The winning streak has ended at four games for the NY Giants, as the team traveled to Seattle and suffered a disappointing 27-13 loss to the Seahawks and Pete Carroll in Week 8. The offense simply couldn’t get things going, with more sluggish play from the unit being displayed from start to finish in this one.
Now, the Giants are going to enter the bye week with a bit of a sour taste in their mouth. This was a winnable game for the G-Men, but inconsistent play on both sides of the ball haunted them, plus a terrible day for Richie James. Here’s our takeaways from the action, with not too many positives to be discussed.
5. A slow start on offense – again
Time and time again we see the Giants fail to get things going offensively in the first quarter. This happened against Seattle, as the team began things with three consecutive three-and-outs. They didn’t record their first first down until there was a little more than 11 minutes left in the second quarter.
So, no first downs in the first quarter? Yup, that’s exactly what happened against the Hawks, which can’t happen. What was disappointing too was that Mike Kafka failed to get Saquon Barkley involved offensively in the first 15 minutes of action. Why in the world would you not want to feature the NFL’s leader in scrimmage yards?
This was a defensive battle early on, but the Seahawks were able to convert on two 4th-down plays early on in the second quarter to set up a touchdown pass from Geno Smith to DK Metcalf. Head man Brian Daboll has to find a way to prevent these nightmare starts to games to keep being recorded. The team can’t be playing so flat like this.
4. Daniel Jones wasn’t good enough vs. the Seahawks
This is a game that Daniel Jones is going to want to have back. While special teams blunders (more below) haunted this team in the loss, Jones wasn’t good enough. Yes, Seattle’s defense is no slouch, but this was a game Jones needed to impress in and silence all of his haters once and for all.
Last week, Jones tossed for 202 yards and a touchdown, while adding 107 rushing yards and an additional score. He was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and life was good for Danny Dimes. Everyone was hoping that another strong performance would be recorded, but that wasn’t the case here.
On the day, Jones finished with 176 passing yards and no touchdowns. He didn’t turn the ball over, but people are going to be talking about his terrible missed throw to Lawrence Cager in the first half. Cager was wide open deep down the field and Jones launched it over Cager’s head. It would have been a huge gain, but Jones blew it.
3. Adoree’ Jackson is playing at an All-Pro level
The defense continues to keep the Giants in games this season, and in Week 8, it was Adoree’ Jackson who was the primetime player. Early on, Jackson had a great pass deflection that prevented a touchdown for the home team. His close-down speed on this play was a thing of beauty.
Then, Jackson had the play of the game when he forced a fumble of star Seattle wideout Tyler Lockett. Jackson straight up wanted the ball more and he ripped it out of Lockett’s hands. A few moments later, with the ball at the Seattle two yard line, Barkley was able to find the end zone and tie things up at 7-7.
The play from Jackson gave the Giants new life, as the offense wasn’t doing much of anything at the time. Jackson did get beat later in the game on a nifty double move by Lockett, but all in all, he played fantastic. Jackson is playing at an All-Pro level and he’s going to be depended on in a big way the rest of the campaign.
2.Richie James can’t be trusted returning punts
Richie James should never return another punt for the Giants. Heck, he may not deserve to suit up for another game either. Unfortunately for James, this was inarguably his worst game, as two costly turnovers set up the Seahawks in fantastic position. James’ two fumbled punt returns set up two Seattle scores.
The first fumble was bad enough, but then his second set up the Seahawks deep in NY territory late in the action. With Seattle up 20-13, the Giants defense was getting the ball back for Jones and Co. to try and tie this one up. It felt like Big Blue would find a way to even things up and make the battle interesting.
Instead, James coughed up the ball, showcasing terrible security of the pigskin. Moments later, Kenneth Walker III took a carry from Geno Smith and rumbled his way to the end zone for a back-breaking touchdown. That gave Seattle its 27-13 lead, and there was no miracle down the stretch for the Giants. That’s on James.
1. Back to earth for Big Blue nation
This is a tough defeat and it’s going to be a long flight for the Giants heading home from the Pacific Northwest. The Giants blunders on special teams put them in too big of a hole, and NY is not good enough to give a club like Seattle extra chances and opportunities. This was the main issue on Sunday.
What was really frustrating is that the offense took a step back as a whole too. Barkley didn’t look like his usual self, as the Seattle defense limited him to only 53 rushing yards on 20 carries. Jones, who rushed for 107 yards last week in the win over Jacksonville, rushed the ball six times vs. the Hawks for 20 yards. He was also sacked five times.
The bye has come at the right time for the Giants, as they’ve got to do some soul searching after the embarrassing showing at Lumen Field. Daboll has done a fantastic job of turning around the culture inside the locker room, and he’ll try and fire every guy on the roster up to try and bounce back from this result. Adversity has arrived for the Giants, who will next take on the Texans on Nov. 13.
3 reasons trading Kadarius Toney was the right move for the NY Giants
There's plenty of debate on whether or not the NY Giants should have traded Kadarius Toney, but it was no doubt a strong move by Joe Schoen.