Giants Q&A: How did rookie linebacker Quincy Roche stun Raiders?
Darnay Holmes, right, and Quincy Roche of the Giants celebrate after a turnover late in the fourth quarter clinched a victory against the Raiders at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Think Quincy Roche will remember his first career sack?
Undoubtedly. The rookie linebacker who was claimed off waivers from the Steelers at the beginning of the season and has emerged as a starting edge rusher for the Giants in the past two games, came up with his biggest play of the game when the team needed it the most. In the final minute, after spending most of the game working a power rush, he looped around Raiders left tackle Kolton Miller and stripped Derek Carr of the ball to seal the 23-16 victory. Leonard Williams recovered the fumble.
When did Roche know he’d made such an impact play?
He didn’t even realize he’d knocked the ball away from Carr and had no sense that it was rolling on the turf.
"I just heard the crowd start screaming and that’s how I knew," he said. "I heard the crowd screaming and I just got super excited."
Why is Roche starting?
The short answer: Because he is a good young player who is getting better. The long answer: Because Lorenzo Carter has missed the past two games with an ankle injury. The Giants also have clearly seen enough of Oshane Ximines, who has not only been unproductive but cost them a chance at the win last week in Kansas City will an inexcusable offsides penalty that negated a fourth-quarter interception. Ximines was a healthy scratch on Sunday as the Giants went with Roche, fellow rookie Azeez Ojulari, and practice-squad call-up Trent Harris ahead of him.
Did the Giants even have wide receivers on the field?
Yes, but it was difficult to tell looking at the passing stats. That position group was targeted only four times the entire game and not once until midway through the second quarter. The reason, Judge said, was that they wanted to run the ball on the Raiders and they were able to do so effectively. While they were not a huge part of the gameplan, the receivers did come up with some big catches. Kenny Golladay, in his first game back after missing three with a knee injury, caught two for 28 yards, both for first downs, and Kadarius Toney, not targeted until the third quarter, caught the one pass thrown his way for 9 yards and a first down.
The Giants threw for just 96 yards. When is the last time they had so few and won?
You have to go back to the 2007 game in Buffalo when they clinched a playoff berth in the penultimate week of the regular season. They had 94 in that victory.
Does this seem like last year with the big defensive turnaround after six pretty lousy games and a chance to make a push toward respectability (if not the postseason)?
"It feels similar," cornerback James Bradberry said of a unit that has allowed 13.0 points per game in the past three games. "We’re just making plays when it’s time to make plays."
Joe Judge wasn’t buying the similarities, though.
"I think it’s easy to draw parallels between a lot of different situations that we’ve all been through in the past, but this is its own team," he said. "It’s a completely unique and different team than last year. The important thing for us is to just keep improving and playing better ball every week."
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.
