It’s hard to put into words what we just saw from the NY Giants. Seriously, that’s how they’re going to play against the lowly Detroit Lions? The G-Men entered this contest 7-2 and were the favorites to record a win. Instead, the players have left Metlife Stadium with a 31-18 loss to their names.
Nothing was going right on offense, and there was no answer for Jared Goff, Jamaal Williams and others. All in all, this was a terrible showing for the Giants and one they’re going to have to flush rather quickly, as Dallas is next on the schedule come Thursday. With that said, here’s four things we hated from this defeat.
4. The Adoree’ Jackson injury was brutal
Injuries, injuries and more injuries. The Giants have been having to overcome guys getting banged up all season long, and more of the same was the case against the Detroit Lions in Week 11. This time, the headliner in terms of an injury was star cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, but he didn’t go down thanks to making a play in the secondary.
Instead, Jackson has been asked to handle punt return duties since the Giants can’t trust Richie James to get the job done. With Jackson returning a punt vs. Detroit, he went down awkwardly and suffered a knee injury. You’ve got to be kidding with the bad luck this team has had.
Jackson got off the field in ginger fashion and it was up in the air if he’d be able to return. He was ruled out for the rest of the action soon after. We now know that he’s going to be out for the next 3-5 weeks with a sprained MCL. Just awful, awful news. To make matters worse, Wan’Dale Robinson had to be carried off the field in the fourth quarter by two trainers, not being able to put any weight on his right leg. Unreal.
3. The Giants played against the refs on Sunday
We hate to blame the guys in stripes for having a negative impact on a game, but goodness, the refs were atrocious on Sunday. There were several missed/blown calls that went against the Giants against the Lions. One that stood out had to be the phantom offensive pass interference that negated a big Isaiah Hodgins catch. Briall Daboll was fuming and understandably so.
Brian Daboll going ape shit on the ref while wearing Aviators is absolutely legendary 😂 pic.twitter.com/yKEMWhNBAO
— Alex Wilson (@AlexWilsonESM) November 20, 2022
Later in the second quarter, Robinson was clearly interfered on a third-down play, but no flag was thrown. Right before the half too, the Lions 100 percent jumped early on a play down in the red zone, but once again, no penalty was called. It was clearly a false start.
Shortly after that miss by the refs, Jamaal Williams rushed for his second touchdown of the day, extending Detroit’s lead to 17-6. The Giants shouldn’t have to overcome these mistakes from the refs on a Sunday. Time and time again it feels like NY is unlucky with blown calls. This has to change and fast.
2. Daniel Jones took a step back vs. Detroit
As good as Daniel Jones has been at times this season, he didn’t look sharp in this one. Jones had done a fantastic job of taking care of the football, but his interception in the first half really hurt the Giants. On this particular play, we saw the Danny Dimes of old, and that’s not a compliment at all for him.
On his turnover, Jones focused on Darius Slayton a bit. Stud pass-rusher Aidan Hutchinson had his eyes all over Jones and saw exactly what he was going to do with the ball. Hutchinson not only intercepted the ball, but then he also recorded a pretty nice return deep into Giants territory as well here.
Aidan Hutchinson picks off Daniel Jones 👀😳 pic.twitter.com/NxJ5vL3ac2
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) November 20, 2022
Plain and simple, Jones has to be better. Then in the third quarter, Jones then had a pass sail on him on fourth down when he was trying to find Lawrence Cager. Kirby Joseph was there to make the interception, breaking countless hearts at MetLife Stadium. Yup, chalk this up as game to forget for Jones.
1. NY Giants straight up played like garbage
Despite being favorites, New York really didn’t look like a team who had a ton of confidence leading up to Week 11. This is very disappointing, as Big Blue was 7-2 on the year entering this one. However, we saw last week in the close win over the Houston Texans that this team is far from perfect on both sides of the ball.
On Sunday against the Lions, the Giants scored an early touchdown on a short touchdown run from Jones, living up to his ‘Vanilla Vick’ nickname given to him by Saquon Barkley. However, other than that, the NY offense couldn’t do much of anything the rest of the way. This was rough to see, as the Lions defense is one of the worst in the league.
The Giants couldn’t take advantate of that and they allowed Detroit to dominate them at MetLife. Who in the heck saw that coming? With Jackson’s injury bringing the team morale down a bit too, it’s hard to see this squad come away with a win against Dallas on Thanksgiving. This needs to be a monster wake-up call for Big Blue.
Giants getting major offensive line boost ahead of Lions matchup
New York Giants offensive lineman Shane Lemieux will be activated off IR and make his season debut against the Detroit Lions.