Nov 1, 20225 min read

Lex: Who Were The Giants “Risers & Fallers” In The Unbelievable 27-13 Loss?

The New York Giants fell to the Seattle Seahawks, 27-13, on Sunday afternoon in an uncharacteristically sloppy game. This time, turnovers and penalties were the culprits, typically what the Giants avoid.

With the loss, the Giants fall to 6-2 on the season and slide back to third place in the NFC East. They will enjoy a bye in Week nine before returning in November to take on the Houston Texans.

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Risers

Leonard Williams

Leonard Williams very much returned to form in Week eight. Despite being a bit banged up coming into the game, the Big Cat recorded a team-high eight tackles (five solos, one for a loss), five QB hits, and his first sack of the season. And quite frankly, we’re surprised there wasn’t more to his box score; that’s how active he was.

Darius Slayton

Darius Slayton has gone from the bench and the doghouse to the team’s top wide receiver in the blink of an eye. On Sunday, he had his best game of the season, hauling five receptions (on six targets) for a team-leading 66 yards.

The stats may not be overly impressive, but that’s where box score watching is faulty. Slayton had several big plays on third down. He also wrestled a pass away from Tariq Woolen and was very sharp in his route running. In addition, Darius made a point of driving back to the ball, giving Daniel Jones at least some space to work with.

Fallers

Daniel Jones

Daniel Jones simply didn’t seem right on Sunday. D.J. didn’t showcase the speed that usually has him running away from defenders, couldn’t seem to sell his bootlegs, and even got chased down by a 350-pound defensive tackle at one point.

He completed just 17 of his 31 pass attempts for 176 yards and no touchdowns. He also rushed for just 20 yards, averaging 3.3 yards per carry. Daniel lacked the help of his supporting cast. The Giants rely on Jones to make something out of nothing if he can’t do that, the team struggles.

Richie James Jr.

Richie James Jr., just a few short weeks ago was WR1 for the Giants and served as a potentially electric return man. James took four offensive snaps in Week eight and wasn’t targeted for the first time this season. He has just six receptions since Week four and seems to have fallen out of favor with head coach Brian Daboll & Company.

Compounding matters, James had a career-worst night as a return man. He fumbled two punts in Giants territory, leading to 10 easy points for Seattle. The two fumbles lost gives James three on the season.

Tyre Phillips

Tyre Phillips was thrust into the starting role with rookie Evan Neal (knee) out; he struggled on Sunday afternoon in Seattle. Phillips allowed several pressures from the corner, missed a few blocks that cost the team on the ground, and generally looked uncomfortable out there. Making matters worse, Phillips was called for two false start penalties.

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Giants Week 8 Report Card:

Offense: D+

The Giants couldn’t get anything going on offense as they continue to be hurt by slow starts. Their first three drives were of the three-and-out variety, producing 13 net yards. Their two most extended drives, a 14-play affair that spanned 79 yards and a 12-play drive spanning 45 yards, resulted in three instead of six.

Of their 11 drives, they only made it into Seahawks territory three times; we’re not counting the touchdown drive on which the defensive turnover set the offense up on the Hawks’ 2-yard line. Seventeen first-half passing yards? Some guys can spit a longer distance than that. And only 37 rushing yards against a bottom-five run defense? Something was off on Sunday–way off. And it cost them.

Defense: C-

The defense did a decent enough job shutting down the rushing attack of Kenneth Walker III, holding him to 51 yards on 18 carries (2.8 average). A giant forced turnover/fumble recovery by cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, that set the Giants offense up for its only touchdown of the day was clutch.

Sadly, the defense gave up two touchdowns on the Seahawks’ final four drives. The second one resulted from their being winded after holding the Hawks to a three-and-out, only to have to go back on the field when Richie James lost his second fumble on a punt return. At the end of the day, though, the players get paid to keep the opponent off the scoreboard regardless of the circumstances, and the Giants’ defense wasn’t able to do that.

Special Teams: C-

Jamie Gillan’s punting was sharp and key in giving the Seahawks a more extended field with which to work. Gillan averaged 53.7 yards per punt and netted 47.7 as the coverage team did its job. Gillan also put two inside the 20-yard line, forced two fair catches, and had one touchback as the Hawks managed just 16 yards total on their two returns. Graham Gano was Graham Gano. He had no issues with his game. Nick McCloud, who got the start as a strongside gunner, was directly responsible for forcing the two fair catches.

Jason Pinnock was flagged for an illegal blindside block and which wiped out a 42-yard punt return by Richie James, but the call stood. And speaking of James, his two fumbled punts led to ten Seahawks points which simply shouldn’t ever happen. James carefully swung the ball away from his body twice, leaving it susceptible to being popped out. What hurt the most was the first one; the ball came out when a Seahawk made contact with James’ back. That was carelessly wreckless.

Coaching: C-

Head Coach Brian Daboll said there were RPOs called, and the Seahawks took away the run, but one might still be able to argue that the Giants got a little too cute to start the game. We also thought the first-half offense was too cautious. Sometimes you have to give credit to the opponent for doing its job, but we just felt something was missing this week beyond execution.

The coaching kept this team in the game until the fourth quarter when the mistakes were finally too great to overcome. There is still a lot of cleaning up for this staff, who will take the bye week to regroup and assess where they are at this point and where they want to be once they return in a week.

Coach Daboll on the 6-2 start entering the bye week Full video: https://t.co/yMGR0P2OLA pic.twitter.com/Hh7eJ0wsK2 — GiantsTV (@GiantsTV) October 31, 2022

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