Giants fail their playoff-caliber D in loss to Cardinals
EAST RUTHERFORD
» Nothing could have been more ominous for the Giants than seeing Markus Golden, whom they traded to Arizona in October, come barreling off the edge and blindside Daniel Jones for a stripsack on the fifth play of Sunday’s game.
Despite the early turnover at the Giants’ 9-yard line, the defense stopped the Cardinals on four straight plays to keep the game scoreless.
But even a playoff-caliber unit has its limits. Complementary football was nonexistent for the Giants at MetLife Stadium, and that’s why their four-game winning streak ended with a 26-7 loss to a fellow postseason contender.
Remember when New York last made the playoffs in 2016 behind one of the league’s top defenses and a mediocre offense that was over-reliant on big plays from Odell Beckham Jr.?
That’s what this year’s team feels like, except with a stronger running game and not much play-making on the outside.
It was impressive to watch New York’s defense hold Arizona’s up-tempo offense to 13 points in the first half considering that the Cardinals’ average starting field position on their first five drives was the Giants’ 42-yard line.
“We always say, ‘If they don’t score, they don’t win,’” cornerback James Bradberry said. “That’s our goal as a defense. We don’t worry about special teams or what the offense is doing. We just worry about what we can control.”
Such lopsided field position and time of possession are absurd to ask of any defense. The Giants had no choice because they were awful on offense and special teams. They totaled 58 yards on 25 plays in the first half, and on special teams they poorly executed punts, allowed a 24-yard punt return and fumbled a kickoff.
The defense understandably cracked eventually and finally gave up a touchdown on Arizona’s fifth drive, but even that required a ridiculous throw by Kyler Murray off his back foot and a ridiculous leaping catch by tight end Dan Arnold on third-and-goal.
“We work on it every single week, making sure we’re conditioned for any situation that comes up, sudden changes — all those types of things,” linebacker Blake Martinez said. “It’s one of those things that we’ve got to stand up as a defense and help the offense out and play complementary football throughout the game.”
Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham is working his name into head coaching consideration around the league because of the brilliant job he’s done in disguising schemes and getting the Giants to overachieve with limited talent.
Consider that the Giants had a questionable passrush even before the season started. When they determined Golden wasn’t a fit in the new defense and then Lorenzo Carter, Oshane Ximines and Kyler Fackrell went on injured reserve, that removed their top-four edge rushers from the equation.
But Graham continues to scheme pressure and mix and match his personnel well — the latest adjustment being more playing time for second-round pick Xavier McKinney, a rookie who returned two weeks ago from a fractured foot and filled in Sunday for injured slot cornerback Darnay Holmes.
The Giants were fortunate
that Martinez, their leading tackler who was questionable Sunday with a back injury, was able to play as he made a touchdown-saving tackle on Arizona’s first drive after Jones’ turnover.
The defensive effort hardly mattered, though, because the offense had no rhythm and no pace.
Jones clearly was affected by the hamstring injury that caused him to miss last week’s game in Seattle, as he was averaging five rushes per game this season but didn’t run the ball at all against Arizona. He threw for just 127 yards on 21 pass attempts.
“I wasn’t able to run like I normally am, but I felt good during the game and I’m not sure it hampered too much,” Jones said. “I was able to move around in the pocket and do what I needed to do throwing the ball.”
Colt McCoy, last week’s starter, entered the game with 2:34 remaining, and it
was a dubious decision for the Giants to have Jones play at all in his current condition.
Head coach Joe Judge insisted he had no regrets playing Jones and explained that it was a calculated decision.
“I thought he was able to protect himself in the pocket, which was the main concern in terms of, ‘Can he step up? Can he move it?’” Judge said. “We knew that there were going to be some situations today where he wasn’t going to pull it down and just run as he had in the past.”
The lack of zone-read plays compromised the offense, but New York also showed little commitment to running the ball in general with only 17 carries.
The Giants failed to reach 100 rushing yards for the first time in eight games — their longest streak since 2010. That benchmark seems to be a necessity given the current state of the passing
attack.
Darius Slayton is a talented deep threat, but he has no consistent support system. Golden Tate and Sterling Shepard combined for 74 yards against Arizona and have only 791 yards and three touchdowns this entire season.
The Giants’ defense is probably good enough to win the NFC East — New York was tied with Washington for first place entering Sunday — but issues on offense and special teams might prevent the playoffs from becoming a reality.
“We were outcoached. We were outplayed,” Judge said. “We have to do more to be successful. We have to have a better week this week to take steps forward as a team.”