New York Giants

Grading Giants offense and defensive strength after week 2

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Grading reveals mistakes. The New York Giants looked dreadful in the preseason offensively and defensively. Ryan Tannehill best summed up how miserable the Giants looked with a reference to comebacks by his team and fortune. In the first two weeks, the Giants apparently have gotten off to a fresh start. Several players on the offensive and defensive ends made this effort possible.

Grading Starting Offense B

Objectively, the statistics ring truer than the opinions of teams’ experts’ grading.

In the 27-10 preseason loss against the Miami Dolphins, the Big Blue made the Dolphins look like a great team. They made the offense seem potent and limited the Giants offense to a single touch down. From the Giants’ point of view, it was pollyannic. It was McAdoo’s first time as head coach who managed to keep the game winnable until late in the game. The Giants looked like they had a strong pass rush early on in the game. In short, they seemed to have potential to have a winning season despite a loss with their second string quarterback.

Week 1 and 2

In Week 1, the Giants largely unreformed by not controlling possession of nearly 2:1. The Cowboys used home field advantage to come within one point within the Giants’ lead. In the defense of Manning, he utilized Beckham, Cruz and Sterling effectively. The Cowboys defense could not manage to adequately defend all three receivers which enabled Manning’s quarter bake rating to increase to over 110.

Last week, the Giants did not run the ball to their potential. Rashad Jennings is a star running back who has succumbed to injury. An alternative would have been to look to effectively manage the offensive line to allow Jennings to find gaping holes to work with.

Manning excelled in his passing game (368 yards) although he did not take advantage of all the opportunities to score. Manning must be able to convert in third down situations as he has done in past seasons. This would allow the Giants to enter the red zone and increase their chances of finding Beckham or Cruz in the end zone.

As ESPN.com first reported, Beckham will face Josh Norman who will be a wall to Manning’s plans. The Washington Redskins are closely monitoring Norman.

“We’re going to let him earn the $75 million,”

Defense: B

The Giants defense has not been an utter disaster. Its bend-not-break defense has limited the opposition to scoring 32 points. Pass rush has been an annual complaint. Too many times the Giants fail to apply pressure on the offensive line and quarterback leading to disappointment. Two sacks is not good enough. Too many completed third-down conversions. Not enough tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

To the Giants’ credit, Steve Spagnuolo has been the architect behind a stable secondary that has prevented large gain. Although interceptions are not frequent, the defense has allowed whatever offense the giants have been able to muster to be sufficient to win games.

Special Teams C+

Whenever the Giants fail to stage an effective march down the field to the opposing team’s territory, one knee-jerk reaction is to be grateful for the Josh Brown and the special teams for its 75% field goal percentage.

This way of looking at the Giants’ scoring overlooks the lack of a Dominique Hixon. Sorely needed is a special teams returner who makes the days of Rueben Droughns a distant memory. To help Manning and the offense reach midfield more quickly, the Giants would need stronger boost of support. There is a serious lack in this capacity.