Giants Week 4 Grades/Analysis
Going into this week 4 matchup against Minnesota, The New York Giants were in for a tough challenge going against a team without their Apex Predator in Adrian Peterson and no Teddy Bridgewater. Yet somehow, the Vikings seem to be doing alright for themselves holding their own in the NFC North with an undefeated record. Ravished by injuries at key positions, you would’ve hoped the Giants could at least put up some kind of fight, right?!
Let’s recap.
Giants Running: B
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With no Rashad Jennings for another week or Shane Vereen for the whole year, Coach Ben McAdoo enlisted a running back committee in Orleans Darkwa, Paul Perkins, and Bobby Rainey. Although they didn’t have anything much to stand out from, it also wasn’t terrible either.
Orleans Darkwa did most of the dirty work carrying the ball 12 times for 48 yards and a touchdown. Bobby Rainey got a good chunk age of playing time carrying the ball 4 times for 22 yards while also hauling in 7 passes for 43 yards. Rookie Paul Perkins showed us flashes of what he is capable of when he had the best offensive play of the night when he took a screen pass for 67 yards that helped set up the only touchdown for the Giants.
Orleans Darkwa is still an unsolved mystery as to why he isn’t getting more playing time. He will make something out of nothing and is the hardest runner on the team. Hopefully he will get more opportunities in the future whenever the chance presents itself. All three RBs did a good job filling in for Jennings and Vereen which is what you could ask for.
Giants Passing: D
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For whatever reason to only Eli himself, he is 2-5 against the Vikings. He didn’t “buck” the trend of breaking out of it if you expected him too. He had strong protection this week (which is a first for what i’ve seen) yet Eli had an unfortunate poor performance. Throwing for 261 yards on 25 completions and a interception.
This is also a D grade because of the receiving core of Beckham, Cruz, and Shepard. A combined 12 catches for 103 yards won’t win you the football game. What also didn’t help was that Beckham after a week of criticism for his outburst last week and with a target already on his back, responds with his worst performance yet. This receiving trio should play at a high level each week to have a chance to win, they didn’t on Monday hence why they lost.
Giants Run Defense: C
Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
The defensive performance of the Giants had a carbon copy of the receivers. Against the worst rushing offense in football, the Giants somehow allowed Jerick McKinnon to compile 85 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown and Matt Asiata also scored a touchdown of his own. Oliver Vernon was really the lone bright spot on the Defensive front recording 3 tackles while recording 4 QB hurries and a QB hit.
Giants Pass Defense: D
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Another problem this defense had yesterday was the pass rush. No sacks once again for what was suppose to be an improvement of last year’s defense. So far in 4 games, the Giants have 4 sacks, which is tied for last in the NFL. They allowed Sam Bradford to pass for 261 yards and a TD. No excuses. How this defense can’t get any pressure on the QB is a mystery that falls blame on Steve Spagnuolo the defensive coordinator.
Overall Grade: D
With this loss, the GIants now find themselves on the outside looking in the NFC east division with a 2-2 record. They didn’t get any help from Dallas or Washington who respectively won both of their games. The Giants now have to turn around and prepare for a short week ahead of them as they play another primetime game on Sunday Night Football against the Green Bay Packers. For the second week in a row, the offense failed to live up to high expectations. If you're a Giants’ fan, you have reason to be concerned.
