The New York Giants suffered another big loss, 30-6, against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 9.
The hopes were high for Big Blue coming into this one as the Raiders were starting a rookie fourth-round quarterback. However, any dreams of success were quickly squandered as Daniel Jones suffered a non-contact knee injury early in the game and the wheels completely fell off the bus.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during the game and how we graded the Giants in this loss.
Offense: F
Scoring six offensive points is not acceptable and there are no more excuses to be made for this offense.
Yes, Daniel Jones was hurt early. Yes, the offense as a whole was banged up with injuries. However, this was known going into the contest as Tommy DeVito played his first snaps of the season last week and had a week of training with the offense as a backup quarterback.
For context on how poorly this offense has performed, the next worst team in the NFL, the New England Patriots, averages 15 points per game. This is the Giants’ seventh time (in nine games) failing to score at least 15 points this season.
The same problems remain with the offense as the offensive line allowed eight sacks and nine quarterback hits. Having such a porous front with DeVito (not the most talented rookie quarterback in the NFL) is simply a recipe for failure.
This offense will be brutal to watch going forward this season (aside from Saquon Barkley, who recorded 113 scrimmage yards on Sunday).
Defense: D
While it’s hard to play defense when the offense does not move the ball this is not enough to excuse the poor effort from this group.
The Raiders have been far from an offensive juggernaut this season and just fired their head coach and offensive coordinator in addition to benching their starting quarterback. Despite this, if there was no prior context, one would have thought the Raiders were among the best offenses in football from their performance against the Giants.
Forcing zero turnovers against a rookie quarterback is disappointing to begin with. The Giants not only failed to cause turnovers but also failed to create any big defensive plays in general. New York recorded zero sacks and only hit Aidan O’Connell once on the day.
Big Blue’s defense made O’Connell look like a seasoned veteran finishing with 209 passing yards and a 90.2 passer rating.
Things were at least a little better in terms of defending the run as the Raiders rushed for 125 yards on a mere 3.7 yards per carry. The lack of efficiency, however, was more due to the negative game script rather than a stout performance from the Giants’ defense. Josh Jacobs still finished the day with 98 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
If one player on the defense deserves a shoutout it is Micah McFadden. He has been solid at linebacker all season and made some solid reads on Sunday finishing with six tackles two of them being for a loss.
Special Teams: C
The special teams unit played up to par on Sunday.
Parris Campbell returned five kickoffs for 110 yards while Gunner Olszewski added 33 yards on three punt returns.
Jamie Gillan was also okay on the day as he averaged 42.3 yards per punt and nailed one inside the 20.
Olszewski was tackled by his own teammate at one point, so there’s that, too.
Coaching: D
Brian Daboll might be having one of the worst seasons ever for someone coming off of a Coach of the Year Award.
Daboll was up against an interim head coach who was starting a rookie quarterback in a new offense. However, the Giants still managed to lose by 24 points. Daboll might have an extra season in New York next year simply due to his 2022 performance but things are not looking good for the coach as of now.
Mike Kafka was once again uninventive with his play calls despite having a week to work with both Jones and DeVito. Scoring six points and converting 25 percent of third downs is not acceptable and Kafka is quickly melting the thin ice he is standing on as a play-caller.
On the other side of the ball, Wink Martindale had a terrible performance after coming off a few straight weeks of vintage Martindale defenses.
The inability to pressure O’Connell was unacceptable, especially for the defense that Martindale likes to run. To make a rookie quarterback look that good goes to show how much this defense is also in shambles.
