I don’t think there was…or at least I don’t think there should have been… much player evaluation going on during today’s meaningless New York Giants game against the Dallas Cowboys. (Did the Giants keep
Kenny Golladay because he caught a TD pass from Davis Webb in the 2022 season finale in Philadelphia?) Both franchises had disappointing seasons, both will see upheaval to a greater or lesser extent in their coaching staffs during the off-season, and both have had defenses that have been pretty offensive to their fans this season. Whoever the next Giants head coach is will not be analyzing tape of this game to learn anything that isn’t evident on the previous 16 tapes.
The main differences in the two teams have been that the Cowboys’ quarterback situation has been settled all season, they have two premier wide receivers who have been healthy all or much of the season, they have two of the NFL’s best place kickers and punters, and while Matt Eberflus may be short-lived as their defensive coordinator, at least he hadn’t blown five fourth quarter leads this season.
Still, the Giants showed signs of life last week in Las Vegas, and according to the calculations of Doug_Analytics, last night’s Seahawks victory over the 49ers left the Giants with a slightly larger sliver of hope that they could get the No. 1 draft pick. It would require a number of things to go right in this and other games today, and a worst case scenario was the Giants dropping all the way to N0. 7.
What did we learn today about this and other aspects of this frustrating team?
Goodbye, No. 1
No No. 1 pick. That went out the window with the Giants’ victory. On the plus side, the Giants entered the game with the chance to pick as low as No. 7. Their final landing spot depends on the results of the 4:25 games involving the Jets, Cardinals, and Commanders, but with the Browns winning and the Titans losing, the Giants can pick no higher than No. 3 and no lower than No. 6.
That’s disappointing, but at least they beat the Cowboys for a change, and Dak Prescott for a change (even though he only played a half). I’ll take what I can get.
WR1: Gunner Olszewski?
You had to feel sorry for Jaxson Dart. He was playing his heart out today as he always does. With Malik Nabers out almost all of his time as QB1, and with Wan’Dale Robinson sitting the game out after breaking the 1,000 yard mark, the pickings were slim for Dart to find receivers to throw to. For the second time this season, Darius Slayton had a long TD reception called back by a questionable offensive pass interference call. The Isaiah Hodgins of 2022 doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Daniel Bellinger helped with a TD on an improvised shovel pass from Dart but otherwise did little. Chris Manhertz dropped his only target, as well as whiffing on a block that allowed Dart to be sacked. Why is he on the roster?
Enter the Giants’ secret weapon: Gunner Olszewski?
Olszewski, in a 6-year NFL career entering this season, had a total of 17 pass receptions in 24 targets for 223 yards. Today he had 8 catches in 9 targets for 102 yards, an almost 50% enhancement of his career stats. Olszewski of course also has a TD pass this season, on the NFL Play of the Year to Jameis Winston, and he almost added a second one today but threw short.
Give Jaxson Dart some credit. Dart played well with this undermanned offense today, putting 230 passing yards and 2 TDs up with Olszewski as his WR1 and Tyrone Tracy (see below) as effectively his WR2.
Tyrone Tracy is a pretty good RB2
Perhaps I’m premature anointing Cam Skattebo as RB1 given that he’d only started a few games before being hurt and missing the rest of the season. We’ll just have to stay tuned to see how the 2026 season plays out. What we can say, though, is that the combination of Skattebo with Tyrone Tracy, looks like a nice 1-2 punch. Tracy brings a different skill set from Skattebo. More importantly, after a rookie season in which he showed flashes but also frustrated with his proclivity for fumbles and drops, Tracy has cleaned up his act this season. His fumbles decreased from 4 to 1, and his dropped passes from 6 to 2.
Tracy broke 100 yards rushing today against a pretty good Dallas run defense. and reached 1,000 yards for the season (h/t: Chris Pflum). A failed wide receiver in college, Tracy caught 8 passes in 9 targets today for 56 yards. His ability to make tacklers miss is a nice complement to Skattebo’s ability to just bounce off tacklers. One thing Joe Schoen has done well in his drafts is to build a post-Barkley rushing attack with fourth and fifth round draft picks. If the Giants can just get themselves a dominant run blocking interior defensive lineman, they could have a really potent rushing attack in 2026.
Would you rather have a long-range kicker or a reliable kicker?
We don’t know what Ben Sauls can do from 50+ yards at the NFL level. Unfortunately he never got the chance to try this season. What we do know, however, is that in three games as the Giants’ place kicker, Sauls went 9-for-9 in field goals and was perfect on extra points as well.
The 45-yard field goal he hit today was his longest of the season, the only one he attempted beyond 40 yards. I really wish he’d gotten a couple of chances from 50 and beyond, but the Giants’ offense was just too efficient 🙂
What I do know is that every single Sauls kick I saw was straaight and true, most of them going right down the middle, none of the them just squeezing inside the upright, and it looked like he had the leg to make them from more than 50.
I’d love them to have a Brandon Aubrey, a guy who can keep you alive in a game from 60+ yards. Sauls may not be that. But there’s something to be said for reliability. We’ll see what the Giants think when they put together the 2026 roster.
