Giants' grades vs. Steelers in Week 8: Special teams flunk but defense does OK
OFFENSE: D
Yards are not the issue for this team — Tyrone Tracy ran for 145 and Darius Slayton had 108 receiving — but the Giants just cannot get those to translate into touchdowns. They had only one in this game, and it didn’t come until the fourth quarter (although there was one in the first half negated by a penalty). Daniel Jones played well up until the final three minutes, when he turned the ball over twice on a fumble and an interception with chances to tie the score. Malik Nabers had seven catches for 71 yards.
DEFENSE: B
Allowing only one touchdown should be enough to win, but with the Giants, even that seems to fall outside the margins of tolerance. This group held the Steelers to 0-for-4 in the red zone and forced a takeaway when Micah McFadden punched the ball away from Russell Wilson on a fourth-quarter scramble. That should have been a huge momentum shift, but the offense couldn’t capitalize. Azeez Ojulari had two sacks and has been playing well since Kayvon Thibodeaux went on IR.
SPECIAL TEAMS: F
Four different players had a chance to tackle Calvin Austin III on his 73-yard punt return for the game’s first touchdown, and obviously none of them did. There was a flag on that play, but it wasn’t for running into the punter; it was against the Giants and declined. Kicker Greg Joseph connected on four field goals with a long of 48. Ihmir Smith-Marsette had a nice kickoff return of 47 yards.
COACHING: D
Brian Daboll showed some creativity on the two-point conversion play that he said they’ve been working on for weeks. Maybe they needed more time, though; they botched the timing of it. Daboll has his hands full dealing with Deonte Banks after benching the starting cornerback. The Giants committed 11 penalties for 65 yards, including two delay of games and several illegal motions, which means the details are not being properly attended to.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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