NY Giants Week 15 Grades: The Misery Continues

It was an up-and-down showing by Jaxson Dart, who finished with two touchdown passes and one backbreaking INT. There were also a handful of balls, such as his deep pass to Jalin Hyatt, where there was a miscommunication on the throw. 

The Giants finished with 146 yards on the ground (5.0 average) and 246 in the air, but their situational football–third downs (16.7%) and goal-to-go (0.0%) didn’t help. 

Nor did the two drops from Darius Slayton, one of which came on third down and the other in the end zone.   

Defense: D

Also turning in a mixed bag, mostly on the negative side, the Giants had two forced turnovers in the fourth quarter, both of which saw Abdul Carter, who had the best game of his young career, involved. The Giants also held the Commanders to 27.3% on third down, which also saved the unit from a grade of “F” this week.

That said, there were missed tackles (see Terry McLaurin’s 51-yard touchdown perception), penalties, and not enough pressure on quarterback Marcus Mariota in this one. The run defense settled down in the second half, as the Commanders finished with an average of 3.9 yards per rush attempt.

Special Teams: F

What on earth has happened to this unit, which was so decent earlier in the season? Two missed field goals by Younghoe Koo, a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown by Jaylin Lane off a line drive punt by Cameron Johnston, and two holding penalties, one by Chauncey Golston and another by Neville Hewitt, made for another round of special teams follies that made one think of the Keystone Cops.  

And we’re not sure whose decision it was not to bring up either Ihmir Smith-Marsette or Xavier Gipson to handle punt return duties. Still, it was painfully obvious that safety Jevon Holland, who drew the short straw, was not comfortable in that role, not to mention unproductive.

Coaching: F

So much for Mike Kafka’s expletive-laced pep talk before the bye, right? But seriously, that aggressiveness that Kafka showed when he first took on the job was nowhere to be found in this one. 

He inexplicably ordered a field goal attempt on a 4th-and-6 from the Washington 33 even though his placekicker, Youngho Koo, struggled in pregame warmups kicking in that direction. 

Kafka also ended up blowing a timeout when he challenged the third play of the game–was that really necessary at that point? 

And the decision to call for a designed run when the Giants had the ball on the 1-yard line? Whatever happened to “I have confidence in everyone?” to where he didn’t think it wise to send Tyrone Tracy up the gut instead to protect Jaxson Dart from himself?