NY Giants Grades: wobbly Daniel Jones struggles, defense unable to hold up

Offensive Line

Grade: F

In the first two weeks after the Giants’ bye week, the young offensive line appeared to finally be in sync. A new coach was put in charge of the young line, and they all seemed to be responding. Perhaps more than anyone else, first round pick Andrew Thomas seemed to improve exponentially.

The Giants had over 380 yards of offense, with more than 140 rushing yards, in Week 12. They racked up 290 yards of offense in Week 13, 190 of which were on the ground. Things were looking up.

This week the line came crashing down to earth.

The Giants only had 159 total yards. Of the team’s 12 drives, only one ended in a score, three ended in fumbles and eight ended with punts. They only moved the chains seven times, and converted on just three of 12 third down conversions.

But sacks is what really makes this collective group such a failure this week. The team gave up eight sacks for 64 yards. Six of those were on Daniel Jones, who fumbled on three of them, turning over on one.

That one came on the first drive, when former Giants linebacker Markus Golden was untouched on his way to Jones. And while many of the sacks stem from Jones’ inability to feel pressure, anytime a defender goes untouched to the quarterback, someone missed an assignment.

The line was giving up sacks on both sides of the field. The pocket collapsed repeatedly and quickly. And Jones, who was out with an injured hamstring last week, could not get the ball out in time.

The line took a big step backward this week.