Giants vs. Cowboys grades: What can we learn?

Winter isn’t coming for another three weeks, but it’s been winter on the New York Giants’ calendar since Week 4, when they lost a very winnable home game to the Dallas Cowboys. Just like the real winter, shortly after it began, Christmas came in the form of a stunning victory in Seattle that left fans warm and fuzzy and excited to finally emerge from the darkness. Unfortunately, since then there has been nothing but the cold and barrenness of January and February, even though the calendar still says November, with seven defeats in a row. Nevertheless, green shoots are beginning to poke through the snow, even if spring still seems far away. Let’s see if we can find some in yesterday’s 27-20 loss to Dallas (again).

attack

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

• Drew Lock did a good job considering the Cowboys’ pass rush yesterday, with an overall grade of 68.9. Here’s his more detailed breakdown:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Lock handled well under pressure, whether blitzed (35.7% of dropbacks) or not. He had three big throws, more than Daniel Jones has in any game since 2020. Eight of his passes were more than 10 yards downfield, three of them more than 20 yards downfield. Of course, this is all a bit like asking, “How did you like the play otherwise, Mrs. Lincoln?” because his only turnover-worthy play was DeMarvion Overshown’s disastrous pick-6, which ended up being the difference in the game.

• Due to injuries, the offensive line continues to march toward 2022 territory:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Evan Neal (30.4 with one sack, three QB hits and three hurries) couldn’t repeat last week’s success, while Chris Hubbard, on the other hand, was just as bad (41.5 with no sacks but three QB hits and four hurries). . Luckily, Jermaine Eluemunor says he is expected to be back next week. If only Tire Phillips could get into playing shape…

Inside, Greg Van Roten (68.6), the afterthought of the offseason free agency rebuilding offensive line, has quietly developed into a very solid member of the line. He hasn’t posted a grade lower than 58.5 (last week) in any of his last seven games and has been 70 or better in four of them. On the other side of center, Runyan has been less impressive over the last five weeks after a good first half of the season, but not disastrous in most games. John Michael Schmitz (59.6) wasn’t bad overall yesterday, but PFF blamed him for giving up three of the six sacks Lock collected; The clock may be ticking on a decision on him since he was only average as a run blocker, which is said to be his strength.

Malik Nabers played well yesterday (78.3), despite his recent frustration with being targeted early in games, catching 8 of 13 targets for 69 yards. He is still by far the most used wide receiver from the 2024 draft class:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Nabers also leads rookie WRs in PFF grade and receiving yards. However, his 9.9 yards per reception is well behind all other top rookies. This may be partly the cause of his frustration. He will no longer be targeted downfield as Brian Daboll tries to keep his QB of the week upright behind an OL who is leaky around the edges. Once Eluemunor returns, it will be interesting to see if Nabers will be asked to run more intermediate and deep routes like he did earlier in the season.

The only other notable receiver yesterday was Theo Johnson (66.5), who caught all five balls thrown to him, but injured his foot and is now (of course) out for the season. Tyrone Tracy recovered from his recent fumble and played a flawless game (73.9), with two balls in three targets for 33 yards and 32 yards rushing.

Snap counts

Little has changed in Daboll’s use of offensive personnel in recent weeks, with the exception of a few names of players replacing injured teammates:

• Drew Lock and the entire starting offensive line played every snap.
• Tyrone Tracy, Devin Singletary and Eric Gray saw the field in descending order of frequency.
• Malik Nabers played almost every snap and then, in descending order, Wan’Dale Robinson, Darius Slayton and Jalin Hyatt.
• Theo Johnson, Chris Manhertz and Daniel Bellinger played in that order and only played a total of 81 snaps, meaning the Giants were largely comprised of 11 players.

defense

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

• As a team, the Giants pressured Cooper Rush just seven times total, while Dallas pressured Drew Lock 28 times. The Giants didn’t have a single sack while Dallas sacked Lock six times. Micah Parsons alone had as much pressure as the entire Giants defense.
• However, Brian Burns (81.7) and Kayvon Thibodeaux (70.0) each had three pressures, including three QB hits, and Tomon Fox (63.2) had one. This means that the entire IDL didn’t pressure Rush once in the entire game, partly due to the injuries. Rakeem Nunez-Roches played well (68.3), while Dexter Lawrence was below his standard (59.6). Backup DJ Davidson was just below average (58.1), while Elijah Chatman (31.6) and Jordon Riley (31.1) were terrible.
• Bobby Okereke (76.1) had one of his best games of the season, with six tackles and four assists, including four stops, and no missed tackles. Micah McFadden (61.9) had four tackles and one assist, but two missed tackles.
• Adoree’ Jackson played pretty well yesterday (75.8); He received six balls on nine scores, but for only 36 yards. Cor’Dale Flott (68.8) had a solid game, giving Jalen Tolbert a 36-yard play, but only allowed three completions on seven total goals. Dru Phillips (66.9) is starting to expose a bit. He recorded four completions on four targets for 54 yards, including 41 YAC. In his last five games, he allowed 21 completions on 23 targets for 264 yards, including 182 YAC. He’s still the second-highest rated rookie cornerback in PFF Ratings, but he’s the only one without a single forced incompletion and he’s given up more YAC than anyone else, so it’ll be worth keeping an eye on.
• Safeties Tyler Nubin (67.1) and Jason Pinnock (64.0) had pretty good games, while Dane Belton was below average (46.6). However, none of them were heavily targeted or had to give up many yards. While Nubin had nine tackles and three assists, he also had two missed tackles.
• In total, the Giants had 14 more missed tackles yesterday, bringing their season total to 75, according to Pro Football Reference. That sounds terrible, but it’s only the 11th worst in the NFL, and the majority of teams with lower stats have played one fewer game.

Snap counts

The number of defensive snaps mainly tells about injuries:

• Elijah Chatman took the most snaps of any interior defender (48) as Dexter Lawrence (40), Rakeem Nunez-Roches (34) and DJ Davidson (10) suffered injuries during the game. Jordon Riley, who hadn’t played even 10 snaps in any game except the Eagles game that got out of hand in the second half, had 31 snaps.
• Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns played about 80% of the snaps, with Tomon Fox getting the rest.
• Bobby Okereke and Micah McFadden got the most snaps as off-ball linebackers, but it’s worth noting that Darius Muasau is working his way to seeing double-digit snaps on a somewhat regular basis, not just in blowouts. Isaiah Simmons didn’t see the field on defense.
• Juices Tyler Nubin and Jason Pinnock played every snap, as is typical for them. Dane Belton played more snaps than usual, suggesting that Shane Bowen was using dime packages quite a bit. With Tae Banks sidelined, Adoree’ Jackson saw most of the action of the season, as did Cor’Dale Flott, who becomes an important part of the secondary. Dru Phillips played about 75% of the snaps.