Grading the Giants’ 24-3 loss to the Seahawks on Monday night.
Offense
There is some ridiculous stuff going on, starting with 11 sacks allowed. What are they even doing here? Daniel Jones (27 of 34, 202 yards) tossed two interceptions — one returned for a 97-yard pick-six — and lost one fumble. Oh, and he was hit 14 times. He was the leading ball-carrier (10-66), which is not what is needed. There was no push whatsoever on the opening drive fourth-and-1 sneak that was stuffed.
How can TE Darren Waller (3-21) be such a forgotten man? Matt Peart whiffed on a block that led to the brutal Jones fumble to put Seattle in prime position for its first TD. Josh Ezeudu was beaten badly around the edge by Uchenna Nwosu. Come to think of it, who was not beaten badly? WR Wan’Dale Robinson (5-40) was active.
Grade: F
Defense
Geno Smith (13 of 20, 110 yards, 1 TD) did not have to do much. Tyler Lockett (4-54) and DK Metcalf (3-34) did not have to do much, either. Nor did RB Kenneth Walker III (17-79, 1 TD). Metcalf beat rookie CB Deonte Banks for a 6-yard scoring play. Kayvon Thibodeaux had a first-quarter sack and nearly had a pick-six in the second quarter but the ball deflected off his left hand. Thibodeaux had another sack in the fourth quarter.
LB Micah McFadden had a nice pass breakup on Zach Charbonnet on fourth-and-1 in the third quarter. Missed tackles by Bobby Okereke and Adoree’ Jackson were the lowlights on Noah Fant’s 51-yard catch and run. Azeez Ojulari had one assisted tackle in his return from a hamstring strain. Only 281 total yards allowed. The best work was done on third down, limiting Seattle to 3 of 12.
Grade: C
Special Teams
Six penalties? C’mon now. Muffed punt by rookie Eric Gray in the first quarter was ugly — the ball fell directly through his arms before teammate Nick McCloud recovered it. Gray was benched for Adoree’ Jackson. Gray shouldn’t have returned a kickoff he fielded on the 1-yard line and Gary Brightwell was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty on the return. There was an ineligible man downfield penalty on Carter Coughlin on the punt coverage team.
Thank goodness for Graham Gano, who nailed a 55-yard field goal in the second quarter for the first points for his team. Jamie Gillan had a 61-yard punt late in the second quarter. Darnay Holmes failed to keep Gillan’s first punt from bouncing into the end zone. Cam Brown was called for holding on the punt cover team to extend a Seattle possession near the end of the first half. There was a 23-yard punt return allowed and a holding penalty on long snapper Casey Kreiter on the same play.
Grade: F
Coaching
Yes, the offensive line is riddled with injuries and not very good when fully intact. There has to be some way to protect the quarterback and run a cohesive offense. Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka have yet to figure that out through four games. No problem not settling for the field goal on the opening drive, even though the decision backfired. Daboll is calm after these one-sided losses but he has to start lighting some fires with his players. Wink Martindale was correct that his guys would be able to clean up some of the missed tackling issues from previous weeks, Still, this is far from a dominating unit. The special teams sloppiness has to stop.
Grade: D
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