5 NY Giants who disappointed in the preseason loss to the Lions

Entering the NY Giants' preseason opener against the Detroit Lions, many expected to see a win for New York. Despite this, the team faltered, losing 21-16 to their foes in Detroit. While some players impressed and gave fans a reason to be excited, others didn't and left a foul taste in our mouths due to their poor play.

It may have just been one preseason game, but these players, and one coach, need to have a bounce-back showing against the Panthers on Friday. There's no question that Brian Daboll is going to want to see them clean things up ASAP.

5. WR Collin Johnson

This is more of a disappointing event and not Collin Johnson playing poorly against the Lions, but we've got to bring up his knee injury suffered on Friday night. Straight up, this sucked to see for the young wideout. Last year, Johnson was a stud in the preseason, but he missed the entire campaign due to a torn Achilles.

He worked his tail off in his rehab to get back to full health and he has shown plenty of promise in training camp. Johnson checks in at 6-6, 220 pounds and could be a great option on the outside for Daniel Jones. However, his main issue is staying healthy. From the moment it was announced that he was ruled out midway through the action on Friday, people felt terrible for this kid.

It's got to be frustrating for him. He wants to be able to put himself in a position to make the 53-man roster. However, he's not going to have a chance to do that if he can't keep himself on the field.

4. Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey

While the poor play on special teams can easily be blamed on the players themselves, it certainly seems as if Thomas McGaughey didn't have his boys ready and it showed. The Giants made several mistakes on special teams, including allowing a punt return touchdown that completely turned the tide of the game. However, without this horrid moment, we would not have gotten this hilarious reaction from Brian Daboll:

In all seriousness, the Giants' special teams were disastrous on Friday and this cannot continue. We have already seen the negative impact of poor play on returns last season and if the Giants want to be serious contenders these problems have to be fixed.

There's no way that McGaughey is fired prior to the regular season, but if these issues remain prevalent in the regular season, we could see an exit for the long-term coordinator at the end of the season. Hopefully, we don't see this, as McGaughey has had several bright moments during his tenure with the Giants and Daboll already said he loves the guy.

3. LB Micah McFadden

Not only was second-year linebacker Micah McFadden disappointing against the Lions, but the Giants' linebacker core in general aside for Dyontae Johnson left much to be desired. Both McFadden and Carter Coughlin made several mistakes against the run and pass and it showed. Fortunately, though, Darrian Beavers did not play a snap, meaning that he will be the likely starter instead of McFadden in the regular season.

While McFadden did look much faster when getting to the ball, he still was missing holes to get in the backfield and looked as bad as ever in coverage. McFadden was never expected to be a ball hawk of any sort. However, in the modern NFL, defenses can't afford to play such a liability in coverage in the middle of the field.

We hope that McFadden can improve as the preseason goes on, but he hasn't shown much promise thus far. He will likely be a good run-stopper for the Giants in due time, but New York already has that in the form of Bobby Okereke. Instead, it will likely be Beavers, who is much better in coverage, starting alongside Okereke.

Due to this poor play, it wouldn't surprise us to see the Giants and Joe Schoen looking for veteran help at linebacker. New York's linebacker depth was already suspect to begin with. However, if both McFadden and Coughlin continue their poor play, we could see the team bring a more experienced 'backer in to take their snaps.

2. WR Bryce Ford-Wheaton

This one really hurt, as Bryce Ford-Wheaton was one of my personal favorite prospects from this year's rookie class. Heading into the Giants' preseason opener, I was very excited to see what Wheaton could so. Instead, he was incredibly disappointing and has us all worried about whether or not he will make the roster.

While it could just be first-game nerves, Ford-Wheaton was incredibly shaky. Not only did he drop a pass from Tommy DeVito, but Wheaton even slipped on a route that saw him wide open. For the game, he would be targeted three times but wouldn't bring in a single pass through 29 snaps.

Everyone knew that Wheaton was incredibly gifted as an athlete. Not only is he 6-4, 221 pounds, but he also ran a 4.38 40-yard dash and displayed a 41-inch vertical at the NFL Combine. Despite this, it was clear coming out of the draft that he still had a lot to put together intangibles-wise to achieve his full potential.

Hopefully, Wheaton will improve drastically through the Giants' next two preseason games. If not, there's a good chance that he won't make the 53-man roster and make his way to the practice squad instead. A lot could depend there with Johnson's health too.

1. The entire NY Giants offensive line

While the only likely starter who received a hefty amount of snaps was John Michael-Schmitz, who looked fantastic, we can't say the same about the rest of the Giants' offensive line. Most notably, Korey Cunningham and Wyatt Davis were so disastrous that they very well could have played their way out of the league.

Through 59 snaps, Cunningham allowed eight pressures and two sacks. As for Davis, he allowed six pressures, two sacks, and was penalized twice in just 27 snaps. To make matters even worse, Davis got absolutely demolished on back-to-back plays and ruined any chance the Giants had at putting together a game-winning drive.

Even aside from these two, several other noteworthy players did not meet expectations. Most notably, Joshua Ezeudu, who started this game, looked rather poor at times as a pass protector. While this is what we expected out of him coming out of college, Ezeudu is in his second season and has to show improvement. Fortunately, he wasn't disastrous like Davis and Cunningham, just disappointing conisdering that he is fighting for a potential starting job.

For the game, the Giants allowed five sacks and a ridiculous amount of pressures. Regardless of whether it was on the ground or through the air, the Giants didn't have room to do much at all offensively. It may be the bench, but with New York's injury history in the trenches, they can't afford to have their depth perform so poorly.

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