Tag: deandre baker

PFF: Darius Slayton, DeAndre Baker among highest-graded Giants in Week 14

New York Giants rookies, WR Darius Slayton and CB DeAndre Baker, were among the team’s highest-graded players in Week 14.

The New York Giants fell to 2-11 on the season with a 23-17 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football, but despite the defeat, there were several reasons for optimism.

Chief among them was the play of rookie wide receiver Darius Slayton, who hauled in five receptions for 154 yards and two touchdowns. That performance earned him a 90.3 overall grade.

Pro Football Focus provided a little additional context in their ReFocused segment.

Wide receiver Darius Slayton had two long touchdowns on deep balls from Manning, but he too fell off in the second half. He had just two targets and zero catches in the final two quarters of play.

On the defensive side of the ball, rookie cornerback DeAndre Baker had another high quality game, allowing just one reception for seven yards in his rotation with Sam Beal, who did not fare nearly as well.

Veteran safety Antoine Bethea also drew a little praise for his work against the run, while several others defenders earned some kudos in the ReFocused segment.

Rookie Oshane Ximines got a second-quarter sack of Wentz after he slid inside of Jason Peters, the sack occurred in the red zone and forced a field goal. Ximines picked up a second sack in the fourth quarter after beating back-up left tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai inside.

Markus Golden had an unblocked sack to end the Eagles’ opening drive of the game. Golden picked up a hit of Wentz on the very next drive.

With all the praise being slung around, someone had to catch blame for the loss. And who else but veteran quarterback Eli Manning, who hadn’t played in 10 weeks and tossed two touchdowns and over 200 yards to his zero turnovers?

Yeah, makes sense.

Eli Manning started hot in his spot start for injured rookie Daniel Jones but faded in the second half as he struggled to move the ball. His drop-off in play ultimately resulted in another loss for the Giants.

Read that again — the Giants lost because of Manning’s drop-off in play during the second half when the Giants defense couldn’t stop anything, the offensive line couldn’t block anything, the receivers couldn’t catch anything and zero adjustments were made by head coach Pat Shurmur and defensive coordinator James Bettcher.

As many things change, so many stay the same.

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Eagles will have opportunities for big plays in the passing game against Giants

Eagles could have success passing against New York Giants secondary

The Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants will square off on ‘Monday Night Football’ at Lincoln Financial Field in a matchup that could put the Birds into a first-place tie with the Cowboys in the NFC East.

The Eagles need to win this ball game in dominant fashion, to help restore some confidence to a bruised locker room after the disaster in Miami.

Monday night presents an opportunity for the Eagles to take out some frustration in the passing game. Earlier in the week, the Giants ruled out cornerback Corey Ballentine and placed safety Jabrill Peppers on injured reserve.

The Giants rank just 30th in pass-defense DVOA according to Football Outsiders’. Rookie DeAndre Baker has struggled at times this season, and he’ll be manned up on the outside. Baker has 135.3 passer rating allowed on throws in his direction ranks 171st out of the 175 cornerbacks and safeties who have played at least 200 snaps in coverage this season, per Pro Football Focus.

Alshon Jeffery has had success against Janoris Jenkins, but he could be relegated to playing in the slot with the loss of Ballentine.

On the season, New York is allowing 8.5 yards per attempt, which is tied for last in the NFL entering the week, while Carson Wentz does his best work under the lights and on Monday Night Football. During his career, Wentz has a 3-1 record, 8 total touchdowns, with 7 coming through the air.

Wentz only has 3 interceptions on Monday night, while completing 66.42% of his completions (best of any day), with 1018 passing yards.

5 reasons Giants could upset Eagles in Week 14

The New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles square off in Week 14, and here are five reasons Big Blue could come away with the win.

The New York Giants are currently on an eight-game losing streak and are heading to Philadelphia (where they haven’t won a game since 2013) to take on the struggling Eagles on Monday night.

The Eagles are on a three-game losing streak of their own after an embarrassing 37-31 loss to the lowly Miami Dolphins last week. At 5-7, they are watching their divisional championship hopes dwindle away if things continue to trend in the wrong direction.

With the Dallas Cowboys in a rut of their own at 6-6, the Eagles absolutely need to win this game, which arguably makes the Giants even more dangerous in the role as spoiler.

Here are five reasons why the Giants can pull off an improbable victory in a city they haven’t won in since 2013.

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Eli Manning

Rookie Daniel Jones seemingly unseated Manning from his 16-year starting quarterback throne with the Giants for good in Week 3 when he took over. Unfortunately, Jones suffered what they are calling a high ankle sprain last week against the Green Bay Packers, despite finishing out the contest.

On Monday Pat Shurmur initially stated that Jones did not require any further tests on the ankle Monday expecting him to be fine. However, on Wednesday Shurmur announced that Jones would not practice while also revealing he suffered a high ankle sprain.

Paging doctor Manning, it now looks more than likely that Eli will start on Monday for the first time since being benched in favor of Jones in Week 3.

While Jones has shown promising signs this season, he still has the expected growing pains of a rookie quarterback. With Eli, the Giants get a veteran Hall of Famer, who has been around the block a few times and has battled it out with the Eagles for close to 20 years. He also eliminates the turnover issues that come with Jones in his first year.

It is expected that Eli will return with a chip on his shoulder and make the most of his surprise playing time. But, keep in mind that Manning has struggled against the Eagles in his career with a 10-22 record, and a 59.3% completion percentage. The Eagles have won their last five meetings with the Giants and nine of their last 10 games. Monday could give us a better idea of whether Pat Shurmur pulled the plug on Eli too early this season. We shall find out.

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Giants’ DeAndre Baker vows to become an elite corner

New York Giants rookie DeAndre Baker guarantees that he will become an elite lock-down corner in Year 2.

Entering Week 14 of the regular season, New York Giants rookie DeAndre Baker is one of the lowest-ranked and lowest-graded cornerbacks in the league, at times owning a share of the very bottom spot.

Recently, Baker was even called out by his teammates for a lack of hustle, which highlighted what has otherwise been a concerning and forgettable rookie campaign.

However, despite his struggles, Baker maintains a positive attitude and vows to become an elite lock-down corner in 2020.

“I know it,” Baker told NJ Advance Media. “I know what I can do.”

“Just to be one of the top corners. That’s all. Next year, I’m just trying to have way more good games than bad.”

The problem with Baker looking ahead is that he still has four games remaining in his rookie season, and now that he’s sharing time with Sam Beal, he’ll need to start turning a corner sooner rather than later.

“I’m going to show them that for the rest of these games, too, and next year,” he said.

While Baker admits that he’s not content in his rookie performance, he also claims he’s not disappointed in it, either. That’s a far cry from his critics and fans, but he simply tunes them out — something that is easier for him to do since he doesn’t use social media.

“I’m not content,” he said of his rookie season. “There’s things I could’ve done better. But I ain’t disappointed at all. It’s kind of like: All right, this is what I need to do.

“I don’t ever see criticism or nothing like that, so I can’t really talk about it. I don’t be on Twitter, so I wouldn’t know what they’re saying. That’s probably a good thing.”

It is a good thing for Baker, who has taken more heat than any other Giant this season — and rightfully so.

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Giants fall to Packers: Winners, losers and those in between

The New York Giants fell to 2-10 with a 31-13 loss to the Packers in Week 13, and here’s a look at the winners and losers from that game.

The New York Giants fell to the Green Bay Packers, 31-13, on a snowy Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, extending their losing streak to eight consecutive games and officially eliminating them from the playoffs.

The game itself wasn’t as lopsided as many anticipated initially, but it got a little out of hand later on in the fourth quarter. And while that does represent some progress, as head coach Pat Shurmur would say, you don’t get any prizes for trying hard.

Here’s a look at some winners and losers from Week 13:

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Winners

Sterling Shepard: Because of the weather, Shepard wasn’t targeted as many times as he would have been under sunny skies, but he made sure to remind Giants Nation how valuable he can be when he’s on the field. He hauled in three receptions for 40 yards and one beautiful touchdown, and was open several other times throughout the game, but the Giants were simply unable to get him the ball. He did have one drop, but that shouldn’t define his performance.

Darius Slayton: Slayton is rapidly becoming a consistent weekly force and Sunday was no different. Ironically, he actually played better than his stats would indicate as one of his long receptions was called back due to a penalty. He finished the game with six receptions for 44 yards.

Janoris Jenkins: Jenkins entered the Week 13 game feeling quite confident and all but guaranteeing he wouldn’t give up a touchdown, and true to his word, he did not. In fact, Jenkins didn’t give up a single reception to a receiver in which he was covering one-on-one, and even had a pass defensed that prevented a score.

Others: Buck Allen, Aldrick Rosas, Kaden Smith

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Giants will continue rotating DeAndre Baker, Sam Beal

After finding success with the change in Week 12, the New York Giants will continue to rotate cornerbacks DeAndre Baker and Sam Beal.

Against the Chicago Bears in Week 12, the New York Giants rotated cornerbacks DeAndre Baker and Sam Beal to some relative success.

Add in the performance of defensive back Julian Love, who basically does it all, and Giants head coach Pat Shurmur was pleasantly surprised with what he saw despite the 19-14 loss.

“Well, it was good to see Beal on the field. His first action, so to speak, playing defense. He played the week before, but extended and planned. He did a good job,” Shurmur told reporters.

“What I liked about it? They’re young players, and if we add Love, we have another rookie out there. You can make the case that really Sam is a rookie. Last year was like year zero for him, because he didn’t get a chance to compete at all. But he competed. First, he got lined up properly. He knew, generally speaking, what to do and he competed. It’s always good to see a young player get out there and get something done.”

Baker took 63% of the team’s defensive reps on Sunday, while Beal took 37%. The end result? A strong showing by Beal and Baker’s best performance of 2019.

Not wanting to mess with one of the few good things happening with the team, Shurmur revealed that Baker and Beal will remain in a rotation for the time being.

“Yeah, they’re both going to play. So, probably we’ll stick with it,” Shurmur said. “I think it was good to get Beal on the field. DeAndre… It’s always good when there’s a competitive setting, too. I think I mentioned it earlier in the week on the conference call, but when he was out there, he competed hard. When he wasn’t in there, he was standing there, watching and in-tune with what was going on. Hey, they’re young players. There’s a lot to learn for all of them. We’ll keep them all going.”

The competition should light a fire under Baker, who admitted only a few short weeks ago that he didn’t have a handle on the playbook, while Beal has the scheme down pat but has lacked the necessary playing time due to injury.

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Giants’ David Mayo, DeAndre Baker earn high PFF grades in loss to Bears

New York Giants LB David Mayo and CB DeAndre Baker earned high PFF grades in a Week 12 loss to the Chicago Bears.

The New York Giants lost their seventh consecutive game in Week 12, falling to the Chicago Bears, 19-14, at Soldier Field. And as disheartening as another loss was, there were a few positives to come out of the game.

First and foremost, rookie cornerback DeAndre Baker played well a week removed from being called out in front of the entire team, earning his highest Pro Football Focus grade of the season.

In addition to Baker, linebacker David Mayo also graded out well, earning a team-high grade of 92.4.

Our friends at PFF also singled out Mayo during their ReForcused segment, specifically making note of how well he played against the run.

David Mayo was an absolute beast for the Giants’ defense at linebacker. He was all over the field, leading the way in defensive stops. His run defense was phenomenal, as he constantly snaked through blockers and was able to make multiple tackles for loss.

Finally, rookie defensive back Julian Love also earned a little love for his play, finishing the game with a 81.2 grade.

It may have been another hard to swallow loss for Giants fans, but if you’re desperately seeking out a silver lining, Pro Football Focus has provided it.

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3 takeaways from Giants’ Week 12 loss to Bears

Here are three takeaways from the New York Giants’ Week 12 loss to the Chicago Bears, which dropped them to 2-9.

The New York Giants fell to 2-9 on the season after their listless loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday.

Here are three takeaways from the latest loss.

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Daniel Jones shows his grit

Giant fans remember the days when Eli Manning was covered in grass stains and dirt after a hard day’s work. On Sunday, Jones did what he could to penetrate the Bears’ aggressive defense and took many a hit in the process. Overall, he did fairly well, but on the Giants’ final series of the game, Jones sustained a cut on his throwing hand between his index and middle finger, which affected his passing. His final three passes were incompletions.

After the game, Jones sloughed off the injury admitting he did not know how it happened but confirmed he would not need stitches. The team’s seventh straight loss is what hurt him the most.

“It’s tough,’ said Jones. “No one likes to lose. Everyone in this locker room, everybody that’s part of the organization, is trying to do what we can to correct it. We got to keep doing that, look at what we’re doing, get better. Right now, it’s not good enough.”

No, it’s not.

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Report: Giants’ DeAndre Baker called out in front of team for ‘unacceptable’ play

New York Giants rookie CB DeAndre Baker got called out in front of the team this week for what his teammates deemed “unacceptable” play.

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When the New York Giants traded back up into Round 1 of the 2019 NFL Draft, many felt they got a steal with cornerback DeAndre Baker, who was known for his physical, hard-nosed style of play.

However, in his first NFL season, Baker has graded out among the worst cornerbacks in all of football, and his snafus are evident on a weekly basis.

To some degree, Baker’s issues stem from being used in soft coverage — the polar opposite of his strength — and a general misunderstanding of the team’s defensive scheme, which he humbly admitted just a few short weeks ago.

But some of Baker’s problems are of his own making, including but not limited to a lack of hustle that has exhausted some of his teammates. In fact, they’ve become so bothered by it that the rookie was reportedly called out in front of the team.

Being ripped in front of an entire team as a rookie is undoubtedly a difficult pill to swallow, but as you can see in the video footage above, the complaints are completely warranted and justified.

How Baker responds to being dressed down may not only define what remains of his rookie season, but where he stands on the roster entering the 2020 season.

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6 things to watch for over the Giants’ final six games

Here are six things (plus more) to watch over the final six games of the New York Giants’ 2019 regular season.

There’s not a whole lot to root for in these 2-8 New York Giants, but fans will be looking for any signs of life– and hope — in Pat Shurmur’s team over the last six games of this lost 2019 season.

Fans are shedding themselves of as many tickets as they can for the remaining three home games (Week 13 vs. Green Bay, Week 15 vs. Miami and Week 17 vs. Philadelphia) and there won’t be a ton of viewers watching on television, either, as the Giants close out their sixth losing season over the last seven years.

But there are a few things to watch for. I like No. 6, so I narrowed (or expanded) the things to watch to that number for the heck of it.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Pat Shurmur

Is he coaching for his Giants life? It doesn’t look like they’ll better last year’s record of 5-11, but if he can only win two or three of the last six games and the team is still a disorganized mess, do the Giants look to move on?

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