When one thinks about the New York Giants’ pass defense they want to run for bathroom. It was sickening to watch and the most sickening part is that was the result of a poorly coached, ill-conceived design that had them playing passively, allowing teams to pick them apart for both long and short gains.
They gave up 67 pass plays of more than 20 yards, which was fourth-highest in the NFL, and permitted offenses large swaths of real estate in an ugly season filled with confusion and frustration.
Pro Football Focus sometimes has us scratching our heads with their analytics, but in this case, there was no putting lipstick on this pig. They ranked the Giants near the bottom in their pass defense rankings. It is a well-deserved ranking, may I add.
30. NEW YORK GIANTS
By season’s end, the New York Giants had said goodbye to veteran Janoris Jenkins and hello to a woeful 30th-ranked team coverage grade. To put it kindly, rookie cornerbacks DeAndre Baker (45.6 coverage grade) and Corey Ballentine (29.8) suffered growing pains, combining to allow 1,226 yards and 12 touchdowns on a combined 123 targets, while the defense as a whole gave up the sixth-highest completion percentage (70.9%), the fifth-most passing yards (4,376) and the eighth-most combined first downs and touchdowns (207). Safety Jabrill Peppers earned the team’s highest coverage grade (70.2), but it wasn’t enough to save his hometown team the embarrassment of another disappointing season.
In reality, the Giants were ranked 28th in the league against the pass. The glaring stat was the number of pass plays over 40 yards they surrendered (15) which was tied with Green Bay and Philadelphia for second-most in the NFL (Oakland had the most with 16). The difference between the Giants and those teams? They all had offenses that could fight back.
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