The New York Giants lost in heartbreaking fashion once again on national television. New York drops to 0-2 on the season as they now fall to the bottom of the division and now officially own the worst record in the entire NFL since 2017. This team is undisciplined, and played themselves out of a win. This game could have been won by the Giants on multiple occasions, but instead they played to not lose rather than played to win, and they paid the price. Unfortunately for fans, the 2021 New York Giants are a bad football team in a year that was supposed to be a turning point.
The 2021 New York Giants Are Once Again, Bad
The Defense Looks Atrocious
The Giants defense was highly talked about all off-season. Adding Adoree’ Jackson and Azeez Ojulari highlighted their key off-season additions to an already good defensive unit.
Through two games this year, the Giants defense was cut up by Teddy Bridgewater and Taylor Heinicke respectfully. So far in 2021, the Giants defense has given up 57 points and 827 total yards. For what was expected to be the strength heading into this season, this unit clearly does not look good in any aspect of the game.
One of the biggest surprises is the secondary play, most notably James Bradberry. He was dominated by Terry McLaurin on numerous occasions, allowing six catches on eight targets, 50 yards and one touchdown. He did have a clutch interception with around two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, but so far this year Bradberry is not looking good at all.
Patrick Graham’s scheme has seemed to wear off. The magical defense we all saw last year has disappeared. For whatever reason, he played A LOT of soft zone on Thursday, continually allowing throws underneath for first downs.
The Giants pass rush is also nonexistent. Azeez Ojulari had the only sack on the night, and has two this year already. They only had two quarterback hits on Heinicke and only had one tackle for a loss on the night. If the Giants cannot disrupt the backfield and constantly apply pressure, they will not win many games.
Darius Slayton Drops the Ball (Literally)
Darius Slayton had one touchdown in Thursday’s game in what was a great throw from Daniel Jones. Unfortunately, he dropped what would have been a second touchdown. That touchdown would have been more than enough to put the Giants on top to win the game. Not to mention the Daniel Jones touchdown run that was called back to due a questionable holding call on C.J. Board.
11 points were left on the board, the biggest one being Slayton’s dropped touchdown. The ball was placed right in his hands, and he choked. Slayton has had drop problems coming out of college, and in year three it is still evident that he cannot consistently catch the football.
The One Time Daniel Jones Plays Well
Daniel Jones had probably the best game of his career. He did not turn the ball over, and made good decisions all night. On some sacks, he should have gotten the ball out quicker and had some receivers open, but he elected to just take the sack and not risk getting strip sacked.
Jones had 249 passing yards and a touchdown as well as 95 yards on the ground and another touchdown. Since 2019, there have been three players to post 240+ passing yards and 90+ rushing yards in a game: Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson and now Daniel Jones.
While the jury may still be out on Jones, last night was not nearly his fault as he finally showed up and played a great game.
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Where the Giants Go From Here
This team is now 0-2 for the fifth-straight year. They have a chance to beat a bad Atlanta Falcons team in a little over a week. Nonetheless, they should be better than 0-2 right now. Coaching is still bad, Joe Judge deserves blame as well. The honeymoon phase is over for Judge, he has to start winning soon or he will be gone by mid January.
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