The New York Giants avoided humiliation on Sunday Night Football, battling the Buffalo Bills for four full quarters before being sent home with a 14-9 loss.
The defeat falls squarely on the Giants’ shoulders after failing to score from the 1-yard line in the final seconds of each half. Those mistakes, highlighted by a major mental error courtesy of Tyrod Taylor, were too much to overcome.
There were still quite a few positives but before we look at those, let’s reflect a bit.
Whose stock is up and whose is down after the Week 6 loss? Let’s take a look.
Stock up: OL Justin Pugh
Justin Pugh came “straight off the couch” to start at left guard for the Giants on Sunday night. After just a small handful of plays, he was forced to kick outside to left tackle for the first time since 2019. It wasn’t pretty initially but Pugh quickly got his feet under him and provided a bit of stability along the line that the Giants hadn’t seen since Week 1. All things considered, it was a hell of a performance.
Stock down: NFL officials
NFL officials love prime-time games because it provides them the opportunity for national TV time. In total, 16 penalties were accepted on Sunday night and there were several more flags thrown than that. But it wasn’t just about the volume of penalties that was the problem — it was the bad calls and inconsistent calls.
The roughing the pass penalty on Bobby Okereke is about as bad as you’ll ever see. There was a blatant hold (nearly a tackle) on Kayvon Thibodeaux that went uncalled and then, of course, the final play of the game where Darren Waller had his jersey nearly ripped off his body with no flag.
Stock up: LB Bobby Okereke
Bobby Okereke played out of his mind in Week 6, making his presence felt all over the field. He delivered some big hits, forced a fumble, caused an interception and led the team with 11 tackles (eight solo, two for a loss). If a big play was made, he seemed to be involved every time.
Stock down: RB Eric Gray
Rookie Eric Gray has made some questionable special teams decisions this season and Sunday night was no exception. He fielded the second-half kickoff at the 17-yard line instead of calling for a fair catch and managed just three yards on the return. It was a net of -5 yards and it led to him getting replaced by Parris Campbell.
Stock up: P Jamie Gillan
Punter Jamie Gillan is on fire right now and for the second consecutive week, played like an All-Pro. He averaged 50.5 yards on four punts with a long of 64. He also dropped two inside of the 20 and allowed the team’s gunners to limit Bills returners to just three yards. It was a stellar performance.
Stock down: DT Rakeem Nunez-Roches
You can list Rakeem Nunez-Roches here or A’Shawn Robinson or maybe even Leonard Williams to some degree. Basically, everyone on the interior of the defensive line not named Dexter Lawrence seems to be a liability against the run. Robinson and Nunez-Roches were specifically brought in to combat that and haven’t gotten the job done. Each time Lawrence was on the sideline, the Bills attacked up the gut and ended up with 128 rushing yards on the night (4.4 ypc).
