Grading the Giants in NFL Week 15 vs. Dallas Cowboys

OFFENSE: F

Keep in mind that the Giants are actually trying to get their wide receivers more involved, and this is what they manage to do. It wasn’t until Jake Fromm entered the game that Kenny Golladay and Sterling Shepard finally started getting the ball thrown in their direction on a routine basis. "That’s what you’ve gotta do, get the playmakers the ball," Fromm said. From the mouths of babes. Saquon Barkley continues to struggle (50 rushing yards on 15 carries, none for more than 6 yards) and be outperformed by Devontae Booker (74 yards on 8 carries, including ones of 28 and 31). The Giants had just two possessions that lasted more than six plays with Mike Glennon at quarterback.

DEFENSE: C

Allowing 21 points shouldn’t be a team death sentence, but this unit is saddled with knowing it has to be better than that because the offense is so miserable. They did a nice job of holding the Cowboys to field goals (Dallas was 2-for-5 in the red zone) and eliminating big plays (none for more than 19 yards). Even with a secondary that was missing starters because of COVID and with their best defensive lineman playing one-handed (Leonard Williams fighting through a triceps injury), they held Dallas to 203 passing yards. Lorenzo Carter finally joined the party after a season of silence with two sacks, one of them forcing a fumble in the fourth quarter.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B

Graham Gano remains the Giants’ most consistent player and just about their only scoring threat. He hit two field goals Sunday to account for the team’s only points. This season he has accounted for 96 of the Giants’ 238 points, an amazing percentage (40.3) considering his plays are only worth 3 or 1 point at a time. Because the Giants went for it on fourth down three times they didn’t have to punt as much as normal, but Riley Dixon had one of his better games in that aspect. Both of his punts were deep and allowed for no return yardage.

COACHING: D

Joe Judge gets aggressive and goes for it on fourth-and-1 – he even gets the look from the Cowboys that he wants for the QB sneak – and the players can’t convert it. That’s not on the coach, but he has to know the weakness of his own squad and if he’s going to push that button it can’t be for a play doomed to fail no matter how well it is set up. People will forever wonder what took so long to yank Glennon; if Fromm starts next week we’ll see whether he was right or wrong to delay that move. The offensive creativity that the Giants had demonstrated most of the past month evaporated, although they did have a direct snap to Barkley. Defensively the Giants did a nice job getting their personnel together despite all the missing bodies and they contained the Cowboys weapons most of the game.

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.