Giants grades: Offensive struggles continue
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is sacked on Thursday in Arlington, Texas. Credit: Ron Jenkins
OFFENSE: D
The Giants are a unit that now relies essentially on two key players and both let them down on the most critical play of the game. On fourth-and-1 Daniel Jones’ pass to Saquon Barkley was a little early and a little low, but certainly catchable, but the running back dropped it. That swung the entire momentum of the game. The Giants simply cannot win games when Barkley has 39 rushing yards and no carries that go for more than 10. Daniel Jones came back from his two-interception game against Detroit to take better care of the ball and completed 21 of 35 of his passes for 228 yards. His late touchdown pass to Richie James helped improve his statistical performance a bit.
DEFENSE: C
Kayvon Thibdeaux had one of his most active games in the NFL but it still wasn’t enough to register any sacks. He whiffed on one in the first half and was just fractions of a second late on several others. The Giants were able to get two interceptions off Dak Prescott, who had thrown just five in his career against the Giants. Eventually, the Cowboys receivers were able to outshine the Giants backups forced to play in the secondary. Dallas had 430 yards and converted 7 of 11 third downs. Most of the time, the only thing that stopped the Cowboys was the Cowboys, who made a number of glaring mistakes and penalties en route to the victory.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B
Graham Gano rebounded from an illness-plagued subpar performance against the Lions and connected on field goals of 57 and 47 yards. The Giants can’t seem to figure out how to down punts at the goal line as Jamie Gillan kicked two of them that bounced inside the 5 but eventually rolled into the end zone for touchbacks. Those yards of field position were critical. Richie James was back returning punts after losing his job doing so with two fumbles in Seattle earlier this month. He held onto all of them Thursday. Onside kicks are a tough ask but the Giants were 0-for-1 on those.
COACHING: D
It was a good aggressive call by Brian Daboll to attempt that game-turning fourth-and-1 play but inexcusable that the Giants had just 10 players on the field for the pass that fell incomplete. It’s the third time this season the Giants have been caught shorthanded in a critical situation, the first on offense. The Giants did a good job of working the clock at the end of the first half to kick a field goal with no time remaining. Offensively, Mike Kafka tried to get the passing game going early with mixed results. Defensively, the Giants brought pressure but that exposed their secondary, which was without a number of starters and even more depleted after losing rookie Cor’Dale Flott to a concussion in the second half.
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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