EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants won a football game on Sunday. The 12-7 victory over the Tennessee Titans wasn’t pretty. Maybe you consider it fortunate. It was historic in its own warped way:
Regardless, it was a victory that moved the Giants to 2-1. Let’s get to the ‘Kudos and Wet Willies.’
Kudos to …
Jevon Holland — The veteran safety
saved the Giants from what looked like it was about to be a 2025-style fourth-quarter meltdown on Sunday. With the Titans at the Giants’ 7-yard line and threatening to take the lead, Holland intercepted a horrible Cam Ward pass in the end zone to rescue the Giants.
Holland has been a difference-making star for the Giants so far this season. He now has a career-high three interceptions, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery.
Dominic Zvada — The rookie field goal kicker made kicks of 39, 27, 39, and 30 yards. The Giants should have had more points than that, but it’s all they got — and all they needed.
Najee Harris — The veteran running back got his most extensive action thus far, and responded with 52 yards on nine carries, 5.8 yards per attempt. On his first series, Harris helped the Giants get a field goal by carries five times for 36 yards.
Cam Skattebo — The game did not start well for Skattebo. At one point, he had 10 carries for 4 yards. He lost 7 yards on a second-quarter Wildcat play from the Tennessee 5-yard line. Still, he finished with 60 yards on 20 carries, and three catches for 40 yards. One of those, a 30-yarder, set up one of the four Zvada field goals.
Arvell Reese — The rookie inside linebacker played his best game of the season on Sunday with 12 tackles, one for loss, and a pass defensed. This was a big step forward for the No. 5 overall pick in the draft.
Darnell Mooney — His numbers are not fantastic — two catches in three targets for 20 yards, and one run for 9 yards. Two of his touches, though, created first downs in third-and-long situations that led to points.
Zaire Barnes and Malik Harrison — The two special teamers combined for a turnover on the game’s first play. Barnes formed a Chimere Dike fumble and Harrison recovered at the Tennessee 37-yard line. It isn’t their fault the offense couldn’t take advantage.
Greg Newsome — The veteran cornerback gave up just three receptions for 25 yards in seven targets, per Pro Football Focus. He also added two passes defensed. I wasn’t sure about the Newsome signing this offseason, but so far, so good.
Jordan Stout — At times, the Giants’ offensive strategy on Sunday seemed to be not to screw up and turn the ball over, then just let Stout kick the ball into the ozone and get them out of trouble. He kept doing it. Stout had six punts for an average of 50.5 yards (44.2 net average). He had punts of 74 and 64 yards, and had three punts downed inside the 20-yard line.
Wet Willies to …
Penalties — This game could have been much more lopsided if not for all of the costly penalties the Giants committed. They had an unacceptable 10 penalties for 88 yards. Some of them cost the Giants points, and one late-game special teams penalty nearly helped doom the Giants to a devastating loss.
Jermaine Eluemunor had two holding penalties, one on second-and-goal at the 7-yard line. John Michael Schmitz had a holding penalty that negated a first down at the Titans’ 16-yard line. Jon Runyan had a false start. The Giants also committed an illegal shift on second-and-goal at the 2-yard line on their first drive of the third quarter, and were eventually forced to settle for 3 points. Special teamer Elijah Campbell committed a 15-yard kick catch interference penalty with 3:03 to play that moved the ball from the Tennessee 8-yard line to the 23, setting up the Titans’ final drive.
In all honesty, it was a startling lack of discipline from a John Harbaugh team.
Kwillies to …
Jameis Winston — The Giants won, and Winston did not make any major mistakes. He did little, though, to quell the groundswell of speculation that the Giants will not only be looking to bring in at least one more backup quarterback as soon as possible, but could be looking for someone who might eventually be able to take the reigns from Winston.
Winston finished 14 of 22 for 118 yards with — critically — no turnovers. He made a couple of big throws for first downs, and used his legs on a 15-yard scramble. The Giants got by with him.
Giants’ defense — The Giants held Tennessee to one first down and 54 yards in the first half. Tennessee finished with 17 first downs, one more than the Giants, and 262 total yards, 24 more than New York. The Giants gave up second-half drives of 68, 91, and 70 yards and got bailed out by Holland’s heady interception of Ward. Holland said he read Ward’s intent to throw rather than run, and stayed in the end zone rather than attack the line of scrimmage.
The Giants’ pass rush was non-existent for the third straight game. New York totalled two quarterback hits in the game, and Pro Football Focus credited New York with just two hurries on Ward’s 36 pass attempts. That has got to change, and the potential long-term absence of Brian Burns makes you wonder how it will.
