New York Giants: Report card grades vs. Cardinals in Week 7
The New York Giants fell to the Arizona Cardinals, 27-21 Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium. Here we take a look at Big Blue’s report card.
The New York Giants welcomed back Saquon Barkley on Sunday afternoon against the Arizona Cardinals for their Week 7 matchup. That’s about the only good thing that happened in Big Blue’s 27-21 setback to the Red Birds at soggy MetLife Stadium.
The Cards improved to 3-3-1 with the victory while the G-Men slipped to 2-5. Let’s take a look at Big Blue’s report card for this disheartening loss.
Offense
Arizona entered the contest with one of the worst defenses in the NFL but looked like the 1985 Bears against these hapless Giants. The Cardinals sacked rookie quarterback Daniel Jones eight times and forced him into three turnovers (two fumbles, one interception).
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Turnovers have been a bugaboo for the rookie signal-caller. He has to take better care of the football. The offensive line gave him no help, though, as Jones was under duress the entire game.
Barkley (18 carries, 72 yards, one touchdown) looked a little rusty while Jones finished 23-of-35 for 223 yards and a 28-yard scoring strike to tight end Rhett Ellison. All in all, Big Blue could muster just 263 total yards.
Golden Tate paced all receivers with six catches for 80 yards and is getting better week-by-week working out of the slot. Evan Engram (one reception for six yards) was a no-show, a very disappointing performance against the league’s worst team against tight ends coming in.
Grade: D
Defense
The Giants had no answer for Fordham product Chase Edmonds, who torched the G-Men for 126 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. Let’s call him the new Fordham Flash. His two first-quarter touchdown bursts from 20 yards out each put New York in a 14-0 hole in which they never fully recovered.
Big Blue did an effective job containing rookie quarterback Kyler Murray, the top pick in this year’s draft. The former Oklahoma star had only 104 yards passing (14 for 21) and was sacked twice but did not turn the ball over. He added 28 rushing yards and seemed to play game manager for most of the day.
However, give Murray a leg up on Jones because his team won and he took good care of the ball. The Giants did an excellent job of holding future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald (one catch for 12 yards) in check.
Grade: D
Special Teams
Pro Bowler Michael Thomas made the special teams play of the afternoon when he blocked a punt by Arizona punter Andy Lee in the end zone and Eli Penny recovered the ball for a Giants touchdown.
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Kicker Aldrick Rosas missed a 37-yard field goal attempt off the right upright in the third quarter with the G-Men down 24-14. That was a big miss. Punter Riley Dixon had a long boot of 43 yards, including one inside the 20.
Grade: C+