Giants grades
Odell Beckham Jr of the Giants reacts against the Panthers during their game on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. Credit: Getty Images/Streeter Lecka
Offense: C
The Giants were able to show some life and rack up some good numbers. Odell Beckham Jr. caught eight passes for 131 yards and threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to Saquon Barkley, who had 48 rushing yards and 81 receiving. Eli Manning completed five passes of more than 20 yards. They broke the 30-point barrier that had plagued them for more than two full seasons, but they still left plays on the field. They were 0-for-7 on third down, 1-for-2 on fourth down, and Manning was intercepted twice.
Defense: D
The Giants handed over a one-point lead with1:08 left to the defense and they couldn’t close it out. The Panthers drove 30 yards in eight plays for the winning 63-yard field goal. Ugly tackling early in the game allowed the Panthers to take the lead. Curtis Samuel broke at least five tackles during his 25-yard touchdown catch. The Giants did have two interceptions, by Janoris Jenkins and Curtis Riley. But they were burned on a fourth-and-1 try in the fourth quarter that went for 27 yards.
Special Teams: F
When you allow a touchdown on a muffed punt inside your own 10, it’s an automatic failure. There was more to it, of course. Beckham had one good return negated by a penalty against Nate Stupar. Aldrick Rosas was 3-for-3 with a long of 53 and remains perfect in field-goal attempts this season, but his kickoff out of bounds after the Beckham TD pass to Barkley sapped a lot of momentum. Jawill Davis seemed to be more comfortable in his second week returning kickoffs and had a long of 29.
Coaching: C
Pat Shurmur tried hard to hold the team together during a tumultuous week that saw Beckham lambast just about every corner of the locker room and coaching staff. It seems as if Shurmur succeeded, for the time being at least. As far as the in-game stuff, he pulled out all the stops, including letting Beckham throw a deep one to Barkley. Defensively, the Giants were caught off guard on that key fourth-down conversion. Special teams coaches were smart to put Beckham back to handle punts but need to impress upon him the importance of getting the heck away from kicks inside the 10.
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.
