We don’t want to draw too many conclusions from a game like today’s that was played in the rain and wind. Still, you have to think that John Harbaugh is wondering whether he should have taken a few more interviews before signing on the dotted line with the New York Giants after last Monday’s and today’s games. This is a team that everyone pegged to make a big improvement this season. For one week, it looked that way. Since then, though…
Let’s see what we learned from the Giants’ 12-7 “victory” over
the Tennessee Titans, a game that did not inspire much hope for the rest of the 2026 season.
Is Jaxson Dart better than we thought?
We gave the Giants’ offense a pass last Monday because they had to adjust on the fly early in the game against a great Los Angeles Rams defense. And again, the conditions were poor at MetLife. Nonetheless, this was the Giants’ offense today:
I really don’t want to think my team has to go through the season counting on a guy who looks like he’s still in high school (and on the Mathletes team rather than the football team) for points. Give Dominic Zvada credit, though, he’s 6 for 6 in his Giants career and accounted for all their points today.
As for the rest of the offense… the less said, the better. Again, the conditions were poor, but Jameis Winston was leaving almost all his throws short in the first quarter at least. The Giants did manage to put together a few drives, but coming up short of a TD every time is not winning football. Winston only threw one pass beyond 20 yards…and he completed it. 17 of his 21 attempts were shorter than 10 yards or behind the line of scrimmage. He totaled 117 yards on the day.
Last year Winston threw 6 times beyond 20 yards and another 13 times between 10-20 yards in the Giants’ game in Detroit. We’re not seeing anything like that so far in 2026. There’s still time – the Giants’ opponent next week, Arizona, does not have a strong defense. But at some point this team has to develop an attacking mentality. Winston is not Dart…but he is a quarterback who can put points on the board if you let him try. I do worry that the Matt Nagy-Greg Roman offense is not a good match for Winston’s skill set.
An interesting development today was that Najee Harris began to take on a bigger role in the running game, getting 52 yards on nine carries. He’s a useful complement to Cam Skattebo, who simultaneously is very valuable to the offense with his ability to get beyond first contact and change direction, but who also gets high on his supply at times with regrettable decisions he makes to keep trying to get more yards rather than just going down. If today is any indication, Harris is now RB2.
And if you believe the best offense is a good defense, then we have to mention Jordan Stout, who bailed the offense out all day with more terrific punts. Today he had 6 punts averaging 49.8 yards with a net (punt – return) of 46.0 yards. I’d rather my offense be the ones to move the ball downfield, but between Stout and Zvada the Giants’ kicking game is in its best shape since…I don’t know when.
The John Michael Schmitz era is nearing its end
When you are in Year 3 and you still haven’t been able to clean up your pass blocking, you know you’re not long for the starting lineup. JMS has been a decent run blocker since he entered the league, but today he had another rough outing in pass protection, giving up a sack, after struggling against the Rams last week. Granted, it was against Jeffery Simmons, one of the best pass rushing interior defensive linemen in the NFL. A second round IOL in his fourth season has gotten about as good as he’s going to get. Today hurt especially because we got to see Austin Schlottman on the opponent’s offensive line. Schlottman has been a very solid center for several years now, and while it was a foregone conclusion that he would leave the Giants for a chance to start in Tennessee, it hurts to see him playing well while JMS continues to struggle.
Where is the attacking Dennard Wilson defense?
After three games, it is fair to be very concerned that the 2026 Giants defense is no, or not much, better than the horrid 2025 defense led by Shane Bowen. The run defense is improved with Tremaine Edmunds and Arvell Reese, and D.J. Reader has solidified the middle to some extent.
The pass defense, though, is mostly horrendous with one or two notable exceptions. The biggest disappointment is the pass rush. The Giants pressured Cam Ward only four times all game and didn’t have a single sack…after only pressuring Matthew Stafford six times last week. This is the second year in a row that we’ve been sold on the Giants having one of the best pass rushes in the league, and it’s just not happening.
Thank goodness for Jevon Holland
Without a pass rush, the Giants’ secondary is ripe for the picking. Today it wasn’t exploited too much until the fourth quarter, because Cam Ward is still learning and hasn’t really gotten to the point where he can go through read progressions on a consistent basis. Still, his 179 yards passing went far beyond what the Giants could do. Greg Newsome was solid. Colton Hood is being picked on (6 targets, 5 receptions and a TD). Granted, Deonte Banks and Paulson Adebo are sidelined, but it’s not as if we can count on either to be shutdown-caliber.
The only saving grace…and I do mean saving… was Jevon Holland. Holland snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with an end zone interception in the final minute as Ward was driving the Titans for what would have been the winning score. He is playing terrific ball this season on a consistent basis. That’s his third interception of the season already, one more than the number of receptions he’s allowed.
