Grading the Giants: Interceptions drag everything down
Daniel Jones is sacked by Buccaneers' Ndamukong Suh on Nov. 2, 2020. Credit: Jim McIsaac
OFFENSE: D
As if it weren’t bad enough that Daniel Jones kept missing open receivers down the field – he was 0-for-5 on long passes for Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard – he compounded his poor performance with a pair of second-half interceptions. Both came on plays when he should have either thrown the ball away or taken a sack.
He flashes such potential when he makes plays such as the 19-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate in the back of the end zone, but can’t seem to overcome the hurdle of the turnovers.
The only thing that saved the offense from an F was – wait for it – the offensive line! In a week when they had a starter out with COVID-19, missed an entire day of practice as a pandemic precaution, and should have been manhandled by the league’s top rushing defense, they managed to piece together three rookie blockers and ran for 101 yards on 24 carries, a 4.2-yard average. Tampa Bay entered the game allowing an NFL-best 3.0 yards per rush.
DEFENSE: B
No one had kept Tom Brady and the Bucs out of the end zone in the first half of a game until the Giants did so Monday night. They did a good job of keeping the future Hall of Famer uncomfortable in his reads at points in the game, not a bad trick against a quarterback with 21 years of experience. They also sacked him twice and created a takeaway in the first half that led directly to a Giants touchdown. For the third time in the last month, though, they were unable to hold an 11-point lead (they were up 14-3 late in the second quarter), and they were unable to keep the Bucs from scoring the touchdown after Jones’ second interception.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C
Fake punts and field goals aren’t the only trick plays a special teams unit can employ. On Monday, the Giants twice showed a look without any punt returner, lining up all 11 players near the line of scrimmage in an attempt to block the kick. They didn’t, but it was an interesting look. Dion Lewis brought life back to the kickoff return game after Corey Ballentine showed he was not cut out for the job in recent weeks. Lewis had 98 return yards on three tries, including a 44-yarder to open the second half. Any momentum from that vanished two plays later when Jones threw his first interception.
COACHING: C
Jason Garrett had his best game as a Giant, opening up the playbook with some razzle-dazzle, a double pass from Jones to Golden Tate to Wayne Gallman and a throw back against the flow of the defense from Jones to Sterling Shepard that might have gone for a TD had Jason Pierre-Paul not dove and barely tripped up the receiver.
Garrett also got the receivers open down the field on a number of occasions, though Jones was rarely able to connect.
Defensively, Patrick Graham threw just about every formation and personnel grouping he had at Brady. There were times when the three-man rush gave Brady too much time, but it was a game-plan trade-off. The biggest accomplishment for the staff, though, was just getting through a week that was nearly derailed by the positive COVID test, the videos of star players out on the town without masks, and injuries that sidelined the starting running back and cornerback. The Giants lost on Monday, but they didn’t have any of those situations as an excuse.
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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