“Hi, Ed (Dodds, Colts interim GM). Joe here. Forget Jonathan Taylor. What would it take to get Daniel Jones?”
OK, only kidding, only kidding. But a ridiculous sequence of events for Giants quarterbacks this season demands an equally ridiculous reaction.
In our BBV predictions for this game, I suggested that it would show us whether the Giants are for real or frauds. After today’s 19-11 nail-biter over the Philadelphia Eagles, the answer is…some of both? The Giants managed to hang on for their first
win at The Linc since 2013 over a not-good Eagles team missing key players on offense, but it wasn’t easy. In fact it was a lot like the Giants’ last win there, when kicker Josh Brown accounted for all 15 Giants points in a 15-7 victory. Sunday, Jameis Winston did at least get the Giants into the end zone once, but the offense overall was pretty anemic. Still, a win is a win. Let’s discuss some things we learned today.
The interior offensive line is not good enough
Granted, the Eagles present a big challenge inside to offensive lines with Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis up front and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Zach Baun at the second level. Also, Devin Singletary as your lead running back is not a formula for racking up big rushing yards (21 rushes, 31 yards on Sunday). Still, we’ve seen these problems all season. Jon Runyan Jr. has never been a good run blocker and Sisi Mauigoa is not yet a good run blocker at the NFL level, so even Jonathan Taylor might not make much difference to the Giants’ running game. Having Andrew Thomas playing injured on the outside doesn’t help. The IOL does have its moments, as it did in overtime in Houston two weeks ago, but overall this is a big limitation to the Giants’ offense. The best running back on the field today may have been Greg DesRosiers (3 rushes, 20 yards), who actually broke one outside, a rarity for the Giants.
Thank goodness for the kicking game
It was great to see Dominic Zvada go 4 for 4 in field goals, including a 53-yarder and two 49-yarders. Two of those were in clutch time in the fourth quarter when the Giants extended a 5-point lead to 11. Let’s hope the blips of the last few weeks are behind him, because the Giants don’t win this game without him.
And don’t forget about Jordan Stout: Six punts Sunday averaging 52.3 yards, one of them for 62 yards, five of them inside the 20. But none bigger than his “only” 47-yard punt that was downed at the Eagles’ 5-yard line with 1:42 left. Stout has consistently been a field-flipper as a Giant, and it was never more important than today.
Arvell Reese is just ridiculous
Big Blue View didn’t exist in the 1980s, but if it had, Lawrence Taylor would have been in the ‘80s version of this post as well as the others that BBV writes after most every game. No one past or present is LT, but Arvell Reese gives off similar vibes. Three sacks, plus a forced fumble, and doulbe-digit tackles, most of them on plays that gained little if any yardage. He’s not quite there yet as a coverage linebacker, but he is just such a game changer in so many ways all over the field. I don’t know how an offensive coordinator can game plan for him. Wherever the Giants wind up drafting next year (and I hope they retain their first-round pick), remember the phrase “best player available.” I didn’t think the Giants needed a player that I thought would be an edge defender at the NFL level…but I couldn’t have been more wrong about the impact he would make on the Giants’ defense in multiple ways.
That said, Reese was not the only star on the Giants’ defense today. D.J. Reader continues to be one of the Giants’ most valuable free agent acquisitions in quite some time. Today, another sack and three more pressures, plus a couple of run stops. Even better news is that Darius Alexander is starting to show up as a two-way defensive tackle. He had two sacks today and four total pressures, which is what he was advertised to be coming out of college. Today though he also had a tackle and an assist, both of them stops. The Eagles’ rushing game was almost nonexistent today other than Joe Milton’s scrambles. Granted, this is not the Eagles’ offensive line of past glory, but if Alexander can become an all-around defensive tackle, that has huge implications for the Giants’ defense. Finally, let’s give a shout-out to Micah McFadden. He had two pressures himself, but more importantly, nine tackles.
In praise of Jameis Winston
I know, I know, Jameis Winston is making $6.5 million this year mostly for sitting on the bench now that the Giants have J.J. McCarthy. Good work if you can get it. But as we saw Sunday, it’s not clear yet what the prognosis is for J.J. going forward with that hit on his hip that he took. McCarthy was having his problems with the Vic Fangio defense before he got hurt. He seemed to be confused at what he was seeing looking downfield early, which isn’t a surprise. Still, he seemed to eventually get comfortable and made a couple of very nice throws. He gutted out the rest of the game after returning but we’ll see whether he plays next week.
Winston is a former No. 1 draft pick who has thrown for more than 4,000 yards in three different NFL seasons. Yet because of his interception problem he’s bounced around the league and spent a lot of time as a backup QB. It’s probably not all bad when you can live just outside New York City, be a local celebrity, do World Cup bits, and so on. Still, he has to long for chances to get onto the field and make a difference.
He sure did that Sunday. Winston came on after McCarthy’s injury. With the Giants losing 8-6 in the third quarter, Winston took them on an 8-minute, 76-yard drive to take a 13-8 lead that they never surrendered. He completed passes of 16 yards to Malachi Fields, 27 yards to Darnell Mooney (3 catches for 54 yards today, by the way), another to Fields for 14 yards, and finally a 5-yard TD pass to Isaiah Likely. That was the turning point in the game.
McCarthy came back after than and finished the game, but Winston has to get a ton of credit for that drive. What a great resource for the Giants to have.
