The NY Giants took command of the NFC East race, thanks to several dominant performances from key contributors in a 17-12 win over the Seattle Seahawks
The road to the NFC East Division championship now goes through the NY Giants, following Sunday’s unexpected and dominant 17-12 upset victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
After stepping off the cross-country flight to Seattle and onto the field, even without quarterback Daniel Jones, NY Giants safety Jabrill Peppers knew that Sunday had the chance to be special.
“As the season goes on, teams either descend or ascend and we wanted to make sure we were one of those ascending teams,” Peppers said. “We expect things as players, there’s a certain style, a certain brand that we expect and every one of us to play with. I think we’re doing a good job of bringing that.
Sunday, the Giants’ brand of hard-nosed, physical, and aggressive defense was the backbone of the Giants sticking it to one of the most gifted and experienced rosters in the NFL.
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was sacked five times, Seattle didn’t score an offensive touchdown until 6:15 remained, but by then the Giants had already been clinging to a 12-point lead.
Meanwhile, with Colt McCoy at quarterback for the injured Daniel Jones, the Giants’ ground attack gashed the Seahawks for 190 rushing yards.
In the process of authoring the definition of complementary football, against the backdrop of adversity due to Jones’ injury and difficulty of the opponent, entering as 10.5 point underdogs, the Giants emerged in the driver’s seat of the NFC East race.
The Giants will wake up in first place in the NFC East, and after tucking away an unexpected win over the Seahawks into their back pockets, might only need to beat the Cowboys in Week 17 to secure a playoff berth.
But, before looking too far ahead at what may still be before this team, here’s a look back at Sunday.
Here’s a look at the studs and duds from the Giants’ most impressive victories of the season, and one of 2020’s biggest NFL upsets:
RB – Wayne Gallman: STUD
Sunday was a career-strongest and perhaps career-defining performance for Gallman.
Surpassing 100 yards for the first time in his career, Gallman finished with 16 carries for 135 yards, while averaging a whopping 8.4 yards per attempt.
Gallman served as the Giants’ second-half battering arm, rattling off a 60-yard run that really set the tone for the final 30 minutes and put the offense in position for Colt McCoy to find Alfred Morris for New York’s first touchdown of the game.
“We new we had to come out and hit them first,” Gallman said. “Really, that was it. We knew we couldn’t just play around anymore. Just really just believing in ourselves going into the second half and really executing.”
With each week, Gallman’s punishing downhill running style becomes more of an asset for the Giants’ offense, and it will continue to be critical for as long as Colt McCoy is playing quarterback or Daniel Jones is limited.
Running the ball will be paramount to the Giants’ success down the stretch, but for Gallman, he has shown plenty capable of a feature-back role and every-down running back in recent weeks, which will make him a hot commodity this offseason.
DB – Nate Ebner: DUD
The Giants’ special teams have been far from special the past two games, and the dam once again broke in the waning moments of the first half of Sunday’s game.
With :28 remaining, the Giants were forced to punt from the shadow of their own goalposts, but defensive back Nate Ebner missed a block of Seattle’s Ryan Neal just before Neal blocked Riley Dixon’s punt that rolled out of the back of the end zone for a touchback.
Ebner is one of the Giants’ special teams specialists, but he has been wildly inconsistent both on his special teams snaps and opportunities on defense this season.
RB – Alfred Morris: STUD
The Giants have certainly carved out a niche for Alfred Morris, and Morris is proving plenty worthy of meaningful carries. And in Sunday’s case, catches.
Morris scored the Giants’ first touchdown of the game, a four-yard touchdown run moments after Gallman’s 60-yard scamper, and later added a six-yard touchdown catch from Colt McCoy to extend the Giants’ lead to 14-5.
Sunday was Morris’ first multi-touchdown performance since the 2014 season.
While Dion Lewis struggled both in pass protection and on his three carries, Morris proved a worthy and productive complement to Gallman. He finished with eight carries for 39 yards and a touchdown along with his six-yard touchdown catch.
“They wanted to stack the box and make us one dimensional,” Morris said of the Seahawks. “We knew that we had to keep the run game going and so we had to continue to run hard. Wayne has done an amazing job with that. He lights a fire up in all of us, so I wanted to do my part.”
As the Giants keep rolling along, and seem to have found a winning formula by focusing on the running game, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Morris continue to play a meaningful role.
TE – Evan Engram: DUD
Evan Engram continues to confound.
Engram caught four of his eight targets for 32 yards, including a critical 11-yard gain for a first down late in the fourth quarter. However, just as Engram frequently flashes the upside his athleticism yields week in and week out, he also had a couple of key drops which have been an issue throughout much of Engram’s career.
It’s obvious that Engram is the Giants’ best pass catching tight end on the roster, but his inconsistency remains an issue.
DL – Leonard Williams: STUD
Leonard Williams continued to be among the Giants’ most dominant defensive players on Sunday, likely adding to his price tag this offseason with his performance against Wilson and the Seahawks.
Williams was unblockable for much of the game, both rushing the passer as well as against the run, while producing a season-high 2.5 sacks and upping his 2020 total to a career-high 8.5. With four games remaining, Williams has a legitimate chance to finish as the Giants’ leading-sacker this season and produce double-digit sacks for the first time in his career.
Here’s what one prominent NFL agent told GMenHQ last week about Williams’ impending free agency:
"“Williams and his camp will certainly want to reset the defensive end market, but in reality wants top-three defensive end money and best case is that he gets top-five money at the position. If he negotiates as a defensive end, and continues to produce at this level, he’ll push for and probably command a four-year deal in the $20-$25 million annual range.”"
If Williams’ final four games come close to matching his disruptiveness and productivity against the Seahawks, the Giants would be foolish not to commit that kind of money to the former first-round pick long-term.
S- Jabrill Peppers: STUD
Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham once again weaponized Jabrill Peppers up near the line of scrimmage as a blitzer, and it paid dividends with a second quarter sack of Wilson that ultimately forced the Seahawks to punt.
Peppers was flying around the ball and wreaking havoc in the backfield all game, on his way to producing five total tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, and two pass breakups.
As the Giants’ defense has gone from an early season punchline to a group capable of punching any team in the mouth, Peppers has been an integral part of the turnaround.
“We walked in here confident,” Peppers said. “This team had a different swagger about them, the team had a different juice about them today because we knew if we played our brand of football, we could shock some people.”
The Giants certainly sent shockwaves through the NFL with Sunday’s victory, and a defense with this much swagger, and production, is going to be difficult to beat.
LB – Tae Crowder: STUD
Playing his second game since returning from injured reserve, Crowder burst through the middle of the line of scrimmage and picked up the first sack of his career, sacking Russell Wilson with 9:49 remaining in the first quarter.
Crowder made the most of his extended playing time, looking like anything but a rookie.
Finishing second on the team in tackles, behind Blake Martinez, Crowder produced seven total tackles, one sack, and one tackle for loss.
Perhaps more importantly, Crowder seems to be building on the coaching staff’s trust in him and delivering his share of impact plays.
DE – Niko Lalos: STUD
One of the calling cards of a successful defense, is its ability to get production — and impact plays — from players buried lower in the depth chart who many don’t expect to be contributors.
That’s exactly what the Giants have been able to do, with undrafted rookie free agent Niko Lalos the latest to make his presence felt.
Lalos has been active for the Giants’ last two games, and now has two takeaways, after recovering a Wilson fumble with 6:06 remaining in the second quarter.
The Giants are riding on the back of the defense on this late-season surge to the postseason, but it isn’t just the players pegged as starters or key contributors in September who are carving out meaningful roles. Continuing to get plays, like Lalos’ fumble recovery and two total tackles is just one piece of the puzzle, but an important one at that.
Matt Lombardo is the site expert for GMenHQ, and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday for FanSided. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLombardoNFL.