The Giants defeated the Jaguars in yet another one-score game and fourth-quarter comeback, outscoring Jacksonville, 10-0, in the quarter to cement a 23-17 victory. The Giants are now 6-1.
1. The Giants' offense had their best game of the season and it was not particularly close. The Giants gained 436 yards of offense. Their previous high this season was 394 yards in Week 1. It was the consistency of the offense that was truly impressive. The Giants only had two drives that did not go for at least 60 yards. Every drive but one went at least seven plays. Only three drives did not end in scores. They only punted twice. The had no three-and-outs.
The Giants were also less reliant on Saquon Barkley for their scoring drives. The Giants scored on their first possession of the game, while only calling one running play for Saquon Barkley that went for -4 yards. Jones completed 6-of-7 for 65 yards and scrambled once for 14 yards to convert a 3rd-and-3.
The touchdown was a single-high defense with press coverage on the outside. Darius Slayton beat his man at the snap and used his speed to win deep before Jones hit him with a perfectly placed pass.
As the Giants make more plays like this, teams will be less willing to being extra men up to the line of scrimmage to slow down Saquon Barkley. On the Giants' first field goal drive, Barkley had only three rushes for four yards. On their second field goal drive to end the first half, Barkley ran it only four times for 16 yards.
Daniel Jones' final passing numbers might look pedestrian (19-30, 202 yards, 1 TD) but he was plagued by drops from his receivers (PFF tracked three for the game) throughout the game. Jones did most of his damage, and was very sharp throwing the ball under 15 yards from the line of scrimmage. He completed 18-24 in that range for 170 yards, according to Pro Football Focus.
2. In yet another game, the Giants did not run the ball well with Saquon Barkley in the first half. He only ran it nine times for 18 yards in the first two quarters. It got slightly better in the third quarter, when he ran for 20 yards on five carries.
Barkley exploded in the fourth quarter, rushing it 10 times for 72 yards. He ran it four times for 28 yards on the go-ahead touchdown drive. Barkley's big run on that drive went for 18 yards after he dodged Rayshawn Jenkins, who had a clear shot at him in the backfield. This is the type of play that makes Barkley special.
With the lead, the Giants went into their four minutes offense and ran it eight times for 61 yards to set up a field goal. the Giants final drive, they ran "power" six times to the right behind a lead block from Chris Myarick and a pulling Josh Ezeudu. They ran the same play to the right behind a pulling Mark Glowinski and the seventh play was a Jones keeper off of a fake "power" run.
Here are the first of those three "power" run plays, leading to two first downs. It is old school powerful football with the Giants in 22 personnel (2 RB's, 2 TE's) with an eligible linemen as the second tight end.
In the fourth quarter, the Giants ran it 17 times for 130 yards and a touchdown. The runs included eight first downs and five runs of 10 yards or more. Jones ran it four times for 50 yards in the fourth quarter. On the Giants go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, all 79 yards were gained on the ground with Jones only throwing two passes on the drive, both of which went incomplete.
Jones' contributions on the ground should not be forgotten. He rushed for seven critical first downs and had five runs of 10+ yards. The Giants used the Jaguars' focus on Saquon Barkley against them, by using Jones as a counter on a number of designed runs that went for first downs.
Jones' ball-handling on the final play is excellent. Travon Walker, the right edge defender on the play is watching for the quarterback keeper, but Jones hides the ball so well after faking the handoff, Walker collapses down the line and Jones gains 15 yards and a critical first down to help run the clock down late in the game.
3. The Giants' defense struggled for much of the game, but once again made the plays when it counted most in the fourth quarter. This three-play series on the Jaguars' first drive of the quarter was the turning point of the game. On 2nd-and-5, Julian Love keeps Christian Kirk just short of the first down marker. On 3rd-and-1, Quincy Roche and Tae Crowder combined to hold Travis Ettiene to no gain on a wildcat play. Then on 4th-and-1, Ryder Anderson and Kayvon Thibodeaux help prevent Trevor Lawrence from gaining a yard on a quarterback sneak.
On the Jaguars' next drive, the first play could have went for a big gain when Christian Kirk ran away from Darnay Holmes, but pressure from Kayvon Thiboeaux and Tae Crowder forced an overthrow.
After a 10-yard completion on second down, the Jaguars try to go to Evan Engram on 3rd-and-5, but the Giants put Adoree' Jackson on him, who forced the incomplete pass. There is no separation from Engram who had caught four passes for 67 yards.
On the final play of the game, the Giants line up three safeties at the goal line before the snap. Fabian Moureau stays on top of Kirk, who catches the ball at the 1. Moureau gets the first hit on him, before MckInney and then Love step in to keep Kirk from leaning into the end zone.
According to PFF, the Giants had a 23.4% pressure rate in the game, which ranked 19th of 26 teams that played prior to Monday night. Dexter Lawrence led the team with five pressures and had a sack called back due to a penalty. He continues to dominate with his power, length and athleticism. Leaonrd Williams added three pressures including a quarterback hit, while Kayvon Thibodeaux two pressures, including a quarterback hit. The Giants had one of their lowest blitz rate games of the year, sending extra men after the quarterback on only 23.4% of their snaps (15th among the 26 teams that played before Monday night), according to PFF.
Other notes:
* The Giants' two touchdown drives featured their two biggest plays, Darius Slayton's 32-yard touchdown catch and Daniel Jones' 24-yard run. Barkley also had an 18-yard run on the same drive Jones ran for 24 yards. Barkley's only 20-yard run came on the Giants' final field goal drive. Once again, when the Giants get big plays, they tend to score points, and especially touchdowns.
* According to PFF, the Giants ranked 19th of 26 teams in pass block percentage against the Jaguars, allowing a 32.6% pressure rate. Andrew Thomas played another great game, allowing only one pressure. Rookie josh Ezeudu stepped in for an injured Ben Bredeson and allowed only two pressures, while Tyre Phillips allowed one quarterback hit and three pressures at right tackle in place of Evan Neal, according to PFF.
* The Giants had two turnovers called back by penalties. A Daniel Jones strip-sack was nullified by an offsides penalty (the Giants knew this was a free-play at the snap, which is likely the reason Daniel Jones held the football) and Jones' interception was nullified by a blow to Jones' helmet by Foyesade Oluokun that was flagged as a personal foul.
* The Jaguars only scored two touchdowns on five attempts in the red zone. Two of those trips resulted in no points at all. Xavier McKinney knocked the ball out of the hands of Travis Ettienne on his way into the end zone, where it was recovered by Julian Love. The other empty red zone trips came with the Jaguars' third- and fourth-down failures to get a yard early in the fourth quarter.
* The Giants had a red zone drive of their own yield no points, when they failed to convert a 4th-and-2 from the Jaguars 3 in the third quarter. Jones hit Marcus Johnson with an accurate throw on a quick slant but he could not come up with the catch. The Giants only had one touchdown in five red zone appearances.
* Wan'Dale Robinson led the team in targets (8), receptions (6) and was second on the team with 50 receiving yards.
* Thanks to the power of their running game, the Giants won the time of possession battle 34:10 to 25:50. It was their second-highest game of the year in time of possession, trailing only Week 2 against the Panthers (35:57).
* Julian Love led the Giants with nine tackles, while Xavier McKinney and Fabian Moureau each had seven.
* Marcus Johnson led the team in receiver snaps with 61, while Wan'Dale Robinson had 53 (39 came in the slot and 14 outside). Darius Slayton took 44 snaps at wide receiver, while Richie James had just 7 snaps on offense. The Giants used 11 personnel (1RB, 1TE, 3WR) on 49 snaps, while they used 12 personnel (1RB, 2TE, 2WR) on 24 snaps. They used multiple running backs on three snaps.
* Kayvon Thibodeaux's snaps continue to creep up, reaching a 89% snap share. Jihad Ward and Tomon Fox split the edge snaps across from Thibodeau. Leaonard Williams played 86% of the snaps, while Dexter Lawrence played 70% of the snaps. Landon Collins got on the field for the first time, and played 23 snaps. He made a good play disengaging from a blocker and stopping a middle screen.
