4 NY Giants who let Brian Daboll down in the loss to Detroit

In easily the team’s worst game of the season, the Giants were defeated 31-18 by the Detroit Lions. This was a disgusting game to watch, as outside of the unbelievable amount of injuries the Giants sustained, there was poor play all around that led to the defeat.

Outside of a few standout players, almost the entire NY Giants team played extremely poor. Obviously it’s hard to win when seemingly half your team gets hurt, but even the players that were healthy didn’t perform well.

At the end of the day, you can’t be too upset as the team is still 7-3 and is likely going to make the playoffs barring a miraculous collapse. A loss to a team like the Lions obviously isn’t fun, especially the way in which the Giants lost, but when you consider the expectations this team had before the season, we’ll take the good with the bad.

With that being said, here are four NY Giants who disappointed in the teams gross loss to the Lions:

4. The NY Giants offensive line

Outside of Andrew Thomas, the Giants offensive line did absolutely zero favors for the offense. It’s going to be hard to play well with two backups being plugged in, but the bigger names like Mark Glowinski and Jon Feliciano needed to be better.

It was nice to see Shane Lemieux back at first, until he started to perform very poorly. We understand he is coming back from an injury, but outside of some solid play in the preseason, he has never shown anything that suggests he could be a good player.

Lemieux would be pulled in the third quarter for rookie Josh Ezeudu, who didn’t do much either. Ezeudu has had some very nice run blocking snaps all season, but has really struggled in pass protection.

Feliciano struggled per usual, but he was pulled in the third quarter due to a neck injury. Nick Gates came in relief of the veteran center and played quite well. Gates’ comebacks story has been one of the best in all of the NFL, regardless of whether or not Feliciano comes back next week or not, Gates must play at some spot on the offensive line.

Glowinski may not have been notably bad like Feliciano or Lemieux, but he did the offense no favors with his run blocking. All around this was a terrible day for the Giants offensive line in terms of run blocking.

In addition to their poor run blocking, the line continued their yearly pass-protection struggles, as the Lions defense racked up two sacks and 10 QB hits. Considering how bad their pass-rush has been all season, this was disgraceful to see.

3. The NY Giants linebacker core

Despite statistically racking up tackles, the Giants linebackers played extremely poor this game, making it extremely easy for the Lions to run all over the team. For once, it was not Tae Crowder doing this, as the few snaps he played he actually made some very nice plays.

Instead, it was both Micah McFadden and Jaylon Smith, who both showcased an inability to read and react to run plays. We’ll give McFadden a small break, as he is a fifth-round pick who is going to need time to develop.

The Giants need to address this position through either the draft or free agency this offseason, as the defense is going to continue to suffer due to poor linebacker play. All of the linebackers on the Giants have played extremely poor this season aside from a few nice plays, so it is not surprising to see said struggles continue. These players lack the proper read and react abilities, they can’t cover, and just flat out are not good.

With plenty of cap space and draft capital, there are way too many opportunities for the Giants not to make a massive improvement at the position.

2. Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka

Outside of a couple of nice play calls and schemes, Mike Kafka was rather terrible this week as the Giants offensive coordinator. Not only were some of the plays completely obvious to not only the defense, but goodness some of his decision making was awful.

For example, on third and six, down 24-6 with 7:36 remaining in the third quarter, Kafka decided to stupidly run the ball. While we understand the Giants likely did this knowing they were going for it on fourth, it still makes zero sense to run the ball in that situation.

Kafka is still a much better offensive coordinator than Jason Garrett, and has had plenty of moments of genius play calling, but he needs to be consistently good in order for this team to succeed.

We are not blaming Kafka for the entire failure of the offense, as that falls on the players’ inability to execute this week, we are rather criticizing him for his poor moments of play-calling that doesn’t help the already failing offense. He’s got to be better.

1. QB Daniel Jones

For the first time in a long time, NY Giants QB Daniel Jones really let the team down. While he had many very nice plays throughout this game while playing with a practice squad offense, his two turnovers did the Giants no favors.

In this game, Jones would complete 27 of his 44 pass attempts for 341 yards, one TD, and two interceptions in addition to running the ball seven times for 50 yards and a TD.

Prior to this game, Jones had the longest active streak of passes attempted without an interception, so it seemed as if he was due for one. His first interception, thrown to Aidan Hutchinson, was both a bad read by Jones, but an even better play by the rookie.

Hutchinson has shown an ability to make plays in coverage the last couple of weeks and he did not let Lions fans down this game. As for Jones, he has struggled to make reads against players coming off of the line in the past, so this was not the most surprising interception.

Jones’ second interception came on fourth and five in the third quarter following the aforementioned third and six run play from Kafka. Jones just heaved a ball down the field where it was intercepted by Kerby Joseph.

Obviously this is on Jones, but not only should the Giants have not been in this situation, but why are they running the ball on third and six? Regardless, Jones should have seen Wan’Dale Robinson on the crosser and let him try to get the first down.

It is hard to get the offense moving when your QB turns the ball over twice, but we are not worried. These were Jones’s first turnovers in a while and he has played very well all season, no need to overthink things.

Brian Daboll calls out the NY Giants and he had every right to after loss to Lions

NY Giants head coach Brian Daboll didn't look happy at all following his team's rough Week 11 loss to the Detroit Lions at MetLife Stadium.