the lead back he thought he was going to be when he signed with the Giants. Dart only ran four times last night, all of them scrambles, but he hasn’t yet learned his lesson about avoiding contact.
Finally, the receivers:
Darius Slayton had a beautiful 30-yard TD that was all his own effort after catching a short pass. Singletary reminded Mike Kafka that he can be...
