Giants Week 12 Grades/Analysis
With the NFL season starting to wind down, trap games are inevitable. Struggling teams fighting for a playoff spot, while other teams who are out of it look to spoil the fun. The New York Giants were entering into a trap game themselves going up against the winless Cleveland Browns. Now they may not have crushed the Browns the way we would’ve wanted them too, they managed to win their sixth in a row with a 27-13 victory. While they may not have dominated, they did just enough to win the game. Let’s recap.
Running Game: C+
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Sunday may have confirmed who would be the 1-2 punch for the GIants when it comes to the running attack in Rashad Jennings & Paul Perkins. Now having said that, the running game once again struggled to get any kind of rhythm going at all. Jennings got most of the workload rushing for 55 yards on 15 carries while Perkins rushed for 29 yards on just 9 carries. That was the bad news. The good news is that help may be on the way. Shane Vereen could return on Dec 11th against Dallas which should boost the running game.
Passing Game: B
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Eli Manning surely displayed his strengths and weakness on Sunday. On one hand, he didn’t throw an interception which has plagued him all year. He threw for 3 TDs converting on 15 of his 27 attempts for 197 yards. However, his accuracy was a problem failing to connect to Odell Beckham Jr. on multiple occasions that could’ve easily put the Browns away. Despite this, Odell Beckham Jr. had another monster game with 6 catches for 96 receiving yards and 2 scores. Even though Cruz had 1 catch, Shepard was not even targeted at all which is a head scratcher as to why.
Run Defense: A
It is becoming perfectly clear that the run defense has been stout. The $200 million dollar price tag was worth the spending as the G-men continued to dominate the Browns offense starting with the running game. Only allowing 58 yards on the ground, it is the 11th straight game in which the Defense has not allowed a 100-yd rusher. While they dominated against the run, against the pass they proved to be just as good.
Pass Defense: B
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
I’m separating this because it was a tale of two different positions. The front four for the G-men are proving to be the best in football. With 7 sacks in total, the front four are an intimidating force. Jason Pierre-Paul is continuing to show signs of being one of the best DE's in the game. His stat sheet was stuffed with 3 sacks, 5 solo tackles, 1 FF, and 1 FR that he ran back for a touchdown. In his last two weeks: 12 tackles, 5.5 TFL (tackles for loss), 6 QB Hits, 5.5 sacks, 2 FF and 1 INT/TD.
While the D-Line dominated, the coverage was a different story. Allowing 332 passing yards through the air was a major problem. They even allowed 131 of those passing yards to Terrelle Pryor. The coverage team regressed this week and against the Browns we give them a pass. But they must step it up and take it to another level against the Steelers if they are going to have any chance of winning.
Special Teams: C
Robbie Gould for the 3rd time missed an extra point try. His kicking mate Brad Wing on the other hand had a quality performance punting the ball 9 times and pinning the Browns inside the 20 on 5 of those occasions. A muffed punt from Bobby Rainey that led to turnover led to Odell Beckham Jr getting some work. While he did take a punt back for a touchdown, it was taken back because of a penalty. The special teams for the Giants has continued to struggle and yesterday was no different.
Now is where it gets interesting. As the Giants sit at 8-3, their schedule is going to get tougher. Their next opponent will be against the 6-5 Pittsburgh Steelers on the road. The next 5 games will be a brutal stretch. And if the Giants want to prove to us they should be in the conversation among the best in football, they have to play near perfect football in these next games to show us this team is forreal.
