NY Giants position-by-position grades after Monday’s loss to Patriots

The New York Giants were competitive in most games this year despite their putrid 2-10 record prior to their embarrassing 33-15 Monday Night Football loss to Drake Maye and the New England Patriots. New England finished with 395 total yards, 119 of them on the ground (4.1 yards per carry). The Giants only possessed the football for 26:34 to the Patriots’ 33:26.

New York was hapless, outmatched, and comically crumbled in front of a national audience. This matchup posed opportunities for both interim head coach Mike Kafka and defensive coordinator Charlie Bullen, but it was apparent – early on – that the Giants could not effectively battle the talented Patriots.

However, fortunes for the coaches may have changed if the Giants pulled off an upset or competed in front of the broader NFL world, but a reality where Kafka retains the head coaching position beyond this season seems distant. It was more of the same: a team outmatched, finding creative ways to lose.

Quarterback

It was nice to have Jaxson Dart back in the lineup, albeit the Jameis Winston experiment was entertaining. Dart was reckless early with his body. He took a massive shot along the sideline from Christian Elliss; it was a legal hit, but the contact led to a fight where the Giants took an unnecessary roughness penalty. Dart must do a better job protecting himself.

Dart also made some rookie errors, like the throw to Devin Singletary that caused an ineligible man downfield penalty. Still, Dart showed command at the line of scrimmage, checking into certain plays against advantageous looks; Darius Slayton’s touchdown was a play where Dart checked out against pressure.

Dart also improvised on a few occasions to create positive plays for the Giants’ offense; most notably, the successful two-point conversion to Darius Slayton after Devin Singletary’s 22-yard touchdown rush. Dart finished 17 of 24 with 139 yards with one touchdown and four rushes for 20 yards.

Grade: C-

Running Back

The Giants officially averaged 4.1 yards per carry, which was mostly due to Singletary, who had 12 carries for 68 yards and caught all three of his targets for 34 yards. Tyrone Tracy Jr. left the game late but finished with 10 carries for 36 yards with one catch that lost 3 yards. The highlight was Singletary’s 22-yard touchdown run in the second half. Overall, there wasn’t much push generated up front and not a ton of space for the Giants’ backs, albeit Singletary made some runs look better than the blocking.

Grade: C

Wide Receiver

Darius Slayton scored his first touchdown of the season but finished with just two catches for 41 yards. Isaiah Hodgins did not have the same rapport with Jaxson Dart that he had with Daniel Jones or Jameis Winston; Hodgins finished with one catch for 4 yards. Wan’Dale Robinson caught seven passes for just 34 yards on eight targets. Overall, the receivers did little to move the needle in this game, but that’s consistent with the Giants’ overall effort.

Grade: C

Tight End

Theo Johnson failed to secure a few catchable passes from Jaxson Dart in the game, including a third-and-10 one-on-one situation where Johnson mistimed his jumped and looked awkward with his attempt to secure the pass; Koo kicked the ground instead of the football on the next play. The Giants fumbled the kickoff on their ensuing aspiring drive, so two negative plays followed Johnson’s miss, when the score could have become 17-14 if Johnson secured the well thrown pass by Dart. Theo Johnson put together three consecutive good games for the Giants; this was a more sloppy affair where he failed to execute in too many situations. He caught three for 29 yards on eight targets.

Grade: D

Offensive Line

The Giants did an excellent job blocking up the deceptive 22-yard Singletary touchdown run and the pass protection was solid; Dart had time to move around in the pocket and extend plays. Still, the Giants could not dictate on the line of scrimmage, and space wasn’t as easily created on the ground.

Grade: C

Defensive Line

The defensive personnel deployment by Bullen against Josh McDaniels was interesting with the Patriots offensive personnel and deployment. Regardless, the Giants defense faltered in high leverage situations. It wasn’t specifically the fault of the defensive line, though, but the Giants still fail to command the line of scrimmage or get penetration. The defensive line — like much of the defensive roster — remains an issue.

Grade: C-

Edge

Abdul Carter was benched in the first quarter for missing a “team responsibility”. The irresponsible nature of Carter must be corrected, so I’m glad to see the Giants discipline him. It was nice to see him make an impact play on the third-and-1 sack of Maye – his first full sack of the season – that forced a punt that was botched for just 22 yards by Bryce Baringer.

Brian Burns flew around the field and Chauncy Golsten was physical in the first quarter where he played in place of Carter, but Maye still had time to throw the football and pick apart the Giants’ weak secondary.

Grade: C

Linebacker

The Giants are decimated at linebacker. Zaire Barnes was forced to play next to Bobby Okereke with the injures to Micah McFadden, Darius Muasau, and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles. Like most weeks, Okereke earns a lot of tackles and is a solid player with declining athletic traits, but the overall position has a lot of responsibility and not a ton of athletic ability. The play action passing attack continue to give the unit problems in the pass game. At least the overall defense was better against the run, although Rhamondre Stevenson set a physical tone early. Giants need more out of this unit. Bullen did dial up a fourth quarter LB-blitz where Barnes came away with an important second-down sack that eventually led to a punt.

Grade: C-

Cornerback

To Bullen’s credit, he attempted to show pressure during the first half, but the Patriots quickly found answers. The Giants crowded the line of scrimmage late in the second quarter and Drake Maye connected with rookie Kyle Williams for a 33 yard touchdown over Pauslon Adebo, who returned from a five game absence.

Cor’Dale Flott surrendered a touchdown to Kayshon Boutte in the first half, beaten on a fade route in the red zone. New York’s coverage remained a liability and the Giants’ corners failed to make plays on the football. Maye was focused all game and his timing was dialed in against man and zone coverage.

Grade: D+

Safety

It’s difficult to see the safeties from the broadcast version, but it’s not comforting to see the safeties carried for yards after contact on several occasions. But, to be fair, as Jevon Holland said last week, the front of the Giants’ defense hardly slow down the running backs. Still, it’s entirely too often that we see Tyler Nubin getting either out-athleted or put down by a running back, even if he does execute his assignment; missed tackles and surrendering extra yards are a problem with the entire defense, and not just the safety group. Dane Belton did make a nice tackle for a loss and a pass defensed, for what it’s worth. Overall, this defense is a massive liability and it lacks the talent to truly compete.

Grade: C

Special teams

The Giants special teams were horrendous. Terrell Jennings returned the opening kick-off 39 yards to give Drake Maye excellent field position. Then, after the Giants’ offense stalled out, Jamie Gillan finally got a hold of a kick and put it inside the Patriots’ 10-yard line, where Marcus Jones proceeded to return it 94 yards for a touchdown. In the snap of a finger, the Patriots went up 10-0. Tae Banks, however, did have a few solid returns.

Younghoe Koo has kicked thousands of footballs through the uprights over the years, but miscalibrated his 47-yard field goal attempt and punted the ground, which led to Gillan getting sacked. Gunner Olszewski was concussed late in the second quarter on a punt return, which prompted another Giants’ turnover – a fumble. Recently, the special teams have been an absolute disaster.

Grade: F