Giants' late rally falls short in loss to Steelers
PITTSBURGH — The Giants have many issues. Their offensive line is down to a third-string left tackle who wasn’t on the team three weeks ago, they have a starting cornerback whose lack of effort has caused him to be benched, and they continue to commit untimely sloppy penalties.
Their most glaring deficiency, though, remains their inability to score touchdowns with any consistency, and that was the main reason for their 26-18 loss to the Steelers on Monday night at Acrisure Stadium.
The one and only touchdown they scored in this game was just the second during what is now a three-game losing streak that has dropped their record to 2-6.
“It’s not fun,” Giants coach Brian Daboll said of being 2-6 for the second straight year. “We work as hard as we can each week . . . We’d like to get better results.”
The Giants did have two chances to potentially tie the score late, but both times Daniel Jones turned the ball over. He was stripped on a sack by T.J. Watt at the Steelers’ 27 with 2:59 remaining and then threw an interception to Beanie Bishop Jr. with 34 seconds left.
Jones took the blame for both, saying he failed to shift tight end Theo Johnson to the right side to help block Watt on the sack and noting he threw the intercepted pass too high for Devin Singletary.
“It’s frustrating for sure,” Jones said. “Very frustrating. We hurt ourselves a lot tonight. We have to be more detailed, starting with me. Some of the good things that happened were negated by mistakes.”
Jones’ abysmal record in prime-time games sunk to 1-15. He has not won any of his eight career Monday Night Football starts.
At least Jones connected on several long passes. The Giants hadn’t had an offensive play for more than 15 yards since Week 5 in Seattle and had six passing and three rushing in this game. He finished 24-for-38 with 264 yards.
The Steelers are 6-2 and 2-0 against New York teams since switching to Russell Wilson as their starting quarterback.
Even when the Giants did get in the end zone, they couldn’t get the normal seven points out of it. Tyrone Tracy Jr.’s 45-yard touchdown run made it a one-score game with 11:07 left, but the Giants botched a two-point attempt and trailed 23-15.
On the conversion attempt, they deployed an unorthodox formation with linemen set wide to the left as a wall for Malik Nabers, but when the ball was snapped to Jones and he threw it for a screen, none of the blockers moved. Alex Highsmith ran through them and hit Nabers to break up the pass.
It took more than 40 minutes of game action for a touchdown to be scored by either team, and it didn’t even come from an offense. Calvin Austin II returned a punt 73 yards to give Pittsburgh a 16-9 lead with 4:38 left in the third quarter.
Nick McCloud, Bryce Ford-Wheaton, Patrick Johnson and Darius Muasau all had opportunities to make tackles as Austin brought the ball across the field and then down the left sideline. The Giants had a legitimate gripe over punter Matt Haack being run into as he kicked it, but no flag was thrown.
Austin scored a second touchdown, this time on a 29-yard catch, early in the fourth. Wilson lofted a high-arcing pass over rookie cornerback Dru Phillips for the scoring play that put Pittsburgh ahead 23-9.
The score was tied at 9 at halftime on six combined field goals, with each team having a would-be touchdown negated by a penalty. The Steelers had a second one overturned upon review. Wilson hit Pickens, threading a pass between Deonte Banks and Jason Pinnock, but a video review overturned that. A hit by Banks prevented both of Pickens’ feet from coming down and Pittsburgh settled for a field goal.
Banks’ hit saved that touchdown, but it seemed to be his missed assignment that nearly allowed it, and that wound up being his last defensive snap of the game. He was benched a week after he was called out by coaches and teammates for lack of effort on a play in the loss to the Eagles.
On that same drive, Banks was hurdled by Najee Harris on a long first-down run in which he tried to tackle the runner low and also missed a tackle on Pickens after a catch at the 11. Banks, last year’s first-round pick, was replaced by practice squad elevation Greg Stroman.
“Just thought during that series we needed a little bit more,” Daboll said of the decision. “The way that series went, we just decided to go in a different direction.”
“I don’t think I was playing bad,” Banks said, “but it’s not my choice.”
Asked what Daboll said to him when he pulled him, Banks said: “He said I needed to tackle.”
Add that to the growing and glaring list of things the Giants need to improve on in this already difficult season.
Notes & quotes: Chris Hubbard. who joined the Giants two weeks ago, started at left tackle. He replaced Josh Ezeudu, who started there last week in place of injured All-Pro Andrew Thomas.
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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