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The New York Giants have officially been the first team in the NFL eliminated from postseason contention after a 34-27 defeat at the hands of the Detroit Lions and now fall to 2-10 on the year.
This has been absolutely excruciating. The Giants have now lost five games this season when leading a game by 10 or more points at some point in the contest. They’ve also scored at least 20 points in each of their six straight defeats.
Giants quarterback Jameis Winston and wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson each had fantastic showings today. Winston slinged the ball for 366 yards and two touchdowns with one interception on 18/36 passing. Winston also had an incredible highlight when, on a trick reverse jet sweep by Gunner Olszewski, he hauled in a miraculous 33 yard touchdown pass from the receiver, although it would be the last points the Giants would score on the day.
Robinson, in his own right, might have earned himself a contract extension after today’s performance; catching 9 passes for 156 yards and the game’s first touchdown.
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On the other end of the ball, the G-Men utterly failed to change the league’s expectations of their run defense; allowing Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs to have one of the best performances of his career. The Detroit star totaled 264 yards from scrimmage and three total touchdowns including the eventual game-sealing score on a 69-yard run to open the overtime period.
Although poor defense ended up costing Big Blue the upset, interim head coach Mike Kafka’s aggressiveness played a factor as well. While the Giants held on to a three point lead with a little over three minutes remaining in the fourth, Kafka made the decision to go for it on fourth and goal at the Detroit six yard line. Winston then threw an incomplete pass to tight end Theo Johnson, and Detroit would respond by methodically driving down the turf as kicker Jake Bates drilled in a 58-yard field goal, tying a career long.
“Yeah, we did want to be aggressive. Just thought it was a good time to take points in that situation,” Kafka stated in the postgame presser on the decision. “Go up two scores and just hit a good flow. Wanted to just go up two scores.”
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Although the Giants put together a good drive in response to Gibbs’s aforementioned OT opening touchdown, Big Blue ran out of gas close to the Lions redzone, as Winston whiffed on a pass to a wide open Wan’Dale Robinson that could’ve been run in for a score of their own, and he was sacked on the fourth down attempt that followed; end the game.
The decision to go for the touchdown late in the fourth was a tough call for this team, who simply wanted to seal the contest right then and there, as allowing the opposition to linger has been devastating for New York throughout this season. The Giants now travel back home before shipping off to Foxborough later this week to take on the surging Patriots in their last game before their much needed bye week. Although the offense for this team seems to finally have found an identity in the post-Daniel Jones Era, this disturbingly under-achieving defense will require more than a handful of personnel changes come the offseason, and it should start with their undeniable joke of a coordinator.
-Jack Barber
Works Cited
https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore/_/gameId/401772888 https://www.giants.com/news/postgame-quotes-11-23-interim-hc-mike-kafka-qb-jameis-winston
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