It’s not an overreaction to say the New York Giants are reeling after their recent 48-22 loss to Philadelphia on Sunday.
It’s their third loss in four games, and they haven’t won in close to a month. Simply put, the Giants are running out of chances to clinch their first playoff berth in seven years and Sunday showed just how much of a dropoff the team is to the top units in the NFC.
Not everyone for the Giants played poorly, but there were a lot more duds than studs in their Week 14 blowout loss. Let’s take a look at where everyone ranks.
Stud: Azeez Ojulari
Ojulari was the second-round pick from last year’s draft class for the Giants. He led the team in sacks last season but dealt with injuries to start the season.
Since he’s come back though, he has dominated when he’s needed to. Ojulari tallied two sacks against the vaunted Eagles offensive line and consistently got pressure on Jalen Hurts.
It wasn’t a great day for the Giants’ defensive line as a group, but Ojulari had a solid game.
Dud: Julian Love
Love has been as consistent and dependable a safety as the Giants have had in recent years. That doesn’t mean he was good on Sunday. In what was arguably the worst play of the game, Love outran a fade rout that gave the Eagles an easy touchdown to DeVonta Smith.
The former fourth-round pick made the note that he believed he just misread the play, but that cannot happen when you’re fighting for a playoff spot.
Smith’s touchdown was one of the early signs that the Eagles were about to roll and there was nothing the Giants could do.
Stud: Daniel Jones
Daniel Jones did not have a bad football game. The former first-round pick was sacked six times and was consistently harassed. The numbers may not stand out much with Jones going 18/27 for 169 yards and a touchdown pass, but Jones was far from the reason for Sunday’s loss.
If anything, if Jones plays like he did today, I think it’s easy to see how the Giants beat Washington next week in a must-win situation.
Dud: Jamie Gillan
There are not many times you’ll see a punter on this list, but boy did Gillan deserve it after Sunday’s performance. Down by 14 and needing to put pressure on the Eagles’ offense, Gillan came into punt, lost the football, and was called for an illegal kick after the ball hit the ground.
Instead of a 15-yard punt, the Eagles had the ball at the Giant 33-yard line and they scored a play later.
Gillan has been really good all year, but that mistake was a killer for a team who needed to play perfect football to just stay in the game.
Dud: Saquon Barkley and Brian Daboll
The question surrounding if Barkley would play or not on Sunday dominated talk radio for the better portion of the later week. In the end, Barkley suited up and recorded nine carries for 28 yards and two catches for 20 yards receiving.
So why are both the RB and his coach on here? Simple: next week’s game was always going to determine the Giants’ season this year. Philadelphia did not. The Giants seemed to try and get as much as they could out of their top running back, and in the end, they have him worse off against a team they now need to win to make the playoffs.
Better to have Barkley completely healthy in the biggest game of the year as opposed to halfway healthy like he will be in six days.
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