Injuries and poor play on defense have hampered the New York Giants(2-5) this season. Due to injury, New York was without four of their top offensive weapons in Saquon Barkley, Kenny Golladay, Sterling Shepard, and Kadarius Toney against the Panthers on Sunday, but it was next man up for New York.
Wide receiver Dante Pettis stepped up and caught five passes for 39 yards and a touchdown. Running back Devontae Booker had 51 yards rushing and a touchdown, and the Giants’ defense kept the Panthers out of the end zone as New York snapped a two-game losing streak and defeated Carolina(3-4) 25-3 at MetLife Stadium.
Coming into this game against the Panthers, New York’s defense was ranked 26th, but on Sunday, they stepped up. Carolina finished with only 117 passing yards and 173 yards of total offense. The unit also forced a safety when they pressured Darnold in the second quarter. He threw a pass from the end zone that wasn’t near an eligible receiver, resulting in an intentional grounding penalty.
In addition, the Giants forced one turnover and sacked Darnold and P.J. Walker three times. Ultimately, Panthers head coach Matt Rhule benched Darnold in the fourth quarter.
Giants corner James Bradberry, who spent four seasons with the Panthers and had an interception on Sunday, believed the New York’s defense frustrated Carolina’s offense.
“I think their whole offense was getting frustrated,” he said. “I know that our front seven did a great job of rushing the passer and getting after the quarterback. I think that affected him today. As far as seeing another quarterback come in, I’m not sure, he’s just another quarterback to me, and I’m trying to get an interception. That’s what I was thinking when he got in. I figured we still have to make some plays to keep our offense ahead.”
Giants DE Leonard Williams, who had 1.5 sacks on Sunday, felt the defense had to step up and carry the team.
“As a unit, we kind of talked about putting the team on our back more and how our team is—what we think our team is built around the defense,” he said. “We take pride in being a defensive team, and you know, so far this year, we haven’t really been stepping up to the plate, and I think this was a really big game for us. We didn’t allow any touchdowns, and we’re putting our offense in some good field position, and we closed the game out like we wanted to.”
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones made the play of the game. The third-year quarterback, who was 23/33 for 203 yards and touchdown, made a one-handed grab for 16 yards in the third quarter after a throw by Pettis was a little high. The play helped set up New York’s first touchdown.
“Yeah, it was a pretty unathletic route getting out there, so he put it out there for me, and I just tried to pull it in,” Jones said. “Good play, good design, something we’d worked on all week. Good throw by (Wide Receiver) Dante (Pettis).”
Outstanding all-around performance by New York, and now they get ready to head to Kansas City to battle the Chiefs on Monday Night Football.
Watch below as Jones talks catch, and reacts to win over Panthers:
After one quarter, the New York Giants led the Rams 3-0. However, things fell apart in the second quarter. New York would turn the ball over three times, which led to 14 of the Rams’ 28 points in the second quarter. The game was pretty much over as Los Angeles led 28-3 at the break. The Rams(5-1) would score 38 straight points and defeat the Giants(1-5) 38-11 at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
New York came into this game for the second straight week missing key players on offense, including RB Saquon Barkley and WR Kenny Golladay. Against the Rams, New York would lose rookie wide receiver Kadarius Toney and second-year LT Andrew Thomas.
New York had a hard time protecting quarterback Daniel Jones, who was sacked four times on Sunday. In addition, Jones, who had struggled with turnovers in previous seasons but had done an excellent job this season of protecting the ball, had four turnovers against the Rams. Jones finished the game 29/51 for 242 yards with three interceptions and lost a fumble.
Despite the turnovers, Judge still has a lot of faith in Jones.
“We’ll look specifically at what happened, but Daniel has improved as a player,” Judge said. “Daniel is a guy that we’re going to have success with. He’s a tough dude; he’s a good competitor; he’s a leader on this team, does everything we ask him to do, does everything the team needs to see from a guy in the leadership standpoint to do and perform. We’re going to have success with Daniel. There are obviously things we have to clean up from today.”
New York also struggled defensively against Los Angeles. Rams QB Matthew Stafford threw for 251 yards and four touchdowns, interception, and Los Angeles had 131 yards on the ground. Last week, the New York’s defense gave up 516 yards of total offense and 37 points against the Cowboys, which defensive coordinator Patrick Graham called unacceptable.
“We obviously gave up too many points no matter what the situation was,’ Giants DE Leonard Williams said. “We allowed them in the end zone too many times. No matter how we started off, we didn’t finish the way we wanted to.”
At 1-5, the Giants have put themselves in a hole, but Judge believes there’s still time to turn things around.
“There’s a lot of ball left to be played,” he said. “There’s a lot of ball left to be played. We’re in Week 6, so to turn around and start tapping out now – I don’t know what kind of mentality other people have, I don’t quit things, these players don’t quit things. We’re not going to do that.”
The Giants are not a good football team right now, and injuries have definitely hurt this team, but their last two games have been unacceptable, and they have to find a way to get things right next Sunday against the visiting Panthers if they went turn the season around.
It’s hard to win in the NFL when you’re at full strength, and it becomes even harder when you’re banged up, and right now, the New York Giants(1-4) are banged up.
Coming into Sunday’s 44-20 loss to the Cowboys(4-1), New York was without wide receivers Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard, and during the game, it got worse. Running back Saquon Barkley left with an ankle injury in the first quarter, and QB Daniel Jones went out with a concussion in the second quarter. Also, wide receiver Kenny Golladay left with a knee injury.
“Our guys are going to keep playing,” Giants head coach Joe Judge said after the game. “That’s not even going to be a question. We’re going to play for 60 minutes. You don’t want anybody to get hurt. You don’t want your teammates to get hurt. You don’t want the other team to get hurt, either. I say it all the time, \but that’s just the truth. You want to have everyone come out of the game healthy. That’s part of the philosophy we believe in. In terms of the next-man-up mentality, well, there’s a lot of good examples today in the game. We have guys stepping up, taking on different roles, being productive, making plays.”
It’s rare for a team to lose its number one receiver, quarterback, and running back in the same game; according to Giants RB Devontae Booker, he’s never experienced anything like it.
“Not that I can recall,” Booker said. “It’s always just one or the other. This today, I was just like, damn. It is next man-up mentality, and we all have to go out there and perform and fight our butt off.”
Also, the Giants would lose rookie wide receiver Kadarius Toney for another reason. In the fourth quarter, Toney, who caught 10 passes for 189 yards, both career-highs, got involved in a skirmish, which ended with him punching Cowboys safety Damontae Kazee.
After the game, Judge, who escorted Toney off the field, reacted to the rookie’s ejection.
“Look, there’s a pretty distinct line in terms of competing and doing the things we’re not going to condone as a team that put us behind,” Judge said. “That’s not going to be accepted. It’s not going to be condoned. That’s as far as I’m going to go with that. Obviously, it resulted in him leaving the game, and I’m just going to leave it at that right now.”
Without many of their top players, it will be tough sledding for New York, and it doesn’t get easier as they host the Rams next Sunday.
Watch below as Judge reacts to New York’s loss to the Cowboys:
The last time Giants safety Logan Ryan was in Dallas to face the Cowboys; he was involved in a play that changed the course of the Cowboys 2020 season. Cowboys QB Dak Prescott was running in the open field and was tackled by Ryan. Prescott fell awkwardly and suffered a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle.
Almost one year later, Prescott is back, and the Cowboys(3-1) are on a three-game winning streak and are on top of the NFC East.
Ryan is happy for Prescott, who signed a four-year, $160 million deal in the offseason, and is excited to play against him and the Cowboys on Sunday.
“He looks really good. He looks healthy, which is great, and he looks like he’s operating as one of the best quarterbacks in football with just how they’re moving the ball and the command he has – great command at the line of scrimmage,” Ryan said. “You’ve got to root for a guy that’s a good guy and had a tough injury, obviously. You’ve got to root for stories like that.
“I just love playing against Dak because he’s a competitor, and I am, and we are. I think we have to lead our units. We’ll go out there, and we’ve got to play the game, but between me and him, I’m happy that he’s back, I’m happy that he’s operating at a high level because I think when you’ve played the game for years, and you’ve won some Super Bowls, and you’ve had some contracts, I think what keeps you in the game is the competition. You want to compete against the best. I think that’s why everyone wants to play against (Buccaneers Quarterback) Tom Brady and play against the best. Dak’s one of the best right now, so we want to play against him, and we want to play well. He’s a great challenge.”
While Prescott was recovering, Ryan sent him books and tried to help Prescott through the rehab process.
“I’ve just been in a similar situation breaking my leg and kind of a guy that’s always been go, go, go having some time (with the) injury, whatever it may be – they put you in a cast and say you can’t do anything for this many weeks, and you don’t want your mind to go stale,” Ryan said. “So, I had some books to help me get through it, and I sent him some books, and apparently it helped him get through it. That was obviously my goal and intention, and just wanted him to come back a great quarterback, and he is.”
Prescott’s injury was horrible to watch, and for some players, being the person who caused a serious injury could leave scars. According to Ryan, that was not the case for him, and he explained why.
“I think last year was just a freakish play, a gruesome injury, but it was a freakish play,” he said. “It was a tackle I’ve made over 500 times in my career, and that one just felt different. To me, I didn’t put much beyond the fact of just hoping that he – it was just unfortunate. But for me, it was just, if I had any ill intent or malicious (intent) or try to go hurt somebody, then I probably couldn’t sleep well at night. Knowing it was just a normal play between two competitors, we’ve got to call it what it is and move on and try to come back better from it.”
Daniel Jones’ passing and running helped the Giants earn a come-from-behind victory on Sunday in New Orleans and today he walked off with the NFC Offensive Player of the Week Award.
The third-year quarterback led the Giants from an 11-point deficit with seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to a 27-21 overtime triumph against the Saints in the Caesars Superdome. Jones completed 28 of 40 passes for a career-high 402 yards, two touchdowns and one interception for a passer rating of 108.5. Jones’ 28 completions tied the career-high he set three times and he hit 70% of his passes, the third-highest figure of his career.
The Giants scored 17 unanswered points on their final three possessions as Jones completed 11 of 15 passes for 176 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown pass to Saquon Barkley and a 23-yard, third-down throw to Kenny Golladay immediately preceding Barkley’s game-winning six-yard touchdown run in overtime.
This was the third time in his career that Jones led the Giants from a fourth-quarter deficit or tie to a victory.
Jones’ previous career-best was 352 passing yards at Washington on Dec. 22, 2019. It was Jones’ – and the Giants’ – first 300-yard game since he threw for 301 yards vs. Philadelphia on Dec. 29, 2019. The 400-yard game was the first by a Giants quarterback since Eli Manning threw for 434 yards vs. Philadelphia on Dec. 17, 2017.
In addition to the long touchdown throw to Barkley, Jones threw a 52-yard scoring pass to John Ross. It was the first game in which the Giants threw two touchdown passes of 50+ yards since Dec. 17, 2017, when Manning had scoring throws of 67 yards to Sterling Shepard and 57 yards to Tavarres King.
Jones’ only interception was on a deep pass on the final play of the first half. The pick by safety Marcus Williams ended Jones’ streak of consecutive passes without throwing a pick at 124. Jones has thrown just two interceptions in his last 331 attempts, covering more than 10 games.
Jones also rushed for 27 yards to increase his team-leading total to 188 yards. His two-point conversion run after Barkley’s long touchdown in the fourth quarter lifted the Giants to within 21-18.
Down 21-10 to the Saints(2-2) in the fourth quarter, it appeared the New York Giants were about to fall to 0-4. However, Daniel Jones connected with Saquon Barkley on a 54-yard touchdown pass, and Jones led the Giants on a drive that ended with a 48-yard Graham Gano field goal to send the game to overtime.
In OT, Jones would lead New York on a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a six-yard Barkley touchdown run to give New York(1-3) their first victory of the season 27-21 at Caesars Superdome.
“We needed a win, and there was a high sense of urgency to do that,” Jones said after the game. “We treated it as one week at a time. We focus throughout the week preparing and playing our best on Sunday. That was our focus this week. We have to continue to work and continue to sharpen things up. It was a big win.”
The Giants gained 485 yards against New Orleans, their highest total since they finished with 552 in the overtime victory in Washington two years ago.
Both Jones and Barkley had big-time performances on Sunday. The third-year quarterback completed 28 of 40 passes for 402 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. The 402 yards is a career-high.
“Look, I love Daniel(Jones),” Giants head coach Joe Judge said. “He had a heck of a game today. “I am going to leave that right there… Daniel Jones is our quarterback… I am very proud of how he came down here and prepared throughout the week and performed in that environment against that defense.”
Regarding Barkley, he rushed for 52 yards on 13 carries and caught five passes for 74 yards. This was the fourth time Barkley scored rushing and receiving touchdowns in the same game. Barkley’s 126 yards from scrimmage marked his 21st game with more than 100 yards.
Barkley, who’s coming back from a torn ACL, was excited to get the win and feels his knee is getting stronger.
“We haven’t won a game all year, so for us to come out here and win a game in a tough environment against a great defense and a great team is great,” Barkley said. “We have been in a lot of close game. We have to keep going. We have to keep working every day. We have to keep believing in each other and get ready for next week. Personally, it helps with your confidence to make plays out there, especially late in the game. It feels good to get the win. It definitely builds my confidence up. Each week I keep feeling my knee getting better and better. I just have to keep trusting the process and keep going.”
Giants head coach Joe Judge added about Barkley: “He’s gone through a lot of things, but he’s always kept the team first in everything he’s done, and they see that There’s a reason he was selected as a captain by his teammates and to represent them with how he works and performs on the field. In terms of seeing him have success, it’s collective success. It is everyone’s win. Saquon obviously punched the ball in at the end to close it out. That’s what we wanted, to get the ball back and finish the game out right there. That’s what we were able to do.”
This was a must-win for New York, who had lost two straight games on the final play. Now, they have an opportunity to make a move in the NFC East as they go on the road to battle the 3-1 Cowboys next Sunday.
Watch as Barkley discusses New York’s first victory of the season:
On Sunday night in Foxboro, Tom Brady returns to New England as the Buccaneers battle his former team, the Patriots.
Brady won six Super Bowls during his 20 years with the Patriots before signing with the Buccaneers last season. In his first season with Tampa Bay, at age 43, Brady won his seventh Super Bowl title.
One man who has intimate knowledge of Brady is his former teammate Giants safety Logan Ryan, who played with New England and Brady for four seasons.
After New York battles the Saints on Sunday, Ryan expects to watch Brady’s return to New England.
“I’m excited to get a win and get home and watch that game,” Ryan said on Friday. “I’m going to be tuned in. If you’re a fan of football, that’s a fun game to watch just because of the significance of it. I’ve obviously played with him. I’ve played against him. I always said it’s the best matchup in the world. If you’re a football junkie like me and you want to play against the best, he’s the best. So, it’s going to be fun. I know for him and (Patriots Head Coach) Bill (Belichick),
“I’m sure they’re going to – I can’t say they’re going to treat it as business as usual, but they’re going to do everything they can to win, like a maniacal amount of film watching going down. I’m sure they’re spending more time watching film than sleeping. I’m excited to watch. It’s going to be a game against two geniuses. If you’re a fan of the game, it’s a good game to watch and learn to see the strategic part of the game.”
Ryan is also the guy with the Titans that intercepted Brady’s final pass as a Patriot in the playoffs in 2019. Ryan still has the ball and discussed what he might do with it in the future.
“Yeah, so it’s funny,” he said. “The ball was just laying around my house because I don’t really do a lot with my stuff like I’m not egotistical and have just portraits of me all over the place in my house, so my kids like kick the ball around. When I saw Tom starting to – some of his autographed cards going for like a million dollars, I was like, ‘Let’s put the ball up on the shelf at least.’ (laughs) So, the ball is up on the shelf, and I actually spoke with Tom this offseason, and when the time is right, I probably should have had it ready for this game, but I want to auction the ball off for some of the proceeds for my charity if we can get behind it and split our charities and try to do something.
“Now, I don’t know who is going to want that ball. I don’t know if a Patriots fan wants his last ball ever thrown is an interception. I don’t know if a Titans fan is really going to pay. Like, I don’t know what the Titans fanbase, the media market, you know? So, I don’t know where it’s going to go.”
Ryan added that he could be an answer to a “Jeopardy” question down the line.
“Yeah, Tom might want it back (laughs),” Ryan said about the ball. “Tom might pay to get rid of it to burn it. No, there’s been talks between me and Tom on doing something with that ball. Hey man, it might go down in his Hall of Fame thing. Maybe I’ll get a little asterisk by who his last pass – or maybe it’s a ‘Jeopardy!’ question when (Packers Quarterback) Aaron Rodgers is hosting it. It can be a ‘Jeopardy!’ question. It’s pretty fun, but yeah, I picked the ball up off the floor, and I’m going to try to do something to raise some money for charity with it.”
New York Giants middle linebacker Blake Martinez suffered a torn left ACL yesterday against the Atlanta Falcons and will miss the remainder of the season, the team announced on Monday.
Martinez was hurt on the fourth play as he pursued running back Cordarrelle Patterson on an eight-yard reception. The six-year veteran remained on the ground for several minutes before two members of the team’s medical staff helped him walk off the field.
Martinez, 27, is the second of the team’s seven 2021 captains to suffer a season-ending injury in as many weeks. Offensive lineman Nick Gates fractured his lower left leg at Washington on Sept. 16 and subsequently underwent surgery.
When Gates was hurt, he owned the Giants’ longest active starting streak at 19 games. When he went down, that designation shifted to Martinez – who was also injured in his 19th consecutive Giants start.
The six-year veteran joined the Giants as a free agent in 2020 and bolstered his reputation as one of the NFL’s most prolific tacklers. He was the only player in the league with at least 140 tackles in each of the previous four seasons (the first three with the Green Bay Packers). Last year, Martinez started all 16 games for the fourth consecutive season and led the Giants and was third in the NFL with 151 tackles (86 solo). He posted double-digit tackles in eight games, including a season-high 14 (eight solo) vs. Washington on Oct. 18.
Despite missing virtually the entire game yesterday, Martinez is second on the team to safety Logan Ryan with 23 tackles (11 solo), including one for loss.
Martinez is also the defensive signal-caller, a job that second-year pro Tae Crowder assumed yesterday. Reggie Ragland stepped in and played a season-high 40 snaps. The other inside linebackers on the roster are second-year pro Carter Coughlin and rookie Justin Hilliard, who has never played in a regular-season game.
In the last two weeks, the New York Giants had leads in the fourth quarter, and both times, they could not hold it, including on Sunday against the Falcons when they had a 14-7 lead in the fourth quarter. However, the Falcons(1-2) would tie the score at 14 and defeat the Giants 17-14 at MetLife Stadium as Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo made a 40-yard field with no time left on the clock.
The Giants are now 0-3.
Last Thursday, the Giants led Washington in the fourth quarter, and just like on Sunday, they would lose by a field goal with no time left on the clock.
On the day the Giants retired former quarterback Eli Manning’s number 10, New York got another solid performance from quarterback Daniel Jones, who was 24/35 for 266 yards. While he did not throw a touchdown pass, Jones did not turn the ball over. What made the performance even more impressive was Jones lost wide receivers Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton to hamstring injuries.
At 0-3, the Giants have put themselves in a hole, and according to Jones, the team is frustrated with the losing.
“I think guys are frustrated and certainly disappointed with the results,” Jones said postgame. “We’re all competitors, and we want to win, and we expect to win, so that’s frustrating, and we’ve got to understand that and feel that today. But as we move forward, we’ve got to use that to motivate us to look at what we’ve done well and what we need to correct and how we need to attack this week going forward.”
Saquon Barkley, who ran for 51 yards and had his first rushing touchdown of the season on Sunday, has experienced a lot of losing since joining the Giants, and the fourth-year running back is tired of it.
“I’m sick of losing; everyone is sick of losing,” he said. “No one wants to lose, but I wouldn’t consider us a bad team. We just have to figure it out, and that’s the difference.”
Despite being winless, Giants head coach Joe Judge believes the team will continue to work to turn things around.
“I think the DNA of our team is a team that comes back and goes to work,” Judge said. “Look, no one is going to be happy after a loss; that’s the reality of what it is. The element of what we do as professionals (is) we’ve got to come back and go to work. We’ve got to watch the tape, we’ve got key on it, and we’ve got to prepare for a tough opponent coming up next week.”
New York’s next few games won’t be easy as they head on the road for the next two games against the Saints and Cowboys and then come home for two against the undefeated Rams and Panthers before going on the road to battle the Chiefs, so things could be challenging for the Giants going forward.
Last Thursday, the New York Giants(0-2) fell to the Washington Football Team in heartbreaking fashion 30-29. New York was on the verge of winning after Dustin Hopkins missed a 48-yard field goal with no time left on the clock. However, New York’s Dexter Lawrence was offsides, and Hopkins got another shot. This time, from 43 yards, and he would make it!
Before those issues, Giants wide receiver Kenny Golladay was seen shouting at his quarterback Daniel Jones on the sidelines. Many thought Golladay was shouting at Jones, but on Monday, he clarified what happened.
According to Golladay, he was talking to OC Jason Garrett, not Jones.
“Pretty much just me talking to JG (Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett) a little bit, and that’s two competitive guys right there,” Golladay said. “Moreso, just me wanting to do anything I can. Not so much, ‘Give me the ball more,’ though…
“Division game. Wanted to leave that spot with a win if anything.”
Golladay, who signed a four-year, $72 million deal with New York in free agency, said he never reacted like that before in his career.
“Really, I’ve never done anything like that either – but really just passionate, just being a competitor,” he said. “I love just doing anything I can to help the team. I let the emotions get the best of me.”
In two games, Golladay has seven catches for 102 yards. Despite what we saw against Washington, Golladay is happy with his role with New York.
“I’m happy with the role,” he said. “I’d say I’m happy with the role. I’m getting put in some tough situations and (I’ve) got to make some tough catches, and that’s all I could ask for.”
Football is a game full of passion, and sometimes that passion gets the best of players, and it got the best of Golladay last Thursday.
At this point, New York has to put this behind them. Maybe, this incident brings the Giants together, and hopefully for them, they can get right at home against the Falcons.
Watch as Golladay talks incident with Jones, Garrett:
