It took until week four, but the New York Giants finally got their first win of this young 2021 NFL season. The Giants defeated the New Orleans Saints 27-21 in an overtime thriller. They overcame an 11-point, 4th quarter lead by the Saints to get this much-needed win. This game was the Giants’ first win in 28 years in New Orleans, and it was the first time in nine years the Giants overcame a lead of 11 or more points. Fans are ecstatic about Daniel Jones’s career game with 402 passing yards, going 28 of 40 with two touchdowns. Jones had two monster passing plays of 52 yards (wide receiver John Ross) and 54 yards (Saquon Barkley). Both plays were game-changing touchdowns. The Giants scored 27 points without starters, Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton.
Kenny Golladay had his best game as a Giant with six receptions and 116 receiving yards. Kadarius Toney also had a breakout game with six receptions and 78 yards. Saquon Barkley looked more like himself on the 54-yard touchdown catch and run. The biggest surprise was John Ross, with a critical 52-yard touchdown catch in the first half. Ross made the most of his opportunity and had three receptions on the day.
Jones drove the Giants 75 yards in overtime to win the game. Jones was 5 of 5 for 57 yards on that drive, and Saquon kept his feet moving on the last play to get into the end zone for his second score of the game.
Overall, the Saints won the statistical battle— more yards on offense, more first downs, and more time of possession. However, the game came down to the two huge offensive plays on offense for the Giants. One of the other positives is the Giants did not allow an offensive sack.
Giants Offense B+
Daniel Jones had a career game and drove the field’s length twice, once to tie the game and again to win the game. Kenny Golladay looked like the player the Giants signed in the off-season, and Kadrius Toney showed why the Giants took him with the 20th pick in the 2021 draft. Saquon Barkley looked more like himself running and catching the football.
Giants Defense B-
Even though this was a win, the Giants defense forced a turnover. The Saints’ offense pretty much had their way with the secondary. They again allowed better than 70% completion on drop-backs, too many 3rd down conversions, and did not get a sack. The Giants rushed only three linemen too many times in the first half. Even when blitzing, the Giants did not seem to get much pressure on Jameis Winston. That has to be concerning. This unit looks to have regressed from the 2020 version.
Coaching B
The Giants entered this game 30th in the NFL in red-zone scoring. The Giants did convert one of their two opportunities on first down inside the red zone. It was just more horrible play calls by Jason Garrett when the Giants had a 1st goal at the 3-yard line. It would have been nice to see Judge go for it on 4th down just once in this game, but they have not tried a 4th down conversion since week 1.
Overall
The Giants came out with the win, and the offense looked the way it was drawn up in the off-season. However, the defensive unit continues to be a concern, as they are not getting enough pressure along the front four, and the secondary continues to under-perform under Patrick Graham. Next week the Giants take on the high-powered offense of the Dallas Cowboys. Let’s see if Jones can continue to build on his play and put up back-to-back wins. The defense will have to keep Dak Prescott, Zeke Elliot, and the Dallas receivers in check for this team to have a chance.
Prediction: Dallas 30 – Giants 21
2 Responses
I believe the Offense can dramatically improve with the confidence from the last game, specifically with the contributions by the key role players. It is the Defense that must give a 60 minute performance to pull off a win this week.
1st of all I’d like to say this is the giants team I expected to see in week one Daniel Jones performance was not much different than he has had the previous few weeks but this time he got the W. His only turnover of the game was a last minute interception in the last seconds of the 2nd Quarter. Overall this season he has not been The turnover machine he was the past year so he is showing a lot of improvement. We finally got to see what Toney Could do and why he was drafted so high he was as expected expected amazing when the balls were in his hand and Kenny Golladay. finally got going. Saquan Looked like the running back that was drafted number 2 overall of old. The special teams was as advertised is the advertised slightly better is he better than average average. The Missed field goal was a blemish but overall Gano hit the one at the end of the game with pressure mounting He definitely gets a pass for the missed chip shot but did show his is only human. Ask for the defense again they were mediocre at best and yeast and if there was any type of pass rush they wouldn’t it would not have been behind behind it all. Hill came in and ran the ball like a full back and with that he was almost unstoppable if they had played a little smarter earlier in the game and let him stay in longer I don’t feel we would have won. Overall ratings for the team this week I’d give the offense an A minus I give the special teams a B- minus and I would give the defense a C+ only because he did hit a long field goal to get into overtime. Going into next week they always played Dallas tough and I’m going to say it’s a low scoring game 27-23 with Dallas edging them out. After seeing people attack Bradbury in the secondary I could see that happening again and although I and although I believe they shut down the running game I think there’s going to be a few break out passes that are the game changers.
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