Advanced numbers painted a bleak picture for the Giants after their 28-6 loss to the Rams on Sunday night, but the bigger question now is how they respond.
That kind of blowout can happen to any team. John Harbaugh’s 2008 Ravens took one of those hits early in the season, losing 31-3 on the road to Tony Dungy’s Colts in Week 6 and later getting beat 30-10 by the Giants before finishing 6-4 and reaching the AFC Championship Game.
The point is not that this Giants team is the Ravens, but that a bad night does not have to define a season. Still, the Giants now have to own this one, especially with Jaxson Dart’s injury adding another layer of trouble.
PFF’s grades were rough across the board, with very little to like on offense. Andrew Thomas was the lone Giants offensive player who graded well, finishing at 74.5 overall.
He gave up a hit and a hurry, though one of those hits was the play that injured Dart’s knee. Jermaine Eluemunor was charged with one sack and a hit on the same snap, and that sack was the only one the Giants allowed all night on a quarterback despite giving up 11 total pressures.
Even so, the interior of the line was in bad shape, with all three starters graded in the 40s and Sisi Mauigoa sinking to a miserable 23.3 pass-block grade. John Michael Schmitz also landed in that range, in part because sometimes he seemed to block air instead of a rusher.
There were a couple of decent individual efforts elsewhere. A few receivers, including Isaiah Likely and Darnell Mooney, held up reasonably well, but Theo Johnson’s 38.0 grade kept him in liability territory.
The defense had a similar split: one standout, a few passable performances, and a long list of players who fell short. Jevon Holland was the brightest spot by far.
He picked off a pass for the second straight game, forced two fumbles, made seven tackles and an assist, missed none, and allowed only one completion for nine yards. That kind of outing echoes the version of Holland that earned him his big contract.
Among starting safeties, he is ranked No. 1 after two games, just ahead of the Rams’ Quentin Lake, Julian Love, and Kyle Hamilton. That matters, because Tyler Nubin’s 29.3 grade left him ranked 64th of 69 safeties.
A few others on defense did at least enough to avoid the bottom tier. Dru Phillips posted a 69.5 grade in only 30 snaps and was not targeted.
Brian Burns checked in at 67.2 with a QB hit, a hurry, and a run stop before leaving with an ankle injury. Abdul Carter, at 67.0, produced the Giants’ only sack of Matthew Stafford.
D.J. Reader finished at 63.8.
But Carter and Reader each missed two tackles, and the other side of the ledger was ugly: Tremaine Edmunds turned in a 28.5 with a missed tackle and three catches allowed on three targets, including a touchdown. Shelby Harris (40.7), Josh Tupou (40.2), and Arvell Reese (50.5) also came in well below standard.
Jameis Winston’s season debut did not go well, either. He finished last among starting quarterbacks in both expected points added per play and completion percentage over expected, and it was not especially close.
Aaron Rodgers was nearly as bad in EPA/play, but Winston sat alone at the bottom in completion % over expected. Matthew Stafford, meanwhile, was in the upper right quadrant and second in EPA/play, which says plenty about how little resistance the Giants’ pass defense offered.
The Giants’ defense was also near the bottom of the league by team measures. They were basically tied with the Falcons for the worst performance of the week, though six teams graded out as bad or worse on defense, including Kansas City and Buffalo, both of whom still won.
A DVOA look told a similar story. The Giants remained in the lower-left quadrant, bad on both offense and defense, though they had more company there than the EPA/play chart suggested.
Tennessee, their next opponent, is also in that group after nearly beating the Eagles. Even so, the broader point does not change: the Giants were bad.
Winston did not get much help from the people around him, either. His receivers had the lowest average separation of any quarterback’s targets at 2.3 yards.
His tight window percentage was 33.3%, the highest of any quarterback, and his pressure rate of 58.6% also led the NFL. Four of the top five quarterbacks in that pressure category lost their games.
There was at least one encouraging note. The Giants’ special teams have been performing well over the first two games.
The schedule now offers a chance to steady things. Tennessee, Arizona, and Washington are next, and those teams have combined for just one win.
Last year, when Dart missed time with a concussion, Winston helped keep the Giants in games against Detroit and Green Bay. Even after a poor night Monday, he remains one of the better backup quarterbacks in the league.
The Commanders are dealing with a quarterback injury of their own, so the Giants are not walking into a stretch with no path forward.
If the Harbaugh staff is as good as the early buzz suggested when they were hired, the Giants should still be able to win some games here. The next few weeks will show whether the payoff matches the effort.
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