LANDOVER, Md. — The Giants were at an emotional crossroads. One of their team’s leaders had just suffered a gruesome injury. Offensive lineman Nick Gates, a captain, was carted off the field, his season likely over. At that point, the Giants led Washington Football Team 7-0.
Saquon Barkley, looking like himself, if only for a moment, burst upfield for a 41-yard gain on the next play. Then the offensive line floundered. A penalty. A sack. The drive ended on a punt, but it would be hard to blame the offense for struggling in that moment after the emotional roller coaster they’d just been on. But how they responded after that was going to define this game, show if this team had the fight in them to work through their pain. Or they would revert to their usual form, and wither in the Washington wind.
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As the third quarter turned to the fourth, it felt like they had it in them. The offense was rolling. The defense was getting stops. Daniel Jones was showing his potential.
Then the fight faded. And at the end of night, the Giants were 0-2, the eighth time in nine years. They lost 30-29 to Washington, giving up a 23-17 lead they’d held into the early part of the fourth quarter. They could’ve put the game away, but then Darius Slayton dropped a wide-open pass in the end zone. The Giants never really recovered, even after going ahead by two points with two minutes left.
Washington missed a field goal as time expired.
But the Giants were offsides.
What a mess.
Hope fades. Reality sets in. The Giants are mess.
And here are the 12 people to blame for the mess the Giants find themselves in:
Patrick Graham
There were few people more popular among Giants fans in 2020 than the Giants defensive coordinator. All of that goodwill evaporated on Thursday night.
Graham had a rough night. His play-calling — especially at the end of the first half and late in the fourth quarter — left much to be desired.
The game was lost when the Giants allowed running back J.D. McKissic to get behind linebacker Tae Crowder, who has struggled in coverage at times, for a 56-yard gain with less than five minutes remaining. Ricky Seals-Jones scored on the next play on a ridiculous catch, but the damage had already been done.
The Giants went ahead by two points on a late Graham Gano field goal, but the defense couldn’t stop the offense with two minutes left.
In the first half, Graham wasn’t bringing much pressure, and left massive holes in coverage. In back-to-back weeks, a Giants secondary that was supposed to be among the league’s best, was picked apart by Teddy Bridgewater in Week 1, and Taylor Heinicke on Thursday night. Heinicke was 33 of 44 for 330 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
The offense wasn’t to blame for Thursday night’s loss.
That’s something the Giants haven’t been able to say in a long time.
Joe Judge
The head coach is going to get flak for the way Thursday night’s game played out. And he’s going ot deserve every ounce of it. The Giants made too many mental errors to count. There were bad penalties in key moments. The Giants, on defense, had to burn all three of their timeouts on the final possession, one of them because they had 12 players on the field.
Dustin Hopkins missed his initial field goal attempt, but the Giants were offsides.
The defensive game-plan was a mess. The offense played scared on their final drive. And it’s time for the head coach to take the blame for the state of his team.
He preaches discipline, and his team couldn’t have been more undisciplined on Thursday night.
One week after his gaffe with a challenge flag, Judge is looking like a coach that isn’t ready to rise to the moment. And now the Giants have another 0-2 hole to get out of.
Tae Crowder
It bears mentioning again: Crowder got beat badly on the McKissic play. Just watch the replay.
Darius Slayton
The Giants receiver caught an impressive deep ball from Daniel Jones for the second straight week, scoring a 33-yard touchdown in the third quarter. The goodwill didn’t last long.
In the fourth quarter, Slayton burned a Washington cornerback and was wide open on what would’ve been a 43-yard touchdown pass.
Instead, Slayton dropped the pass in the end zone. The game likely would have ended on that play. It would have been the nail in the coffin.
Instead, it killed the Giants.
Jason Garrett
Overall, it’s hard to blame the offense when, for once, they scored points. The Giants scored 29 points and much of the night Garrett exhibitied a level of creativity and willingness to take risks that he hadn’t shown at any point in his time as Giants offensive coordinator. Daniel Jones has never been better.
And then James Bradberry intercepted Taylor Heinicke with 2:22 left in the fourth quarter. The Giants started their drive at Washington’s 22-yard-line. And rather then go for the win, to end Washington’s night with a touchdown, they played for a field goal. There were two short Saquon Barkley runs, and a short pass attempt to Sterling Shepard that fell incomplete.
The Giants are not a good enough team to go conservative in a moment like that, especially as the defense had been struggling so much.
The Offensive Line (four starters — plus Ben Bredeson )
It was a rough night for the offensive line. It was certainly difficult to lose Nick Gates, but that still doesn’t excuse the group for its struggles protecting Jones, and for being penalized in so many crucial situations.
The Giants allowed four sacks and six QB hits. Nate Solder and Billy Price, their new starting center, were the biggest culprits.
Saquon Barkley
The Giants felt Barkley was healthy enough to play 58 snaps. So if he’s healthy enough to play that much, he’s healthy enough to be criticized for poor production. The run-blocking might’ve been poor — but Barkley isn’t simply hitting holes or breaking tackles. He had a 41-yard run, and only finished with 57 total.
He was mostly a non-threat as a rusher and passer. And he’s supposed to be the player that helps this offense explode.
Instead, he had next to nothing to do with the Giants’ offensive success on Thursday night.
Zack Rosenblatt may be reached at zrosenblatt@njadvancemedia.com.
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