NFL action is officially back and that's great news. On Friday night, the NY Giants and Detroit Lions went to battle at Ford Field, with the Lions coming away with a close win. Hey, let's not take the loss too hard for Brian Daboll and Co.
As a whole, though, there are plenty of things to improve on when looking at both sides of the ball for Daboll. Things were far from perfect, but there were also some positives despite suffering a 21-16 loss. In this piece, we've got our main takeaways from the action, of course including the dynamite play of a safety battling for a starting job.
5. Jason Pinnock did himself a favor with his strong showing
Who would have thought this would be the Jason Pinnock game? The young defensive back had himself a fantastic showing. To start things off, on the very first offensive play for the Lions, Pinnock picked off backup signal-caller Nate Sudfeld. This couldn't have been easier for Pinnock, as he wasn't going to let this easy INT fall to the turf:
PINNOCK FIRST PLAY OF THE GAME!
— New York Giants (@Giants) August 11, 2023
📺: NBC4 pic.twitter.com/BveDZ4HbC7
Yup, that's solid from Pinnock. Also, you've got to give credit to Tomon Fox for that play as well. The pass-rusher did his job on getting pressure on Sudfeld, leading to Pinnock's pick. Pinnock wasn't done there for the night. The next time he took the field, he immediately posted a tackle for loss. On that same drive, on 4th down, Pinnock broke up a pass to get the Giants the ball back.
In the first half, Pinnock's play was easily the No. 1 positive for the Giants. Both Daboll and Wink Martindale must have loved what they saw from the defensive back. Pinnock is in a battle for the starting safety job next to Xavier McKinney and his performance on Friday night will only help his chances of winning that spot. He certainly delivered for his coaches, as did Dane Belton, who also reeled in an INT. Both these guys will fight like heck to start.