QUARTERBACK
-Daniel Jones: 24/38 – 264 yards / 0 TD – 1 INT / 72.7 RAT
Jones had to drop back against a Pittsburgh defense that blitzes at the second lowest rate. A pass defense that constantly puts 7-8 defenders in coverage with one of the top edge duos in the league. With a left tackle who was just signed off the San Francisco practice squad. Coming into a prime-time game with a 1-15 career prime-time record in this situation was not an ideal setup for the sixth-year pro. This is where the team needed him to step up and lead the way. Backs up against the wall, playoff hopes slipping between their fingers, very little hope left. Jones responded with his third straight game without a touchdown (fourth in five weeks) and the first multiple-turnover performance since Week One.
The game plan early on revolved around quick screen passes and draws to offset the overly aggressive up-field pass-rush attack. He was taking several hits, but he stood tall. Jones actually pushed the ball downfield multiple times, as their inability to get a handle on explosive plays has been the largest contributor to the lack of points. That led to the increased overall yardage, but they could not capitalize in the red zone. The two delay-of-game penalties showed a complete lack of awareness and only add fuel to the fire surrounding his struggles to forecast problems ahead of time. While the overall aggression was better, Jones did not put this team in position to overcome adversity. He continues to be the catalyst to adversity.
RUNNING BACK
-Tyrone Tracy: 20 att – 145 yards – 1 TD / 2 rec – 5 yards
The lone bright spot on this offense in the loss to Pittsburgh was the fifth-round rookie who continues to show he is the top threat in the backfield. Tracy is no longer a potential flash in the pan. This is a real running back with burst through the hole and power through contact. He led the entire NFL in yards despite tying for the sixth most carries. His 45-yard touchdown run highlighted the vital quick trigger you want to see a back possess. He makes up his mind without dancing too much and has the final gear to outrun a defensive back like Minkah Fitzpatrick. I watched each of the pass block snaps Tracy had and it strengthens the notion even more that this former wide receiver is going to be a true every-down, every-situation player. This kid is effective in all areas.
WIDE RECEIVER
-Malik Nabers: 7 rec – 71 yards
Nabers went back to being force fed. Jones targeted him 13 times. That was more than any other two players on the Giants offense combined. There were a few components to the tape I did not like. One, his releases off the line look overly labored and sloppy. The timing and balance are not clean. Two, he dropped two passes. On an offense that has zero margin to work with, those drops are absolute cannot-have-it plays. I am starting to sense the frustration with some body language and while it is premature to read into it and I do not have enough credible information to say anything too strongly, it is worth keeping an eye on. We’ve seen it before.
-Darius Slayton: 4 rec / 108 yards
We all know about the lack of explosives from the passing game. Slayton has been the most consistent big play guy on the team. He had catches for 43, 36, and 18 yards in this game alone. He is heading toward yet another 700+ yard season, the fifth of his career. Love him or hate him, there is a skill set that teams will inquire about in the next week prior to the trade deadline. More on that below.
-Wan’Dale Robinson caught all 5 targets for 28 yards as he continues to build on a historically low yards-per-reception number. His role has evolved into a glorified scat back when it comes to his impact on the offense. His average depth of target was negative 0.4 yards.
TIGHT END
-Theo Johnson had a couple of nice grabs away from his body on the move. His 11.7 yards per catch were actually second-best on the team and he brought in a contested ball. The flashes he showed as a receiver are exactly what gets Daboll excited about him. As for the blocking, I know this is a multi-year project and I do respect the effort he puts into contributing in this area. But Johnson is a liability to this run game. He could not sustain a block past initial contact on nearly every snap he had to run block. TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith tossed him away and contributed to tackles at will. This is a significant area of needed improvement.
-Chris Manhertz and Daniel Bellinger played sparingly. Manhertz handled TJ Watt well a couple times, but there was not much impact in the run game.
OFFENSIVE LINE
-The Chris Hubbard experiment went about as badly as one could have expected. He had never played more than 45 snaps in a season at left tackle. He started at that spot in Week One of 2019 and 2021. After being signed from the San Francisco practice squad (who is having their own set of issues at right tackle), he allowed 10 pressures, 4 QB hits, and a sack. Early on, it was as ugly as we have seen with anyone outside of Andrew Thomas at left tackle. The saving grace to his tape was a very solid performance in the run game. I’m not sure NYG can afford to keep throwing the 33-year-old out there if he has another game like this. A guy in this situation can get a pass for a week, but that’s it.
-Jermaine Eluemunor allowed 2 pressures and a sack, a sack that resulted in a lost fumble. During the post-game press conference, Daboll commented that Jones failed to properly communicate the protection call. Another example that you always need to have a pulse on when it comes to the notion that sacks are often (not always) a quarterback stat.
-The three interior blockers all graded out average, which is totally acceptable against a front like Pittsburgh. John Michael Schmitz and Greg Van Roten each allowed a TFL along with two pressures and Jon Runyan allowed a pressure. There was a lack of consistent cohesion between the three when PIT sent extra pass rushers via the blitz. My other complaint is the penalty load. The line combined for five flags, a couple of which were drive killers.
EDGE
-Azeez Ojulari continued his fine play, showing impressive effort and grit. He is a finisher who plays hard through the whistle, and it is encouraging to see. He added three other tackles and two more pressures. Brian Burns added a sack and three pressures in addition to four tackles. The run defense of these two left something to be desired early on. While they are setting the edge, they are part of the problem when it comes to shedding the blockers and making plays a the point-of-attack.
-Tomon Fox was the guy who rotated in (just 12 snaps) and he did nothing of note. It will be interesting to see if they have more rotation on a short week, as Ojulari (91%) and Burns (86%) played a ton of snaps.
DEFENSIVE TACKLE
-Dexter Lawrence did not finish with any sacks, but he still leads the NFL in that department after eight weeks. He did pressure Russell Wilson on a third-down play that resulted in a sack and he recorded a TFL. Rakeem Nunez-Roches remains the other starter because there simply isn’t much to compete with. He was not good against the run and his lone pressure on the night came in the fourth quarter where PIT was clearly trying to bleed the clock out. For the number of snaps he plays, there is very little impact.
-DJ Davidson quietly played a very effective game. He was second on the team with 8 tackles, four of which were stops for the defense. His usage has been a bit different over the past two weeks. Both games resulted in 30+ snaps with the vast majority coming away from the nose tackle position. Shane Bowen is searching for answers to the horrid run defense, and this appears to be the experiment. I like the idea because he is more effective than Nunez-Roches and his bull rush capabilities against lone blockers is nice to have next to the often-double-teamed Lawrence.
-Elijah Chatman played sparingly, adding one tackle and a pressure.
LINEBACKER
-It was an ugly start for Bobby Okereke. I saw multiple plays early on where he was the culprit of PIT’s success in the running game. He missed two tackles in the first quarter and was slow to fill his gap. However, as the game went on his true colors came out and he ended with a positive grade on the night. He led the team with 14 tackles and came up with the play of the night that gave NYG a fighting chance at the end of the game. He split a sack with Micah McFadden and forced + recovered a fumble. It gave NYG the ball in PIT territory with under 5:00 left in the game, down 8 points. If NYG had made the comeback, this would have been the play everyone pointed to.
-McFadden added 4 tackles in addition to the half-sack. His interior run defense was just OK, but he was not targeted much in the passing game. Isaiah Simmons was a sub-package pass defender who ended with a pass break up. He missed a tackle and was unable to get off a block on a 3rd-and-12 screen play that resulted in a first down.
CORNERBACK
-The story of the night was the benching mid-game of 2023 first rounder Deonte Banks. This comes a week after his egregious lack of hustle against the Eagles. I would be lying if I said I was not keeping a close eye on him early on and I felt the benching was justified not for a lack of effort, but for a lack of effectiveness. Banks missed two tackles and was beat in coverage multiple times. He was obviously on a short leash. And there usually is more to a situation like this than we know right away. Banks is still the best corner on this team but there is a lack of reliability to him.
-Greg Stroman relieved Banks and actually put a few impressive things on tape. He broke up a deep ball and added two physical tackles.
-Nick McCloud added five tackles but all three balls thrown his way were completed.
-Rookie nickel Andru Phillips was torched all night. He was targeted 6 times, and they resulted in 6 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown. The run defense and tackling were solid, but he does not look as fluid moving backwards as he does coming downhill. That is the hole in his game right now, a noteworthy one considering the position he plays.
SAFETY
-Jason Pinnock and Tyler Nubin each played all 65 snaps. As a pair, it was the worst game we have seen them play this season. They both did a poor job tackling and neither were effective in coverage. They were late to the outside on multiple downfield passes. Pinnock especially was slow to react to route concepts and got beat deep by a tight end. Eight games into the season and these two have combined for one pass break up and don’t have a single interception. Xavier McKinney meanwhile leads the NFL with six interceptions.
SPECIAL TEAMS
-K Greg Joseph: 4/4 (made 29, 39, 44, 48)
-P Matt Haack: 4 punts / 48.0 avg – 24.8 net
3 STUDS
-ED Azeez Ojulari, RB Tyrone Tracy, WR Darius Slayton
3 DUDS
-OT Chris Hubbard, S Jason Pinnock, CB Andru Phillips
3 THOUGHTS ON PIT
(1) A successful franchise that does not revolve around the quarterback. It is possible after all. If I am an owner of a team, I am using the continuity of Pittsburgh as the barometer for success. Mike Tomlin has a team that took on two castoff quarterbacks this past offseason in first place with a 6-2 record atop arguably the best division in football. A coach who has never been below .500 after becoming head coach in 2007! The last time the Steelers finished under .500, Eli Manning was still playing quarterback at Ole Miss. Here are the leading passers for Tomlin and the Steelers over the past five seasons: Mason Rudolph, Ben Roethlisberger (in his final two seasons), and Kenny Pickett. As much as we want to believe the quarterback is the one thing the separates NYG from constant contention, the PIT organization is where they need to aspire to be from the top on down.
(2) Before I throw a parade for PIT, let’s discuss their upside. As good as Russell Wilson has been these past two weeks under center, he has yet to play against a good defense or even a game on the road. Wilson looked cooked last year in Denver. But this is a team that is reliant on defensive play, and their offense has not been top-20 in scoring since 2020. This offense is currently middle-of-the-pack and, yes, that can put them in a credible spot to win the AFC if this is the real Wilson.
(3) Even rock-solid organizations fail with first round picks along the offensive line. In 2023, PIT traded up in the first round to take tackle Broderick Jones out of Georgia. He played some, but not a ton as a rookie. The difference between them and most organizations? That did not prevent them from continuing to add to the line early in the draft. This past April, PIT used their first, second, and fourth round picks on more offensive linemen. Injuries bit hard on the first two, but center Zach Frazier was one of the top interior linemen in the league prior to going down and Mason McCormick (the fourth rounder) is already an effective starter. I’ve always respected this team’s approach to the draft. It is consistent and reliable.
3 CLOSING THOUGHTS
(1) Seeing the number of teams in need of a boost to the wide receiver room gives some legs to the idea of Slayton being traded. Stefon Diggs (HOU) and Chris Godwin (TB) were recently lost for the year and the true number one receivers on both of those clubs are wrestling with their own respective hamstring injuries. While a few teams have already added talent to their WR groups (BUF, NYJ, BAL, KC), there are a few low hanging fruit situations that Joe Schoen needs to look into. Even if they only net a late day three pick, this club needs multiple extra swings in the batter’s box come draft time. Remember where Tyrone Tracy was selected. Slayton is an attractive asset to a team that needs to raise the floor of their WR depth.
(2) The botched two-point conversion on a trick play in the fourth quarter was puzzling for multiple reasons. I do not want to get into the analytics-based debate on whether or not it is a good decision to go for it. That usually ends with the same result as people talking about politics. But I do question the lack of execution and process around it. They looked woefully under prepared. A key moment with the team’s back up against the wall with a veteran quarterback and a coach that has been there for two and a half years? What is this? High school? Aren’t you guys professionals? That combined with the delay-of-game penalties just throws fuel on the lack of quality leadership narrative.
(3) There needs to be a plan in place to get Evan Neal on the field at some point. Train him at left tackle for a few weeks in practice or get Jermaine Eluemunor to ramp up on that side. One of the clear goals for the back half of the season is to know whether or not he can be a part of the solution in 2025. I hate to bring up 2025 already, but that is where this season is now headed. Hell, even put him in at right guard in a rotational role much like how Green Bay does with rookie Jordan Morgan. Get him on the field and figure out what his potential is.