New York Giants: Report card vs. Jaguars in Week 1

The New York Giants opened their 2018 season with a 20-15 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars at MetLife Stadium. Here is their report card.

The New York Giants kicked off their 2018 season on Sunday with a frustrating 20-15 setback to the Jacksonville Jaguars at rainy MetLife Stadium. It marked the head coaching debut of Pat Shurmur with Big Blue and was New York’s 14th loss in their last 17 contests.

In truth, it wasn’t all bad for the Giants in the loss, but at the end of the day, some key turnovers cost them the chance to pick up a big win at home.

Let’s take a look at the first report card for the G-Men in 2018.

Offense

It took until the fourth quarter, but Giants fans finally got to see the dynamic impact of halfback Saquon Barkley, the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft. After being held to just 37 yards on his first 16 carries, the Penn State product took a handoff from Eli Manning, broke three tackles and sprinted 68 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown to pull Big Blue within 20-15 with 10:39 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Barkley finished his NFL debut with a game-high 106 yards rushing and made my prediction look pretty good. This kid is going to be a real star. He displayed power, superb balance, athleticism and breakaway speed on that burst. He can turn around a game at any moment, just like his teammate Odell Beckham Jr.

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Speaking of Beckham, the three-time Pro Bowler enjoyed a strong opener with a game-high 11 receptions for 111 yards. He even drew a pair of pass interference penalties. Beckham was double-teamed at times and the Jaguars, a top-two defensive squad last year, made sure they kept the speedster in front of them. Their game plan was not to get burned over the top by a long touchdown. The Jags were successful in that regard.

Eli Manning (23-of-37, 224 yards, no touchdowns, one interception) was pressured all game long behind New York’s revamped and porous offensive line. He took numerous hits and had to hurry many of his throws, several of which were dropped. He was sacked twice.

Ereck Flowers in particular had a rough outing and left tackle Nate Solder, their big free agent signing, did not exactly distinguish himself either. The offensive line is a work in progress, but the first impression on Sunday was not good. Tight end Evan Engram (two catches for 18 yards) had a disappointing outing as well.

Grade: C-

Defense

The G-Men certainly missed outside linebacker Olivier Vernon, who sat out the game with an ankle injury. They played inspired, tough, hard-nosed football against one of the most physical teams in the league. The Giants got a break when Jacksonville halfback Leonard Fournette (nine carries, 41 yards) left the contest in the second quarter with a hamstring injury and did not return. Still, New York held the Jaguars to just 17 first downs and 30 percent efficiency (4-of-13) on third downs.

What was even more impressive was that the Giants allowed Jacksonville to gain only 121 yards from scrimmage after halftime, including just 39 in the fourth quarter. Cornerback Eli Apple had one of his finest games in recent memory with three solo tackles and two passes defended.

Janoris Jenkins chipped in with an impressive interception along the left sideline, keeping his feet in bounds. Jenkins also added seven total tackles. Their linebacker corps, led by Ray-Ray Armstrong (five combined tackles) was stout overall in both run and pass defense.

The Giants were only able to sack quarterback Blake Bortles (18-of-33, 176 yards, one touchdown, one pick) once, a combined takedown from Kerry Wynn and Kareem Martin. They have to generate more pressure moving forward. With that being said, for a unit that has five new starters, this was an encouraging initial performance.

Grade: B- 

Special Teams

This was going to be a solid B grade before Kaelin Clay made the biggest blunder of the game.

With 54 seconds remaining in the contest, the Jags punted from their own 40, clinging to a 20-15 lead. Even with no timeouts left, the G-Men were to get one final drive. Then disaster struck. Clay fumbled the punt at his own 19. The ball was recovered by Jacksonville’s Donald Payne at the Giants 21 and that snuffed out any Big Blue comeback hopes.

Aldrick Rojas connected on all three of his field goal attempts, including one from 44 yards out. New York’s punt and kickoff coverage units were decent and punter Riley Dixon averaged 43.4 yards on five boots. Clay’s miscue at the worst possible time killed this grade though.

Grade: D