The New York Giants knocked off the Tennessee Titans, 21-20, in a last-second thriller on Sunday afternoon.
The Giants ended their first week woes as they traveled to Nashville and defeated the reigning AFC regular season champions. On the back of Saquon Barkley, the Giants were able to escape with an upset win that gave life to all Big Blue fans.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during the game and how we graded the Giants in this win.
Offense: C
The Giants’ offense was brutal to watch for most of Sunday afternoon.
New York failed to score once on their first six drives which featured four punts, one fumble, and one failed drive at the end of the half. This ended with the Giants going down 13-0 as they often put the defense in tricky situations.
However, the Giants were able to bounce back in the second half and scored 21 points to win the game. While most of their production came off big plays (a 65-yard touchdown from Sterling Shepard and a 68-yard rush from Barkley led to two touchdowns), it was good to see some life from the offense.
Daniel Jones looked surgical with his throws completing 17 of 21 attempts for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately, he had a costly interception in the red zone that would have given the Giants an attempt to tie the game up. It would have been an amazing game for the fourth-year quarterback if he had not made this illogical mistake as he helped lead a game-winning drive that ended in a touchdown pass to Chris Myarick.
Luckily for Jones and the Giants, Barkley was unstoppable as he totaled 194 yards, averaging 9.1 yards per attempt while scoring one touchdown and a game-winning two-point conversion. It was great to see Barkley with life in his legs and being as elusive as his rookie season. The offensive line also opened up solid running lanes for the former Nittany Lion and the other running backs as the Giants totaled 238 yards on the ground on the day.
Sadly, a final critique for the offense that decreases the rating was the pass protection. The Giants’ offensive line allowed Jones to be sacked five times (one for a fumble) and hit eight times. The pressure clearly changed the game plan and hindered the Giants’ offense from generating long drives. This is an issue that must be addressed going forward.
Defense: B-
The Giants’ defense was not anything special but got the job done in Week 1.
While a Randy Bullock field goal helped their case, Big Blue’s defense epitomized the “bend don’t break” mentality. While a lot went wrong with the defense, they were able to stop the Titans from scoring at the end of each half which is something they could not do to opponents in 2021. The team also held the Titans’ ground attack relatively in check as Derrick Henry only totaled 82 yards on 21 carries and the Titans failed to score a touchdown or top 100 yards rushing on the day.
While these were some great feats from this inexperienced defense, the rest of the day was not so great from this unit. Ryan Tannehill totaled 266 yards for two touchdowns on a 106.4 passer rating. Tannehill had all day to sit back in the pocket and throw as he was hit only five times and sacked once.
Outside of Adoree’ Jackson and Xavier McKinney, the Giants’ secondary did not look great, either. Darnay Holmes and Aaron Robinson were always getting burnt or causing penalties. This is clearly a very young group that will need to get more playing time to get a feel of the NFL game. But it was good to see the team go out and compete (without Azeez Ojulari and Kayvon Thibodeaux) and keep the team in the game.
Special Teams: C-
The special teams unit had a roller-coaster performance.
They cost the Giants one point making them go for two in a crucial moment of the game after they botched an extra point snap. They also allowed a 46-yard punt return which led to the Titans’ first touchdown of the day.
However, the team’s kickoff coverage was good as they only allowed 19 yards per attempt and Graham Gano also made both of his extra-point attempts. Richie James Jr. was able to add 62 yards through punt returns and Gary Brightwell averaged 20.5 yards per kick return. But the highlight of the game from the unit was when they recovered a fumble giving the Giants an instant red zone possession.
Coaching: A
This brand new coaching staff deserves a lot of praise as they won their first-ever game against the best team in the AFC from the previous season.
Brian Daboll coached this team up to the fullest, getting them inspired in the second half and making some key in-game decisions that changed the path of the game. He challenged a Titans play that prevented them from gaining further yards.
The first-time NFL head coach also got in Jones’ face after the gut-wrenching interception which helped Jones key in and lead the final drive. Finally, Daboll’s decision to go for two and win the game turned out to be amazing as there was no guarantee the Giants were going to win in overtime.
As for the coordinators, Mike Kafka seemed to draw up some creative plays which put the Giants playmakers in opportunities to succeed. It would have been nice to see some more downfield passing and involvement from Kadarius Toney or Kenny Golladay but that could be blamed on the offensive line.
As for Wink Martindale, the defense seemed to be in a position to make plays on the ball but the lack of playmakers is noticeable. The return of the young duo of edge rushers should help improve on that issue.
