The New York Giants’ Week 8 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles was a no-good, rotten, very bad day.
Very little good came out of the loss. It could be argued that the play of Jaxson Dart in the face of Vic
Fangio’s defense was a positive in the context of his long-term development. But even then, the outcome was poor thanks to the play of the team around Dart. He was let down time and again by his receivers, while also losing Cam Skattebo to a gruesome ankle injury that required emergency surgery and Daniel Bellinger to a neck injury.
The Giants were already missing some of their best players due to injury, and losing more just added injury to insult (literally).
Lost in the conversation around the loss, Skattebo’s injury, and how the game was officiated (or not officiated, as the case may be), is that third-year cornerback Deonte Banks quietly played well against the Eagles.
Banks was pressed into a starting role after Paulson Adebo suffered a knee injury against the Denver Broncos. Fans and media members alike predicted that the Eagles would key on Banks, picking on a corner who has struggled throughout his young career.
I noted in a post on The Feed prior to the game that Banks’ play was one of the things I wanted to track throughout the game, saying, “I’m going to try to keep track of his assignments and how often Hurts checks and moves on, not just what happens if he’s targeted.”
So how did Banks do?
Run defense
The Giants’ run defense was, in a word, atrocious against the Eagles. For the most part, all three levels failed, albeit at different times (on most plays). Banks himself didn’t have much of a role in the Giants run defense in the game. Not that he wasn’t asked to be a run defender, but the Eagles tended to run to the opposite side of the field than the one he was on.
No, they probably weren’t avoiding him. It’s (much) more likely that it’s simply how things worked out. The times the Eagles did run his way, the results were uneven, but not altogether terrible.
We’ll get the bad out of the way first, then finish on a couple high notes.
Banks is the boundary cornerback here, aligned outside of Brian Burns. The Eagles line up in a jumbo package with offensive tackle Fred Johnson declaring as a jumbo tight end. Eagles’ running back Tank Bigsby takes the hand-off and presses the gap between Johnson and tight end Dallas Goedert.
Burns’ job is to set the edge and control the tight end. He positions himself to the outside, which cedes the D-gap to Bobby Okereke, and establishes Banks as outside contain. Unfortunately, Banks is sucked inside by Bigsby pressing the gap, and isn’t able to get back outside to either tackle Bigsby slow him until help can arrive.
This was, frankly one of Banks’ two worst plays of the game. But there was more good than bad elsewhere in his play.
For instance, we have the 5-yard run by Saquon Barkley on the previous play.
Banks is the boundary corner here as well, lined up at the top of the screen.
This time he does a very good job of coming downhill to aggressively establish outside contain. Banks is met on the edge by a pulling Landon Dickerson and knocks him back, despite being outweighed by about 130 pounds. He does a great job of coming in low, getting under the guard’s pads, and using his velocity (and leverage) to overcome Dickerson’s mass. Banks taking on, and beating, Dickerson’s block forces Barkley back inside and back to the Giants’ defense. Had Dickerson been able to establish the block, it might have been another long touchdown run.
Darius Muasau doesn’t get leverage on center Brett Toth (who also pulled), creating a narrow seam through which Barkley was able to squeeze.
Banks showed a similar level of decisiveness and violence triggering downhill later in the game, this time on a toss play.
Banks is, once again, the boundary corner for this play, lining up at the top of the screen.
Abdul Carter knifes through the Eagle’s blocking, forcing running back Will Shipley back inside as he tries to turn north-south. That forces Shipley back to Banks, who shows no hesitation triggering downhill, and does a great job of breaking down in the gap. He doesn’t quite get a clean tackle on Shipley, but is able to stop his momentum and splits the tackle for no gain with Kayvon Thibodeaux.
All in all, this was the type of performance the Giants need to see from their defensive backs. Aggressive (but disciplined) downhill triggers, filling gaps, and tackling with solid form has been a lacking piece of the Giants’ run defense dating back to the pre-season.
Pass coverage
Banks’ run defense was largely solid — not something we could say for much of the Giants’ defense. However, a cornerback’s primary job is to defend the pass and that’s something Banks has struggled with. He has been exceptional at forcing tight window throws over the last two years, but has also been very poor at the catch point.
As noted above, there was significant concern that the Eagles would make a point of targeting Banks with Adebo out. However, Pro Football Focus charted Banks with just two targets — though to my eye he was only the principle coverage player on one target.
On the play I dispute, a 5-yard reception by Dallas Goedert, Banks dropped into a Cover 3 zone while the Dane Belton was in charge of the flat underneath him. Goedert goes into jet motion just before the snap, and was picked up by Belton. However, Belton allowed Goedert to get outside of him and it fell to Banks to come down and make the stop as the tight end caught the ball. This wasn’t a significant play (second-and-11 with 6:37 left in the game), and Banks did his job to limit the yards after the catch.
The other target… Well, he was simply burned by DeVonta Smith.
Banks is matched up on Smith in man coverage on the bottom of the screen. Man coverage has historically been the strength of Banks’ game, and he does have great traits for the technique, but here his size and speed get the better of him.
Banks is in tight coverage on Smith, sitting in his hip pocket and squeezing him to the sideline. He gets his head around as Smith’s shoulders swivel back toward the line of scrimmage, indicating that the ball might be in-bound. However, it’s a comeback route and Smiths’ quickness (and slight frame) allows him to easily stop and work back to the ball while Banks’ momentum carries him further down the field.
This is an ugly-looking rep and Banks may have been able to be more disruptive with his jam at the start of the route. A more physical jam might have allowed Banks to re-route Smith closer toward the sideline and perhaps even squeeze him out of bounds and make him an ineligible receiver. However, doing so may also have opened Banks up to a defensive pass interference call.
Credit where its due, this was a great route from Smith.
That said, Banks did a very good job of keeping the ball in Jalen Hurts’ hand and forcing him to look elsewhere.
For instance, let’s take a look at the play that set up the fateful tush-push.
Banks aligns at the top of the screen, dropping into zone coverage (it appears to be a Cover-6 shell with Banks covering the deep half on the boundary side) at the snap. Dane Belton picks up Saquon Barkley as he releases into a route, while Banks picks up Dallas Goedert as he runs a curl route. The Giants play great coverage, forcing Hurts to hold the ball and scramble. Hurts repeatedly tries to pick up Goedert on the scramble drill, but Banks stays in tight coverage with the tight end and Hurts ultimately gets outside.
(Never mind the hold on Darius Alexander by Jordan Mailata that allows Hurts to get outside. Just throw it on the pile.)
Okereke is able to knock Hurts out of bounds, with the quarterback transferring the ball to his left hand — which keeps it safe from the linebacker, but also prevents it from crossing the first down marker.
Later in the game we have Banks getting in similarly sticky coverage on wide receiver Jahan Dotson. Banks aligns in man coverage on Dotson, once again getting in the receivers’ hip pocket. Dotson tries to run a come-back, but Banks stays in tight coverage, keeping the ball in Hurts’ hand while the pass rush breaks through.
He then stays in remarkably tight coverage on the receiver, using the sideline to effectively create a double team and give Dotson no room to work free. Hurts attempts a desperation throw to… someone with Thibodeaux closing in, but the edge gets a piece of Hurts’ arm and the ball flutters incomplete.
Banks also helped contribute to at least one of the Giants’ sacks.
The Giants are showing a Cover 3 shell at the start of the play with Tyler Nubin walking down to the tackle box. However, he reverses at the snap and sprints into a deep quarter to create Cover 4. Banks is aligned as the field corner on the top of the screen and he picks up DeVonta Smith as he passes into his zone.
Judging by how Hurts’ helmet swivels, Smith is the primary read on the play and he was hoping to drop the ball between Banks and the underneath coverage. Instead, the tight coverage from Banks forces Hurts to move on — or at least he would have if Dru Phillips wasn’t blitzing. Phillips comes free on the slot blitz, forcing Hurts to pull the ball down and climb the pocket, right into the waiting arms of Rakeem Nunez-Roches.
Final thoughts
There were very few bright spots in the Giants’ loss to the Eagles, but we should probably acknowledge that Banks’ play was one of those bright spots.
Granted, it was a boon for the Giants that A.J. Brown missed the game with an injury, but Banks still played well. Banks’ game is such that when he’s playing well, he’s effectively invisible. He is so good at forcing tight windows that quarterbacks often move right past him in their read progressions, which can make his failures that much more stark.
Banks was only really targeted once, and while he did give up the reception, Hurts avoided him far more often. And so much happened over the course of the game that we never realized that we rarely — if ever — heard Banks’ name. His play was so forgettable that he only gave up 11 yards on 23 coverage snaps (0.48 yards per snap) and yet was completely absent from this week’s ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’.
Does this mean that I think it’s “Clicked” for Banks? No, I won’t go there yet. It’s an encouraging sign, but Banks has had very good games in the past, such as against the Seahawks last year. Considering Adebo is still dealing with a knee injury and Flott has a concussion, there’s a good see Banks as a starter again against the San Francisco 49ers.
He’ll have the opportunity to build on this performance, and perhaps get his career back on track.
