|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: Tom Canavan
Three games into the season and less than a year after making the playoffs for the first time since 2016, it’s time for the New York Giants to hit the panic button.
Coach Brian Daboll’s team is playing poorly.
New York is now 1-2 after being outclassed 30-12 by the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night in Santa Clara, California. It was the second time that’s happened this season after Dallas embarrassed the Giants 40-0 in the season opener.
To get their only victory, the Giants had to match their greatest comeback in their 99-year history in rallying from a 21-point deficit to beat the winless Arizona Cardinals 31-28.
Now they have 1 1/2 week to straighten things out before facing the Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium on Oct. 2 in a Monday night game.
Things could get a lot worse, too. After the Seahawks, New York has road games against the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills. A 1-5 start is a distinct possibility.
“I’d say we have a lot of improvement to do and that’s what we’re going to do. Try to improve,” Daboll said Friday after the team took a red-eye back to New Jersey, getting to the team office around 8:30 a.m.
There is much to fix on the field and in the training room.
New York is banged up. Star running back Saquon Barkley has a high sprain of his right ankle that forced him to sit out Thursday. The left side of the offensive line is hurting. Star tackle Andrew Thomas (hamstring) has missed two games and left guard Ben Bredeson sustained a concussion Sunday and sat Thursday. Defensively, edge rusher Azeez Ojulari (hamsting) has missed the last two games.
The glaring problem is on the field. The offense has played one good half. Same with the defense. Luckily both came in the final 30 against the Cardinals. The Giants are not executing the basics: blocking, tackling, catching. In each of the first three games, there has been at least one play where New York had 10 players on the field.
That’s not winning football.
WHAT’S WORKING
Not a lot working on either side of the ball. But special teams can take kudos. Punter Jamie Gillan averaged 52.7 yards gross and 49.0 net on six punts. Placekicker Graham Gano converted from 44 and 57 yards on his two field goal attempts and all four of his kickoffs were touchbacks. The 57-yarder matched his own team record
WHAT NEEDS HELP
Third-down play can improve on both sides of the ball. The Niners dominated the down and had the ball for 39:10. New York was 3 of 12 while held to 150 yards, their lowest total since 2013. San Francisco converted 9 of 16 third-down chances, including 7 of 10 in the first half in taking a 17-6 lead. On their two second-quarter TD drives, it converted three third-down chances of 12 yards or more. They finished with 441 yards.
STOCK UP
Inside linebacker Micah McFadden. The second-year pro from Indiana was all over the field. He had a team-high 10 tackles, including four for losses. He would have had a pass defensed near the goal line against Chistian McCaffrey in the fourth quarter but it was nullified by a defensive holding penalty.
STOCK DOWN
Cornerback Tre Hawkins: He was the one guilty of the hold on the McFadden play. Opposing teams are going to attack rookie cornerbacks and the Cowboys, Cardinals and 49ers have taken their spots at the sixth-round draft pick. What is concerning is his missed tackles. He had a couple of whiffs.
INJURIES
First-round draft pick and cornerback Deonte Banks missed the second half with an arm injury. He missed the second half against Dallas with cramps. Backup defensive lineman D.J. Davidson hurt his elbow. Add Barkley, Thomas and Ojulari and it’s a lot.
KEY NUMBERS
0, 6, 63: The number of touchdowns and points the Giants have scored in the first half this season. The total number of points the opposition has scored — Dallas (26), Arizona (20), San Francisco (17).
NEXT STEPS
With 11 days between games, the Giants will get a few extra days to get healthy and straighten out what’s going wrong. (AP)
Giants Return From a Short Break and Start Focusing on Fixing Things
Having to play two games on the road in less than a week gave the New York Giants three days to look back at their first three games and to consider what’s gone wrong.
It’s nothing like a season ago when the Giants won their first two games under new coach Brian Daboll and six of their first seven. It carried the team to its first playoff berth since 2016 with a 9-7-1 record.
This season has been much shakier. New York is 1-2. It has been blown out by the Dallas Cowboys (2-1) and San Francisco 49ers (3-0) and it needed to match its greatest comeback in franchise history for a 31-28 win over the Arizona Cardinals (1-2).
The job is not going to get easier with Seattle (2-1), Miami (3-0) and Buffalo (2-1) over the next three weeks, especially with all that is going wrong.
Daniel Jones and the offense are struggling. The defense is missing tackles, not forcing turnovers and failing to get off the field, even on third-and-long situations.
If there has been a common thread on both sides of the ball it’s mistakes and slow starts. New York has been outscored 63-6 in the first half.
“I think it’s just locking in from the get-go,” inside linebacker and leading tackler Micah McFadden said Monday. “It’s not as easy as just getting points on the board as quickly as the other team does. We want to do that, we want to get that quick start, but even when we don’t, it’s like what we’ve been talking about, just staying the course and believing in the next play and taking advantage of every opportunity.”
McFadden, who had four tackles for losses against San Francisco, and safety Xavier McKinney said coordinator Wink Martindale has been telling the defense to stay the course.
“Individually, we’ve got to be better, we’ve got to have faster starts, and we’ve got to execute a lot better, we’ve got to be a lot cleaner, be a lot sharper,” McKinney said.
“I think it’s pretty simple. There’s only so much talking you can do about it. We’ve got to go out there and do these things and execute and be able to execute at a high level. So, once we do that, we’ll be fine.”
McKinney surprisingly was not concerned about the numerous missed tackles in the 30-12 loss to the Niners Thursday night. He feels the Giants are a good tackling team and just need to work on their fundamentals to fix it. He said what the defense needs is some turnovers. New York has not forced one.
A turnover or two probably also would help the offense, which many felt would be successful this season.
Jones was coming off a career season, had received a four-year, $160 million contract and some deep options.
Running back Saquon Barkley got to camp on time despite being unhappy about his franchise tag. He eventually signed an adjusted one-year contract.
New York also got tight end Darren Waller in a trade, signed wide out Parris Campbell as a free agent and drafted speedy receiver Jalin Hyatt. Darius Slayton, Isaiah Hodgins, Sterling Shepard and Wan’Dale Robinson also returned.
(AP)
