Ordinarily we would think of a New York Giants – Washington Commanders matchup as a contest for positioning in the top 10 of the next NFL Draft. This season, though, has looked different. After the Dallas Cowboys’ face plant against previously winless Tampa Bay, and with the Eagles’ core talent level increasingly suspect after retirements, trades, and injuries to key players and three consecutive losses, Giants-Commanders suddenly looked like a game with possible NFC East title implications.
On second
thought, after watching these two teams play Alphonse and Gaston in overtime, maybe the NFL will decide to ban all NFC East teams from the playoffs. What did we learn from this unbelievable, ridiculous 27-27 tie?
Do too many cooks spoil the play-calling broth?
I’m not sure how the dynamic among offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, passing game coordinator Brian Callahan, and run game coordinator Greg Roman operates, but so far I am not crazy about the results on the field. The Giants seem more predictable than they were during the Daboll years. Lots of runs on first down, and I think on second down, too, not many out routes at intermediate depths, lots of running plays between the tackles and not much outside.
We saw J.J. McCarthy enter the game briefly. Nothing wrong with that, but the guy is a quarterback. If you’re going to put him into the game, let him throw the ball instead of just running RPOs and handing the ball off. Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka did the same thing last year with Jaxson Dart in the first three games. What does this accomplish? If I can predict what they are going to do, won’t the opposing defense know, too?
Finally, to me Jameis Winston is a much better quarterback operating from the shotgun than under center. I know there are advantages to runnning dropback, but Jameis is not a young guy you are developing. He’s a veteran who is obviously more comfortable and capable getting the ball and immediately scanning the defense.
The offensive line is good at pass blocking, but lousy at run blocking
I know John Harbaugh wants to grind it out and wear teams down with the run game. But message to Harbaugh: There are no Marshal Yandas, Ronnie Stanleys, or Tyler Linderbaums on the Giants’ offensive line, and there are no Derrick Henrys running the ball either. As a result, the Giants’ running backs are rarely getting to the second level before contact.
The one running back they do have with any ability to make defenders miss, Tyrone Tracy, was sent to football Siberia after his fumble in Game 1. At least they gave him the ball three times Sunday and passed to him three times as well. Meanwhile Cam Skattebo and Najee Harris have gotten the bulk of the play. Harris fumbled last week and is a 3-yards-cloud-of-dust guy, and Skattebo had his fourth – yes, fourth – fumble of the season Sunday, and at the most inopportune time, costing the Giants a win (that they didn’t really deserve, anyway). It could be worse – your quarterback could let the clock run out in field goal range, for example – but it wasn’t good. I like Skattebo, but Tracy has to become a bigger part of the mix to give them a breakaway threat.
Isaiah Likely is amazingly consistent and Malik Nabers is back
The Giants have had a fairly prolific receiving game these first four weeks, but it mainly runs through two people. I have to admit that I didn’t see it coming with Isaiah Likely. He was a “nice” player for the Ravens. For the Giants, though, he has quickly become their go-to guy in the receiving game. Likely had 2 TDs today, giving him four for the season, and he’s now up to 33 receptions in five games. He averaged 36 per season with the Ravens. Of course, in Baltimore he was TE2 behind Mark Andrews, but you never know whether a player will be able to step up once he becomes TE1. Likely has been everything you could hope for. He only has one drop on the season (in the wind and rain of the Tennessee game) and he is clearly the go-to guy in this offense. Likely is on pace for 965 yards.
Meanwhile, the real Malik Nabers seems to be back. He should be happy with his 18 targets today, and he corraled 11 of them for 121 yards and a TD, his second consecutive 100-yard game. His drop today was his first of the season, and he’s on track for 1,119 yards. He has yet to catch any deep balls, but hopefully with Jameis Winston at quarterback those will be forthcoming.
Dennard Wilson should keep blitzing
The blitz has this reputation of being a gimmicky type of approach to defense, a crutch to rely on when your defensive personnel can’t win straight up and an unsustainable long-term strategy for a winning team. Brian Flores, though, has been on a Make Blitzing Great Again campaign in Minnesota and is 5-0 to show for it. The Giants used blitzing to great effect last week against Arizona. I assumed they wouldn’t do the same today with the much more mobile Jayden Daniels at quarterback. My guess was that he would use Arvell Reese to spy on Daniels, but I didn’t notice that happening. Daniels hurt the Giants with his legs, to the tune of 103 yards and two TDs, but Wilson started to bring the blitz again anyway, on 25 of 37 Daniels dropbacks. Daniels was moderately successful when blitzed with 129 yards, but for only 13 of 20 and 6.5 yards per attempt, compared to 14.0 yards per attempt when not blitzed.
Abdul Carter did have another good game today getting to the quarterback, with five pressures including a sack, and D.J. Reader and C.J. Okoye had really good games as well. But given the limitations of the secondary, and the talent of Dru Phillips, who rushed seven times and got five pressures including two sacks, this seems like it should become a staple of what the Giants do on defense.
