Giants grades vs. Philadelphia Eagles in Week 7: More F's as the team continues to struggle
Daniel Jones, Joshua Ezeudu and Malik Nabers of the Giants look on in the first half against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
OFFENSE: F
The Giants totaled 119 yards of offense, which was 68 yards fewer than Saquon Barkley’s total from scrimmage for the Eagles. Daniel Jones was 14-for-21 for 99 yards before being benched in the fourth quarter in favor of Drew Lock in the Giants' 28-3 home loss to the Eagles. He was sacked seven times and Lock once in an awful performance by the line in its first game without star left tackle Andrew Thomas. No Giant rushed for more than 23 yards; Barkley rushed for 176. The Giants’ longest play covered 14 yards. They have scored one touchdown in four home games this season.
DEFENSE: D
Sure, the Giants gave up 28 points and allowed Barkley rushes of 38, 41 and 55 yards, not to mention a 41-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Hurts to A.J. Brown. And the Eagles totaled 269 rushing yards. None of that is good. But to be fair, it is difficult to operate on defense when your offense is dysfunctional and unable to provide some breaks. Nose tackle Dexter Lawrence continues to establish himself as one of the NFL’s best defenders. He had two sacks, giving him nine this season, and stuffed his friend and former teammate Barkley on a couple of occasions.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C
Greg Joseph made a 38-yard field goal for the Giants’ only points. The busiest player in the game was punter Matt Haack, in for the injured Jamie Gillan. He punted 11 times for 517 yards – about 4 ½ times as many yards as the Giants managed on offense. He averaged 47 yards, with a long of 64 and put four punts inside the 20-yard line.
COACHING: F
Few games on the schedule figured to matter more to Giants president John Mara than this one, given how reluctant he was to part with Barkley and the fact it was at home against a key division rival. Things could not have gone worse. Coach Brian Daboll twice made conservative decisions on fourth downs — once with a punt, the other time with a field goal — in what appeared to be a clear sign of his lack of trust in Jones and the offense. Job One this week is keeping the season from completely going down the drain.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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