Giants' grades vs. Buccaneers: Offense, defense and coaching all get failing marks
Tommy DeVito of the Giants is tripped up during the fourth quarter against Antoine Winfield Jr. of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
OFFENSE: F
The Giants gained 16 yards on their first play. It took another 13 plays for them to gain their next 16. Their best drive of the game, opening the second half, ended with a fumble by rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr. on first-and-goal from the 5. The Giants were 0-for-2 on fourth downs. Tommy DeVito was sacked four times and hit on nine dropbacks. Their 76 rushing yards wasn’t even their worst output of the season, it was their third lowest total.
DEFENSE: F
The Bucs had four players rush for touchdowns, the first time anyone has done that to the Giants since the Eagles in 1948. The 450 total yards, 294 passing yards and 24 first downs were all the most allowed by the Giants this season. The Giants had no sacks. They did not intercept a pass for the 10th consecutive game, tying the NFL record held by the 1976-77 49ers and the 2017 Raiders.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C
The Giants didn’t even get to try a field goal attempt. They had one promising look at one when they drove to the 35 but DeVito was sacked for a loss of 8 that pushed them just out of range and they punted. Ihmir Smith-Marsette had one punt return for 8 yards and a decent kickoff return (33 yards). The Giants did a nice job covering the short muffed kickoff after their only touchdown that pinned the Bucs at the 2, but a 56-yard run two plays later forfeited any field position.
COACHING: F
Brian Daboll made it sound so simple during the week when he said: “Malik [Nabers] is a pretty easy guy to throw it to. Tommy [DeVito] will throw him the ball.” That didn’t happen once in the first half, an inexcusable oversight. Daboll rolled the dice on a fourth-down conversion from his own 37 in the first quarter that came up short on a jet sweep to Wan’Dale Robinson. Daboll’s job security is about as tenuous as anyone’s in the league right now.
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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