Tag: Julian Love

Giants beat Redskins: Winners, losers and those in between

The New York Giants defeated the Washington Redskins in Week 16, so here’s a look at the winners, losers and all those in between.

The New York Giants and Washington Redskins squared off in “The Chase Young Bowl” on Sunday and for two teams that would have benefited by losing, they certainly gave an A+ effort for the win.

The game itself was back-and-forth from the start, featuring many big plays, bad calls and bizarre circumstances — befitting of two 3-11 teams.

In the end, the Giants walked away victorious with a 41-35 overtime victory.

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Winners

Saquon Barkley: If you had any doubt that Barkley was truly back, he squashed those concerns in Week 16. In an all-time performance, Barkley dominated in all aspects, gaining 189 yards on 22 carries with one touchdown while adding 90 yards and one touchdown on four receptions.

Daniel Jones: In his first game back since suffering a high ankle sprain, Jones was extremely effective and really showed the football world what he’s capable of doing in this league. Yes, he had another fumble (not lost), but he also had five touchdown passes, tying Deshaun Watson and Fran Tarkenton for the most four-plus-touchdown performances (3) in the debut season of any player in NFL history.

Julian Love: How can you watch Love and not love (not pun intended) how he plays the game? He’s fast, shifty, not afraid of contact and gives it his all on every play. Was it flawless on Sunday? No, but his positive plays far outweigh his negative plays. This kid has a bright future.

Lorenzo Carter: Carter has had a down year for the Giants and really needed to flash at some point over the final two weeks. He did on Sunday. He was all over the field and especially strong rushing the passer, recording 1.5 sacks on the day.

Defensive line: The Giants have been horrible on defense this season, but I maintain the defensive line has played exceptionally well and even more so since the arrival of Leonard Williams. He, Dalvin Tomlinson, B.J. Hill and Dexter Lawrence all shined again on Sunday, creating pressure and shutting down any runs between the hash marks.

Offensive line: There was an expected drop off without Manning under center, but that was not the case for the O-line in Week 16. Even with Nick Gates replacing Mike Remmers (concussion), the unit payed collective well, giving Daniel Jones time and opening up enough holes for Barkley to have a field day.

Others: Da’Mari Scott, David Mayo, Kaden Smith, Cody Core

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5 reasons Giants could upset Redskins in Week 16

The New York Giants and Washington Redskins square off in Week 16, and here are five reasons Big Blue could come away with the win.

The New York Giants are coming off their first victory since September 29th in a 36-20 win over the Miami Dolphins.

This was also a sentimental victory as it was likely Eli Manning’s final home start of his career or at least in a Giants jersey. Manning was solid, going 20-of-28 for 283 yards and two touchdowns, but also three interceptions. Regardless, the Giants racked up their most points in a game since Week 15 of last year and had their most balanced attack of the season with Saquon Barkley rushing for 105 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

With the likely return of rookie Daniel Jones under center, Manning will go back to the bench. While one might think a Week 16 matchup between two three-win teams would be meaningless, this game will likely decide who receives the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, where Ohio State defensive end Chase Young is expected to be taken.

To be frank, the loser of this game could truly be winners in the long run if they are in line to draft an impact player such as Young.

Regardless, let’s look at five reasons the Giants could come out on top versus the Redskins (hopefully not so they get Young).

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Dwayne Haskins

The Giants defense had their best performance of the season in their last matchup with the Redskins, holding them to only three points back in Week 4. Haskins was unfairly thrown into the fire in the second half of the game and struggled throwing three interceptions including a pick-six to Jabrill Peppers.

Despite having his best game of his career last week against the Eagles (19-of-28 for 261 yards and two touchdowns), Haskins has struggled mightily in his rookie season throwing for only 1,232 yards with a 56.9 completion percentage, five touchdowns and seven interceptions. The rookie also has a 2.7 touchdown% with a 3.7% interception rate.

Haskins had a chip on his shoulder after the Giants passed him up with the sixth pick when they selected Daniel Jones over him. If you look at the numbers and watch the two signal callers performances this season, it is like night and day how much more prepared Jones (18 TD 11 INT 2,784 yards 62 completion percentage) was than Haskins.

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Giants drop Dolphins: Winners, losers and those in between

The New York Giants defeated the Miami Dolphins in what may be Eli Manning’s final game. Here’s a look at the winners and losers.

In what may be Eli Manning’s final start as a member of the New York Giants, the team came up big and managed to get him a victory — Manning’s first win in over a calendar year and the team’s first win since Week 4.

It was ugly early on, but then the Giants began to roll and never looked back. There were some issues here and there, but all things considered, it was the team’s most well-rounded game all season.

Here’s a quick look at the winners and losers from Week 14:

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Winners

David Mayo: On a team — and specifically a defense — that does very little right, Mayo has been a pleasant and unexpected surprise. Yes, he’s been up-and-down at times and even had a few hiccups on Sunday, but overall he’s a very sound player who steps up and makes big plays at crucial times. It’s a shame his teammates actually drag down his play.

Saquon Barkley: Finally. Finally. Finally. Barkley had not had a 100-yard game since Week 2 and had not reached the endzone since Week 7. Both of those streaks ended with what was arguably Barkley’s best performance of the season. He finished the day with 112 yards on 24 carries, 31 yards on four receptions and two touchdowns.

Darius Slayton: Slayton didn’t put up huge numbers, but he came up big in a few big plays in key spots. He finished the game with two receptions for 31 yards and his eighth touchdown of the season.

Riley Dixon: Worth. Every. Penny.

Others: Dalvin Tomlinson, Leonard Williams, Michael Thomas

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

The New York Giants fell to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, and here’s a look at the winners, losers and those in between.

The New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles squared off in a Monday Night Football game that was very legitimately a sidebar to the return of veteran quarterback Eli Manning, who was replacing the injured Daniel Jones.

Manning’s performance will be picked apart from every angle in the coming day, so for now, we’ll stick to the basics and provide our usual hot takes.

Here’s a look at the winners and losers who contributed to Monday’s loss.

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Winners

Markus Golden – From the jump, Golden was playing at a different level on Monday night. Maybe it was the bright lights of prime-time, but he was a ball of energy and simply dominated the Eagles offensive line early on, tallying four QB hurries and one sack over his first nine pass rushing attempts. He fell off a bit later on, but that really speaks more about his hot start.

Leonard Williams – After making waves earlier in the week by saying he wanted to be paid at a tier below Aaron Donald, Williams had his best game as a Giant and perhaps his best game of the season. He collapsed the pocket, rushed the passer, stopped the run and snuffed out screens (the only one) with remarkable precision. He did have one awful roughing the passer penalty, but we’ll forgive him this one time.

Darius Slayton – Entering Week 14, Slayton had never caught a pass from Eli Manning. Ha! The rookie dominated the first half, hauling in five receptions for 154 yards and two touchdowns.  However, Slayton faded completely in the second half (not entirely his fault).

Oshane Ximines – It was a big night for the rookie edge rusher, who came up with two sacks of Carson Wentz and added a quality stop in the second half for good measure. A game to build upon.

Others: Janoris Jenkins, DeAndre Baker, Dalvin Tomlinson

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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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Julian Love was Giants’ highest-graded player in loss to Packers

Rookie safety Julian Love was the New York Giants’ highest-graded player in a Week 13 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

The New York Giants crumbled in the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers in Week 13, allowing a very close game to get out of hand in a hurry, ultimately sending Big Blue to consecutive loss No. 8.

But forget all the negatives for a moment. In a season overloaded with pessimism, let us instead focus on some reasons for optimism.

Case in point: defensive back Julian Love.

Love was thrust into a larger role a week ago against the Chicago Bears and played quite well. He drew his first NFL start in place of the injured Jabrill Peppers in Week 13 and again, he played well.

In fact, Love was the highest-graded Giant on the day courtesy of Pro Football Focus.

What’s most impressive about Love’s play wasn’t necessarily the PFF grade, but the utility that led to his grade.

In PFF ReFocused, they offered more praise of Love, while taking aim at Janoris Jenkins and Sam Beal for poor performances, although we clearly did not see the same things they did when it came to Jenkins, who surrendered zero receptions to the players he was assigned to cover.

One of the bright spots for the Giants’ defense was the play of rookie Julian Love. Love was able to come up and make plays in coverage with his sure tackling, and he did his best to keep the Packers off schedule.

The Giants’ other cornerbacks did not make many positive plays. Sam Beal and Janoris Jenkins were both beaten deep this afternoon. Jenkins also really struggled to tackle and was run over on a couple of occasions. Beal was charged with giving up a touchdown as well as a pass interference penalty.

Despite his three-interception day, rookie quarterback Daniel Jones also graded out relatively well.

The grade of Jones is somewhat ironic given that we’ve seen PFF give Manning a “0” grade on a touchdown pass previously, so there may be some personal bias going into these grades, but that’s not exactly any sort of revelation.

Either way, Giants fans have a reason for optimism in Love, who could turn out to be one of the steals of the 2019 NFL Draft.

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3 takeaways from Giants’ Week 13 loss to Packers

Here are three takeaways from the New York Giants’ Week 13 loss to the Green Bay Packers, which dropped them to 2-10.

The New York Giants’ latest loss, a 31-13 slopfest against a recently struggling Green Bay Packers team, has all but put the lid on Big Blue’s designs of becoming a competitive team this season.

In front of a large throng of Packer fans, the Giants once again displayed for the whole word that thy are officially one of the NFL’s worst and most poorly run franchises.

Here are three takeaways (click away now if you’re looking for a silver lining).

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Numbers don’t lie

At 2-10, the Giants are officially the doormat of the NFC. There is no further to fall. They are it. John Mara and Dave Gettleman can be proud of the mess they’ve made of this franchise. Sure, you can blame Jerry Reese, but Gettleman has had two full offseasons and the team has gotten worse. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

How do you get to 2-10? Easily. The other team scores more than you every week, that’s how. They are averaging 19.2 points per game but have scored only 13 and 14 points respectively in the past two games. That’s not going to get it done when you’re allowing 28.2 points each week.

Who is to blame? Just about everyone. The team is not coached very well, has two many inexperienced players and the veterans who are here are under-performing.

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Giants vs. Packers: Statistics, numbers and broken records

The New York Giants fell to the Green Bay Packers in Week 13 and here’s a look at some of the statistics, numbers and broken records.

Another week, another loss for the New York Giants, who fell to 2-10 on the season following a 31-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.

The Giants remained very much in this game for the first three quarters, but things slipped away from them in the fourth as Green Bay scored 14 unanswered points and Daniel Jones became a little erratic with his throwing.

Here’s a look at all the noteworthy stats and records to come from the Week 13 loss:

  • The Giants have now lost eight consecutive games, which is tied for the second-longest streak in franchise history and puts them one loss away from the all-time mark.
  • Aldrick Rosas kicked a field goal following an 18-play drive in the second quarter, which was the most plays run by the team on a single drive since November 30, 2014 when they had a 19-play drive.
  • Daniel Jones threw a touchdown in his 10th consecutive game on Sunday, which is the fourth-longest such streak to start an NFL career since the 1970 merger.
  • Jones’ 10-game touchdown streak also sets an all-time franchise record, surpassing Charlie Conerly, who had a streak of nine games and held the record for 71 years.
  • Jones’ 10-game streak is also the longest by a Giants quarterback since Eli Manning did it in 2014-2015 and is tied for the fourth-longest streak in franchise history.
  • Jones had his interception-free streak snapped at 110 attempts.
  • With his 240 yards passing, Jones now has 2,374 yards on the season, surpassing Conerly (2,175) for the Giants’ all-time rookie record.
  • Jones increased his own rookie record for attempts (370) and completions (207).
  • Cody Latimer tied a personal career mark with a 43-yard receptions.
  • Da’Mari Scott played in his first career game and drew the start.
  • Julian Love made his first career start in place of Jabrill Peppers.

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Giants-Packers Week 13: Offense, defense and special teams snap counts

The New York Giants lost their Week 13 game against the Green Bay Packers. Here are the snap counts on offense, defense and special teams.

The New York Giants fell to the Green Bay Packers, 31-13, on a snowy Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, extending their current losing streak to eight games, which is the second-worst such streak in franchise history.

Although the Giants managed to hang around for three quarters, the wheels came off in the fourth quarter and the Packers never looked back.

Here’s a look at the snap counts that contributed to New York’s latest loss.

Offensive snaps: 67
Defensive snaps: 67
Special teams snaps: 22

An interesting development on the offensive side of the ball was the use of Buck Allen and Eli Penny in place of Wayne Gallman, who did not receive so much as a single snap in Week 13.

Defensively, R.J. McIntosh has had his role almost completely wiped away, while Julian Love has been completely thrust into the starting role.

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Giants dropped by Packers, 31-13: Instant analysis

Instant analysis of the latest New York Giants loss in which they fell to the Green Bay Packers, 31-13, in a snow storm.

The New York Giants are thisclose to having the first overall selection in next year’s NFL Draft. With the 31-13 loss this afternoon to the Green Bay Packers at icy MetLife Stadium, Big Blue fell to 2-10 on the season and just may be the worst team in the NFL right now.

They didn’t exactly embarrass themselves against the Packers on this lousy weather day, but just like nine other times this season, they just didn’t do enough again to win the game.

To their credit, the Giants kept things close for three quarters but the lack of depth and experience caught up with them as the Packers scored two touchdowns in the final frame to put the game away.

The team continues to be poorly run. On offense, timeouts are being used haphazardly and the play calling leaves a lot to be desired.

On defense, the coverage dogged them again, surrendering too many big plays in the passing game while committing costly penalties.

At this rate, it’s going to be difficult for general manager Dave Gettleman and the coaching staff to convince Giants’ ownership they deserve to return next season.

Some highlights…

Sterling Shepard from Daniel Jones for a TD.

A 43-yard completion to Cody Latimer.

Notes

  • The loss was the Giants’ eighth straight, which is tied for the second-longest skein in franchise history. They lost eight consecutive games on three other occasions: 1966 (Oct 23-Dec 18), 1980 (Sept 14-Nov 2) and 2004 (Nov 7-Dec 26). They will be attempting to tie the franchise record of nine next Monday night in Philadelphia. The record was set in 1976 (Sept 12-Nov 7) and matched from Nov 9, 2003 through Sept 14, 2004.
  • The Giants were without their two top tight ends again. Evan Engram (foot) and Rhett Ellison (concussion). They were replaced by rookie Kaden Smith and Scott Simonson.
  • Latimer started for Golden Tate (concussion) at wide receiver and rookie Julian Love was in for Jabrill Peppers (back) at safety.
  • Daniel Jones now has a touchdown pass in each of his 10 starts this season.
  • Wide receiver Darius Slayton had six receptions for 44 yards but his best play of the game – a 29-yard gain down the sideline in which he made a fingertip grab – was wiped away due to a penalty.

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