Another week, another poor performance. This is the 2025 New York Giants. Actually, this is most weeks of most seasons for the Giants. No one grades coaches or general managers, but Pro Football Focus still grades players after each game, so let’s take a look at who they thought played well or poorly Sunday, along with who was on the field.
Offense
PFF grades
First, the entire offense:
Now, individual position groups, starting with quarterback:
This was Jaxson Dart’s lowest-graded game as a starter since his first start against
the Chargers, although that was due more to his low rushing grade (which included a fumble) than his passing grade, which was similar to the previous week’s. Dart was pressured on 41.9% of dropbacks, which partly explains that, although both of his TD passes came when pressured and his overall passing grade was higher under pressure than not. Overall Dart had three big-time throws, but unfortunately he also had two turnover-worthy plays, one of which was intercepted (whether by his own fault or Jalin Hyatt’s, we don’t know).
That performance under pressure is not common among NFL quarterbacks and is one of the things that makes Dart’s future so intriguing to me. When I watch him, I think, imagine him in a Sean McVay or Ben Johnson offense with a healthy Nabers and a true WR2 – Jordyn Tyson or Carnell Tate, anyone?
Here is Dart’s passing chart from yesterday:
He did target deep and intermediate parts of the field quite a bit, including both of his TDs and his one INT. His accuracy beyond 20 yards was not great, though one of those was a pass Darius Slayton should have caught.
Now let’s look at the pass blocking:
I’m surprised by this chart, which only lists 10 pressures allowed by the pass blockers. Specifically, I remember a series when Von Miller was giving Jermaine Eluemunor fits on three consecutive downs, yet Eluemunor was only charged with one pressure. I suspect there is a twofold explanation: (1) If you look at the Dart passing pressure chart earlier in this post, you can see that he was pressured 18 times, not 10. The difference? In PFF’s view Dart was apparently blamed himself for eight of the pressures he got. (2) The one QB hit Dart took was blamed on Theo Johnson, not Dart or Eluemunor. Otherwise the OL had a pretty good day, with Andrew Thomas his usual excellent self and only Jon Runyan Jr. grading a bit below average.
Next, the run blocking:
Other than Andrew Thomas, the rest of the line was at best mediocre in run blocking, and the two tight ends who played the most were just bad. This is a recurring problem that next year’s GM needs to solve. The Giants have all too many running plays that go nowhere, which puts Dart into more difficult situations than he’d face if he got more second-and-5 situations to deal with.
Now the receivers:
Daniel Bellinger is having a strange career. A promising target as a rookie until his eye socket injury, he’s mostly been banished to the hinterlands of the depth chart since returning. When he gets in there, though, he produces. Yesterday was bizarre – he came in for a series in the third quarter, was targeted three consecutive times, made all three catches, and then either Mike Kafka or Dart basically said, thank you for your service and now I’ll forget about you for the rest of the day. The other tight end, Theo Johnson, also played well, leading all receivers in yards, but isn’t there room on the field for both on a team with no real WR2? I’ll return to this when we discuss the snap counts.
Otherwise, the receivers played all right but nothing special. Wan’Dale Robinson led all receivers in yards; he’s now at 882 for the season and on target to break the 1,000 yard mark. Darius Slayton had four catches but in nine targets, with two drops, including one that cost the Giants a TD. Hyatt earned a poor 38.9 grade from PFF; that suggests that they thought that he was to blame for Dart’s interception.
Finally, the running backs:
Tyrone Tracy had a nice day, including a TD run. Of his 70 yards, 49 were after contact, three of them included missed tackles forced, and two were for more than 10 yards, which is good considering that he wasn’t running against the Giants’ defense. Devin Singletary only had a few opportunities but had one missed tackle forced.
Snap counts
- The starting offensive line played every snap,while Dart came off the field for two snaps for his latest blue tent visit and was replaced by Jameis Winston.
- Tracy got three-quarters of the RB snaps with Singletary getting the rest.
- The Giants played a lot more 11 personnel yesterday than they had been doing earlier in the season, with Chris Manhertz barely seeing the field and Bellinger only out there for about a quarter of the snaps.
- Robinson played just about every snap, and both Slayton and Isaiah Hodgins played 87% of the snaps, with Hyatt and Dalen Cambre each getting only a few snaps.
Defense
PFF grades
First, the entire defense:
Note that only two Giants defensive players graded above average, and only three more were even average, with one of them only being on the field for a few snaps. You can thank the other 12 defensive players if the Giants wind up getting the No. 1 draft pick.
Moving to the position groups, first, the pass rush:
Abdul Carter clearly had his best game as a pro yesterday. The chart above shows that he had a sack and three hurries, with an outstanding 17.4% pass rush win rate. Go back to the previous chart for the entire defense, though, and you can see the broad impact he had beyond just the pass rush: four tackles per PFF (he was officially credited with seven), five tops, and two forced fumbles.
Otherwise, Brian Burns had an average day overall, with only a 5.3% win rate, but he made those 5.3% count with three QB hits. Dane Belton collected a sack, but the rest of the defense didn’t do much in the pass rush, with a few scattered pressures here and there and nothing more. Dexter Lawrence, D.J. Davidson, and Darius Alexander didn’t record any pressures.
Next, the pass coverage:
If you’re looking for a green shoot amidst the winter snow, it’s Dru Phillips. Phillips has had a disappointing sophomore season, with teams starting to pick on him successfully in the passing game. Lately, though, he’s come on. Yesterday was the third game in a row in which PFF gave him a very good (70s) pass coverage grade. The past two weeks he’s only given up one reception for five yards in four targets. That may coincide with the decision to keep him in the slot or occasionally in the box and to mostly stop giving him coverage responsibilities outside, which he’d been getting a few times per game. Cor’Dale Flott continued his mostly solid play this year, also not giving up a reception. Phillips and Flott each had a pass breakup.
At the other end of the spectrum, the two Giants high-priced free agents, Paulson Adebo and Jevon Holland, continued to disappoint, giving up 47 and 64 yards, respectively. Dane Belton also had a rough day in coverage, giving up a TD.
Finally, the run (mostly lack of) defense:
Other than Carter, Belton compensated for his pass coverage performance with good run defense. Overall, the Giants were only “credited” with seven missed tackles yesterday. Perhaps that’s because (a) you have to be at least in the same zip code as the guy you’re responsible for in order to be identified as having missed the tackle, and (b) these numbers do not include punt returns.
Snap counts
- In the secondary, Flott, Adebo, and Holland played every snap. The other safeties, Belton and Tyler Nubin, played about 70% of the snaps, while Phillips played a little more than half the snaps.
- Okereke as usual played every snap at linebacker, while Darius Muasau played 80%
- On the edge, Carter and Burns each played more than three-quarterrs of the snaps, while Chauncey Golston once again played almost one quarter of the snaps and Tomon Fox a bit less than 10%.
- In the interior, Dexter Lawrence played about three-quarters of the snaps, Alexander and Roy Robertson-Harris each played more than 50%, Elijah Chatman saw the field 20% of the time, and D.J. Davidson was only in the game for a few snaps.
