The pain unfortunately hasn't gotten much better after the NY Giants suffered their 30-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night. The game started with so much promise, as the defense held SF to a field goal, while Daniel Jones helped Big Blue respond with a FG of their own.
However, after that promising start, the wheels began to fall off a bit and the Giants are now 1-2 on the season. Yes, plenty of Big Blue stars were injured, but the Giants simply had to play better. In this piece, we have our main takeaways from the action, which of course includes the poor play of the offensive line:
4. Shane Lemieux can't start another game for the Giants
One of the biggest shocks of the night was that Brian Daboll decided to rock with Shane Lemieux as his starting left guard to take on the 49ers unreal defense. No disrespect to Coach Dabes, but this was a silly decision. Lemieux had appeared in two games in the previous two seasons, yet he tossed him in to face a Super Bowl contender? The LG had a terrible night and fans were furious with his play.
Shane Lemieux at left guard for the Giants finished with a 3.8 pass blocking grade last night vs the 49ers, according to @PFF.
— Doug Rush (@TheDougRush) September 22, 2023
Lemieux allowed 5 pressures, 4 hurries and 1 sack. pic.twitter.com/Yzov3tbME5
You can't convince us that Mark Glowinski wouldn't have been a better option on Thursday. Lemieux has battled injuries and poor play from the moment he arrived in East Rutherford. Daboll decided to roll the dice and it backfired on him. Looking ahead to the showdown with Seattle, there's simply no way he can be starting.
Left guard Ben Bredeson missed TNF after suffering a concussion in Week 2, but the hope is that he'll be cleared by the time Seattle gets to town. If for whatever reason he can't play, Daboll either needs to give Glowinski a shot or make everyone happy and finally sign Justin Pugh to a new deal. The last option has to be giving Lemieux extensive playing time.