This game was way more stressful than it had any business of being. The New York Giants had their first chance to navigate without quarterback Jaxson Dart suffering his season-ending knee injury. It was up to Jameis Winston to lead the offense, but in a rainy and windy Metlife Stadium on Sunday against a favorable opponent in the Tennessee Titans. Yet, the Giants made a win much more difficult than it needed to be.
The Giants picked up a 12-7 win over the Titans to improve to 2-1 on the season. If you watched the game, you know that the Giants had plenty of chances to put the Titans away for good, with multiple chances in the red zone. Yet, they were unable to reach the end zone at all, due to bad play-calling and penalties.
Giants' constant mistakes in red zone almost cost them a win in Week 3
Giants fans are all too familiar with the team's lack of success in the red zone over the years. But with a new, accomplished head coach in John Harbaugh, the hope was that the team would be more cleaned up. They looked fine in Week 1, but that was before they lost Dart for the season.
Let's talk about one of the biggest blunders the Giants offense made in the red zone, and that was the wild cat play. Running back Najee Harris nearly carried the Giants to the end zone in the second quarter, picking up 31 yards on four carries. He was the most effective of the rushers at that point in the game, which made it surprising once the team made it to Tennessee's five-yard line, Harris was taken out. The next play, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy drew up a wild cat play to Cam Skattebo, and it went was well as you thought it would have.
Instead of moving forward, the trick play died out immediately, with Skattebo losing seven yards. On the next two plays, the Giants would gain just three yards, resulting in the Giants turning to rookie kicker Dominic Zvada, who successfully kicked a 27 yard field goal to put the Giants up 6-0.
Harbaugh mentioned after the game that the wild cat play "was not our finest moment." So, expect that play to be burned for the rest of the season.
In the opening drive of the third quarter, the Giants drove down to Tennessee's nine yard line. After a seven-yard gain by Skattebo, the Giants moved backwards due to bad penalties. The Giants were called for an illegal shift to push them back five yards. On the play after, right tackled Jermaine Eluemunor was called for holding, moving them back an additional 10 yards. The momentum was completely halted, and the Giants relied on Zvada again, this time on a 30-yard field goal to put them up 12-0.
Giants need to use Week 3 as learning experience if they want to win more games this year
Cam Skattebo was correct in his assessment after the game, and that if this was last season, they'd lose the game. In fairness, the Giants did their best to nearly hand a victory to the Titans. What would have made it worse for fans was if it was to former head coach Brian Daboll, who was the offensive coordinator for Tennessee. Giants fans could see the celebration video of Daboll getting a game ball if the Titans won playing in their heads.
Things looked bleak, especially when the Titans cut the Giants' lead to 12-7 on a Cam Ward touchdown pass to former New York wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson. It had all of the makings of a disaster waiting to happen.
Luckily for the Giants, Ward threw an interception to safety Jevon Holland in the end zone to secure the victory.
While they can celebrate the win, the GIants know they need to clean up their game. They need to cut down on the penalties they shouldn't be committing. Not to mention, they need to avoid gtting too cute with the play-calling in the red zone. Again, maybe throw the wild cat play in the garbage. Looking at the two aforementioned red zone drives, the Giants would have cruised to a much smoother victory, possibly leading as much as 26-0 at one point.
A win is a win, but the Giants can't be competing in nailbiters against favorable opponents, whether they have Dart at quarterback or not.
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