The New York Giants escaped sloppy conditions at home with a 12-7 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. Cam Ward led a 13-play, 70-yard drive at the end of the game that put the Titans in position to score, but Jevon Holland had other plans. The veteran safety intercepted the second-year quarterback and sent his former coach back to Tennessee without a win.<\/p>\n
The Giants had 238 yards and the Titans finished with 262 yards \u2014 161 of which came on their final two drives. The Giants defense surrendered a 12-play and a 13-play drive on the Titans\u2019 final three possessions, after forcing Ward and Daboll into five straight three-and-outs. New York\u2019s inability to score touchdowns made the situation precarious, but Dominic Zvada\u2019s leg was enough to secure the win. Here are the grades.<\/p>\n
Jameis Winston provided some excitement, but frustrations that have followed Winston\u2019s career were present throughout the game. The offense\u2019s timing was completely off, and the weather made it worse. Winston finished 14 of 22 for 118 yards with two carries for 13 yards. The conditions were rough, but Winston did little to inspire hope as the Giants continue to search for quarterback depth.<\/p>\n
Cam Skattebo was the only running back used in the first quarter, but the Giants saw a healthy mix of Najee Harris on their 11-play, 44-yard field goal drive; Tyrone Tracy Jr. converted a third-and-2 crack-toss play on his first touch during that drive.<\/p>\n
Cam Skattebo\u2019s 25-yard gain on third down gave the Giants an opportunity to put points on the board in this sloppy game. The Giants rushed for 138 yards on 33 carries (4.2 YPC). Skattebo carried the ball 20 times for 60 yards, and Najee Harris had nine carries for 52 yards; Harris looked good, averaging 5.8 yards on the ground.<\/p>\n
The conditions led both offenses to play conservatively. Malik Nabers\u2019 third-and-seven conversion before the first half ended led to a valuable field goal for the Giants. Nabers caught five of six targets for just 25 yards with an important 11-yard slant that secured a first down. Darnell Mooney caught two of three of his targets for 20 yards, and Malachi Fields secured both his targets for 19 yards. The receivers weren\u2019t asked to do too much in the game.<\/p>\n
Isaiah Likely was targeted, but the Giants\u2019 passing attack was not in sync. We did, however, see multiple heavy personnel packages that included Patrick Ricard and Chris Manhertz. Likely caught two of his five targets for just 13 yards. The blocking seemed adequate up front from the tight ends, as the Giants found success to the edges of the Titans\u2019 defense<\/p>\n
John Michael Schmitz took a holding penalty on the first drive, which spoiled Zaire Barnes\u2019s effort to punch the football out of Chimere Dike\u2019s arms on the opening kickoff. The Giants\u2019 center remains an issue for New York. Andrew Thomas surrendered a third-down sack to rookie Keldric Faulk on an E\/T twist up front, and Jermaine Eluemunor had multiple penalties. The Giants did enough with their rushing attack, but the offensive line is surrendering pressures and sacks and suffering penalties that raise concerns.<\/p>\n
D.J. Reader and Shelby Harris were both STOUT at the point of attack. Tennessee wasn\u2019t generating much on the ground; the linebackers were quick to fit, and the line was solid. Harris did, however, accidentally rip Cam Ward down by the facemask. Overall, the defensive line did enough to not get bullied, holding the Titans to just 3.9 yards per carry. Tennessee caught the Giants in some lighter personnel packages, and Tony Pollard ripped off a few runs, which brought his average up to 4.4 YPC. I don\u2019t love how the Titans sustained several drives in the second half.<\/p>\n
A T\/E game led to a second-quarter quarterback hit that almost resulted in an intentional grounding penalty. It was good to see Brian Burns draped on a quarterback, who left the game in the fourth quarter with a right knee injury \u2014 he dealt with a left ankle injury through the week. There weren\u2019t many impact plays from Kayvon Thibodeaux or Abdul Carter, but Chauncey Golston made two STOPs in the run game, including one with just over a minute left in the game; without Burns on the field, Golston was aligned as an EDGE rusher in crunch time.<\/p>\n
Reese set the tone early on the Titans\u2019 first possession; Tony Pollard hit the line of scrimmage on a second-down run, and Reese met him for a STOP. Reese also made a strong tackle for a loss in the flat. Reese also annihilated a running back in pass protection on a third-down blitz. Tremaine Edmunds was called for a crucial fourth-and-one encroachment penalty that extended the Titans\u2019 drive with 50 seconds remaining. The linebackers flew around the field and made solid plays, but there still seems to be room for improvement.<\/p>\n
Greg Newsome II was sticky and technically sound against Tennessee. He knocked a pass away from Elic Ayomanor on second-and-7 on the Titans\u2019 final drive. He missed one tackle that led to a solid Pollard gain, but was good overall.<\/p>\n
Colton Hood was not challenged much in the game until he surrendered a touchdown to Wan\u2019Dale Robinson in the fourth quarter. Hood had left the field earlier in the drive, but returned. His leverage was soft to the outside, and Cam Ward took advantage of the rookie\u2019s positioning. Dru Phillips did an excellent job getting his eyes on the football, but could not secure an important interception in the third quarter on a rub concept.<\/p>\n
Brian Daboll found success in the second half by attacking the Giants with out routes against softer leverage against both Dru Phillips and Hood.<\/p>\n
Jevon Holland is a pick MACHINE! A game-winning interception by Holland, who has been the leader of the Giants\u2019 defense. Tyler Nubin did not dress in the game, which put Ar\u2019Darius Washington into the starting lineup. Washington was around the line of scrimmage often in the rainy game, but it was Jevon Holland, again, who continues to make a difference. Holland knocked a ball away from Wan\u2019Dale Robinson on an important third-down when the underneath defender attacked the flat in the smash concept; it was an exceptional effort from Holland. Pinnock made a big tackle for a loss on the outside of a crack-toss play to the boundary.<\/p>\n
The Special teams really earned their money against the Tennessee Titans. Giants\u2019 linebacker Zaire Barnes punched the football out of Chimere Dike\u2019s grasp on the opening kickoff \u2013 a massive momentum swing caused by special teams that the offense couldn\u2019t turn into points.<\/p>\n
Jordan Stout continues to be one of the best assets on the Giants. He had a 73-yard punt early in the second quarter. Stout averaged 53 yards on five punts \u2014 stud! Dominic Zvada was the Giants\u2019 offense; he booted four field goals: 59, 50, 44, and 30 yards. However, Elijah Campbell\u2019s kick-catch interference negated one of Stout\u2019s punts and gave Tennessee better field position at the end of the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Giants escaped sloppy conditions at home with a 12-7 victory over the Tennessee Titans on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,7692,11,10],"class_list":["post-358363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-giants-analysis","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}