Big Blue View
I had an opening to this post all lined up before the game: About Brian Daboll, for all his shortcomings, knowing how to evaluate quarterbacks, and how tonight’s game would match the quarterback he wanted last year and couldn’t get against the quarterback he wanted this year and was able to get. About whether Jaxson Dart would tone it down a bit coming off his concussion and seek to avoid unnecessary contact. About how new defensive coordinator Charlie Bullen might be able to rally the defense with a more aggressive approach and make a game of it against the 10-2 New England Patriots, especially with the New York Giants’ best cornerback, Paulson Adebo, returning to the lineup.
None of it mattered, though, as the Giants laid one of their familiar eggs that they manage to every season. In 2023, it was the 40-0 opener vs. Dallas. Last year, it was their post-bye 30-7 shellacking by Tampa Bay after returning from the bye and releasing Daniel Jones. This year, it was tonight’s desultory showing in Foxboro, a 33-15 embarrassment of a game that was for all intents and purposes over by the end of the first quarter.
What did we learn from this sorry showing?
Kafka was 0-2 as interim head coach in his first two tries, but the Giants led both games and played spirited ball against better opponents. The defense let them down in the fourth quarter of both games, but that was at least partly attributable to the vanilla defensive scheme of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. With Bowen jettisoned last Monday, there was hope that interim DC Charlie Bullen might get the Giants’ pass rush going, confuse Maye with disguised defenses, and give the Giants a chance to preserve a fourth quarter lead for a change.
What we got, though, was an embarrassment on both sides of the ball. The defense if anything was worse than it ever looked this year under Bowen. The Patriots marched up and down the field with little resistance most of the evening. Meanwhile, the Giants’ offense looked stuck in the mud (though there was no actual mud). After they were already down 17-0 before the first quarter was even over, the Giants got the ball back, and Deonte Banks returned the kickoff to the 38-yard line. Good position to start a drive to get back in the game. Kafka proceeded to call five consecutive running plays. Three of them gained 1 yard, continuing a Giants trend of not being able to run the ball effectively early in games. What are we doing here? Trying to run out the clock? Fortunately they had one running play in each series that kept the chains moving. Kafka seemed to have little confidence in the Giants’ receivers against the New England secondary.
Finally, Kafka had Dart throw to Theo Johnson, who wasn’t able to quite make the catch but drew a penalty for a late hit. That...
