Giants' Week 5 grades: Coaching, defense shine bright in fourth win

OFFENSE: B

Welcome back to the party, Darius Slayton. The wide receiver who took a pay cut just to stay with the team, and had been relegated mostly to the bench, caught six passes for 79 yards in a 27-22 victory over the Packers in London. Slayton gave the offense a dimension beyond Saquon Barkley. Make no mistake, though, this is a Barkley-driven offense. He accounted for 106 of the team’s 338 net yards, even while missing some playing time with a shoulder injury. Daniel Jones was a crisp 21-for-27 for 217 yards and a passer rating of 100.2. Daniel Bellinger is developing into one of the best rookies not just on the Giants but in the league. He caught two passes for 22 yards and ran in a 3-yard touchdown on a play designed for him to either run or pass the ball.

DEFENSE: B+

There were certainly some lapses early on – Mercedes Lewis could not have been more open on his 2-yard touchdown reception – but the Giants regrouped at halftime and were flying around the field. The group held Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense scoreless in the second half. Dexter Lawrence and Oshane Ximines came up with the two key second-half sacks. Adoree’ Jackson was playing his best game of the season before he left at halftime with knee and neck injuries; he wound up tied with Julian Love for the team lead with six tackles in the game, despite not taking the field in the second half. The Giants held the Packers to 301 net yards and just 94 rushing yards, limiting them to 4 of 10 third down conversions and one big fourth down stop.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C

Jason Pinnock nearly blew the whole comeback when he touched the Packers’ short punt after the Giants tied the score. He said it was inadvertent and he did not hear the “poison” call over the crowd noise. Lucky for the Giants, he had the presence of mind to swat the live football out of bounds. “We lived to see another down,” Pinnock said. Graham Gano kicked field goals of 48 and 37 yards. Punter Jamie Gillan, aka the Scottish Hammer, blasted two punts for 100 yards with only 11 yards of return off them.

COACHING: A

More than winning, Brian Daboll has the Giants believing. That may be a more important accomplishment considering the battered psyche of the organization he inherited. The Packers kept Barkley in check but for three big plays, all of which showed the creativity of the coaching staff: Two runs off direct snaps (one for a TD and one for 40 yards) and one reception (for 41 yards). There was certainly a lot of style on the Bellinger TD run too. Defensively Wink Martindale kept going at Rodgers even with less-than-optimal personnel. The Giants couldn’t quite run out the clock at the end but milked all but 11 seconds off it before taking a designed safety.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

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.