The NY Giants were never expected to take down the Miami Dolphins in Week 5, but that doesn't mean this loss doesn't still hurt. In order for the G-Men to have a shot on the road on Sunday, they needed to be perfect on both sides of the ball. They were far from it.
In the 31-16 loss to the Dolphins on Sunday afternoon, there were plenty of infuriating plays on both offense and defense, leaving fans scratching their heads once again. With this defeat, NY is now 1-4 on the season, with the Buffalo Bills next up on the schedule. In this piece, we have our main takeaways from the action, of course including the rough play up front, which led to the Danny Dimes injury.
4. The offensive line for the Giants was frustrating to watch
Stop us if you've heard this before, but the play off the offensive line was terrible for the Giants from start to finish. This has been a consistent issue for the G-Men throughout the year and it was once again on display against the Dolphins. Daniel Jones didn't have enough time to scan the field, but all of the penalties were brutal to watch too.
Left tackle Joshua Ezeudu in specific had a nightmare performance. Ezeudu is in a tough spot, as he's forced to start with All-Pro LT Andrew Thomas still not able to suit up with his hamstring injury. Those are massive shoes to fill and while Ezeudu has had some solid moments thus far in 2023, he's also had several blunders.
Things reached a new low for Ezeudu in the fourth quarter when he let linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel get to Jones and level him. Jones (we'll have more on this later in this piece) was in a ton of pain and he had to be helped off the field. He was quickly ruled out with a neck injury and Ezeudu was benched for Matt Peart. Ezeudu can't see significant playing time for this team moving forward.
3. The run-defense simply had no answer for the Dolphins attack
What can we even say about things up front on defense for the Giants? They couldn't do a single thing to slow down the ground game for Miami. Early on, a fumble was forced on De'Von Achane, with Xavier McKinney stripping the ball and former first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux there for the recovery. However, everything went downhill after that.
Achane stole the show with an incredible 76-yard TD run in the second quarter to put the Dolphins up 14-0. On that particular play, Achane showcased his sensational speed, blowing by everyone on the way to the end zone. No Giants defenders were in the right spot to try and bring him down. This was just too easy for the young RB:
de’von. achane. waiver wire pickup of the decade pic.twitter.com/XwNwkWGgLw
— NFL Fantasy Football (@NFLFantasy) October 8, 2023
Achane finished the day with 11 carries for 151 yards and his long touchdown run. In total, the Dolphins had 222 rushing yards against the Giants. There's no chance a team is ever going to be in a position to win a contest when the opposing rushing attack is having that kind of success. This just adds to the things Wink Martindale must clean up.
2. The long Tyreek Hill TD catch was inexcusable
On top of the Achane 76-yard score, the Dolphins also had people at the stadium fired up thanks to a 69-yard touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa to Tyreek Hill. Everything that could have gone wrong on this play did, with Hill being matched up with sixth-round pick Tre Hawkins III on the outside. Wait, what?
Hawkins was subbed on and sprinted his way to meet with Hill, 1-on-1. There was a breakdown in coverage, leaving Hawkins to cover Hill, arguably the fastest guy in the NFL, in a brutal matchup. What did we expect to happen here? Hill burned Hawkins and made things worse by trolling the Giants defense on his way to the end zone:
Giants leaving Tre Hawkins in man-coverage with NO safety help over top on Tyreek Hill is why they deserve to lose this game... pic.twitter.com/nQbvehhbxv
— Alex Wilson (@AlexWilsonESM) October 8, 2023
The Giants defense was able to force three turnovers on the day, including two interceptions. We of course have to bring up the Jason Pinnock pick-six, which gave fans hope, however small it was, that an upset could potentially be on the way. Instead, the Dolphins punched NY in the mouth on this Tua to Hill TD. There was no miracle ending after that score took all the momentum back.
1. Everyone is now worried on the health of Daniel Jones
Yes the loss sucks, but now panic is setting in for Giants fans due to the injury to Jones. It's unknown at this time how serious his neck injury is, but things did not look good for him as he was walking off the field. We can't forget that Jones has a history of neck issues, as he missed the final six games during the 2021 campaign.
The hit that knocked Giants QB Daniel Jones out of the game. You can see his neck snap back hard. 👇 pic.twitter.com/Z6AEuwZ1AF
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano) October 8, 2023
Jones has struggled quite a bit this year, but no one can argue that the play of the offensive line has been the main reason the offense has been in such a big funk. Jones earned his $160 million extension thanks to his great play in 2022, but the line hasn't given him a prayer to match the same kind of quality play.
Over the next few days, Big Blue supporters will be following Jones' status closely ahead of the Buffalo Bills showdown. While we don't want to speculate on how much time he might miss, it also wouldn't be a surprise if he's not able to suit up for the Sunday Night Football game vs. the Bills next weekend. If that's the case, then it will be on Tyrod Taylor to try and help this team do the unthinkable.