Giants Best and Worst PFF Grades From Week 3 Loss vs Kansas City Chiefs

OLB Brian Burns (89.7), TE Chris Manhertz (89.2), RB Cam Skattebo (82.9), ILB Swayze Bozeman (81.2), OT Andrew Thomas (77.2), OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux (70.7)

There is little doubt that Brian Burns has been one of the Giants’ best performers among this short list of players in the first three weeks of the season. 

While he and the Giants' defense struggled to get to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and bring him down, Burns came close a couple of times and gave tireless effort in chasing down ball carriers to limit explosive plays on the edge, notching a team-high six pressures, including four hurries and a batted pass. 

Along with Burns, who earned a 26.7% win rate on his 35 pass rush snaps, the Giants saw some positive flashes from fellow edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, who finished third on the defensive front with a 69.4 pass rush grade and second with four pressures overall. 

Chris Manhertz gave another solid effort, opening up rushing lanes for the ground game, which was highlighted by the breakout night for rookie running back Cam Skattebo. 

The tight end did get targeted once in the game and completed the catch for 7 yards to give credence to the Giants retaining him on the 53-man roster as an inline blocker with his size and strength. 

Skattebo was arguably the sole Giants player who stole the show in another dismal offensive performance. The rookie from Arizona State tallied over 120 scrimmage yards and added his second rushing touchdown in as many games on a 13-yard scamper that took down some Chiefs defenders along the way and provided the Giants’ lone successful redzone trip of the game. 

Swayze Bozeman’s high grade was a little peculiar, given he only played in 12 total snaps despite filling in alongside veteran Bobby Okereke, with the Giants being paper-thin in their inside linebacker depth chart. But they were quality snaps even though he didn’t really have a statement play among them.

Thomas, who made his return to the gridiron after nearly a year recovering from a Lisfranc injury, looked strong in 25 snaps by not allowing a single pressure in that span.

Bottom Graded Giants Players  

SCB Dru Phillips (37.8), OL Marcus Mbow (40.7), QB Russell Wilson (47.0), CB Cor’Dale Flott (50.9), WR Malik Nabers (52.7), WR Wan’Dale Robinson (56.7), LG Jon Runyan (57.2)

After a solid effort in Dallas that featured a couple of pass deflections and an interception, nickel Dru Phillips had arguably one of his worst games as a Giant. 

He was constantly targeted by Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense, especially deep against receiver Tyquan Thorton, who burned him multiple times, including one deep shot that set up a Kansas City touchdown. 

Phillips finished with completions allowed on seven of his nine targets for 82 yards and a touchdown as the primary defender, which was the worst stat sheet in the secondary. 

Still, he wasn’t trailed much by fellow corner Cor’Dale Flott, who also struggled to contain the Chiefs’ receivers vertically. 

Russell Wilson returned to his old form after a remarkable outing against the Cowboys in Week 2, where he threw for 450 yards and three touchdowns. 

What marred his first homestand with the Giants was his impatience with the offense not generating explosive plays against the Chiefs' premier secondary, led by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, which led him to throw a couple of errant passes that ultimately created two turnovers and kept his team out of scoring range. 

Speaking of Spagnoulo, the ex-Giants defensive coordinator did a stellar job gameplanning for Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson, who were both huge threats in the loss to Dallas. 

Spagnuolo had his defense playing two high safeties most of the night, taking away the Giants’ opportunities to beat Kansas City over the top with Nabers’ ability to haul in deep shots that we saw last Sunday. 

Instead, the two receivers couldn’t scrap a catch until the early minutes of the fourth quarter and finished with three catches for 39 yards combined. 

In front of them, Jon Runyan had his hands full with Chiefs’ pass rusher Chris Jones, who kept barreling Runyan backwards into the pocket and generating six pressures and a sack in the process against Jones and his fellow rushers.