4 NY Giants players who saved the day in thrilling win vs. Jaguars

Despite all of the injuries, bad calls, and mistakes, the NY Giants pulled through against the Jacksonville Jaguars, defeating them in a 23-17 showdown. Obviously this wasn’t an easy game, as alongside how well the Jaguars played, the Giants lost multiple key players due to injuries. This includes Evan Neal, Ben Bredeson, Daniel Bellinger, and for moments of the game, Adoree’ Jackson and Wan’Dale Robinson.

This was no easy victory for the Giants, in all honesty, no game has been this season. However, in spite of everything against the team, the Giants are one of the top teams in the NFL at 6-1. With that being said, here are four players who helped save the Giants in their Week 7 battle against the Jaguars.

4. Pass-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux

Despite not having the most eye-opening performance from a statistical standpoint, as Kayvon Thibodeaux only racked up three combined tackles and a QB hit, he was all over the field. His play in the second half was brilliant.

In all honesty, Thibodeaux should have had a much better game than he actually did, but some extremely poor missed holding calls prevented this. Thibodeaux still managed to put pressure on Trevor Lawrence all game, though, and this cannot be understated.

Regardless of whether or not Thibodeaux was held throughout, he without a doubt gave Lawrence and the Jaguars offensive line nightmares for weeks to come. The Giants have relied on Thibodeaux all season to create pressure and make a much-needed difference in the pass-rush and he has done just that, leading all rookies in pressures thus far this campaign.

Considering that Thibodeaux missed the first two games of the season, yet is still statistically dominant among his peers, is extremely impressive and must not be forgotten.

The Giants have not had a legitimate threat off the edge since Jason Pierre-Paul, which is why they drafted Thibodeaux fifth overall. Hopefully he is able to keep up the tremendous play as the season goes on, because if he does, he could end up taking home Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

3. CB Fabian Moreau

Fabian Moreau has been a pleasure to watch this season, being easily the second-best cornerback on the Giants next to Adoree’ Jackson.

Moreau was absolutely fantastic this game, racking up nine total tackles and a pass deflection. In addition to this, Moreau also made an unbelievably clutch tackle at the goal line to prevent the Jaguars from possibly winning the game. Just when it looked like Christian Kirk was going to break hearts, Moreau was there to be part of the group to stop him short.

The Giants truly found a diamond in the rough with Moreau, who put the Giants defense on his back during that final drive. If not for hs play, the G-Men could be 5-2 right now.

Not only did Moreau essentially win the NY Giants the football game on the final play, but he almost did the same thing a couple of plays earlier when he snagged an interception off of a bad Lawrence pass. However, the refs decided to call a pretty bad hands to the face penalty on Dane Belton to keep the Jaguars drive going.

Moreau was recently ranked the No. 6 shutdown corner in the entire NFL according to Next Gen Stats. Considering all of the injuries surrounding the Giants secondary, Moreau stepping up like he has has really kept the defense alive.

2. RB Saquon Barkley

With the NY Giants sitting at 6-1 on the season now, combined with Saquon Barkley’s absolutely elite start to the season, it is time for people to start considering Barkley for the MVP award.

After not seeing the ball much during the first half of the game, Barkley burst onto the scene during the third and fourth quarter. For the game, Barkley ran the ball 24 times for 110 yards while also catching four passes for 23 yards. Barkley nearly made a crucial mistake for not getting out of bounds on third down with a minute left in the game, but the running he did prior to that play is the reason the Giants were in that position in the first place. He’s a freak of nature.

Barkley looked elusive as ever in the second half, however, it seemed as if the Giants had him on a pitch count during the first half of the game – likely because of his shoulder problem.

The way Barkley seemingly flipped a switch and turned on the jets during the second half was absolutely electric for the Giants offense. This team needs Barkley to step up with the lack of good receiver play from the offense. He did just that in crunch time vs. the Jaguars.

1. QB Daniel Jones

Seven weeks in and there should be no doubts that Daniel Jones has been that guy for the NY Giants this season, which could make for a very interesting situation regarding whether the team re-signs him or not.

In this game, Jones completed 19 of his 30 passes for 202 yards and a TD, while simultaneously running the ball 11 times for an unbelievable 107 yards and one TD. Jones’ stat line would likely look much better than it ended up being if his receivers did not rack up five drops, including a potential TD catch from Marcus Johnson that he somehow didn’t bring in.

The difference between Jones this season and in the past is insane, and the way Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka have almost completely turned Jones’ career around is amazing. A lot of the times when a new head coach comes in with a QB they didn’t draft or sign, they throw them to the wolves in hopes of bringing in someone new. However, Daboll has done the complete opposite, taking Jones under his wing and helping him be a much better player.

Not only is Jones playing mistake-free football, but his awareness in the pocket and when making throws is much improved compared to what we have seen in the past. At this rate, Jones is more likely to become the franchise QB he was destined to be instead of the team parting ways with him. He’s looking like the real deal.

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