NY Giants Week 7 Offensive Review: Not Perfect But Good Enough

⏹Jaxson Dart

Of all the good if not great things that Dart did against the No. 2-ranked defense in the league playing at home, it would be a shame for fans to throw much of the blame of the loss on his interception with 4:56 left with his team up by 10.

Yes, it gave Denver a short field, and soon the defense was collapsing, and the flood gates had opened. It was up to Dart to manage the game at that point, but he tried to force a throw under pressure.

Dart had been so good against the Denver blitzes all game long, beating practically every one of them. This was the one blitz that he did not beat, and this blitz hurried him into a big mistake.

One of Dart’s best attributes is his aggressiveness–you never want to take that away from him. He’s got to find that middle ground, especially when it counts late in the game, and play your smartest football.

We loved how he responded, driving the offense down to another touchdown to re-take the lead, using his feet to extend plays and get the ball downfield, where the big interference call set him up for his quarterback sneak for the go-ahead score.

That the defense could not hold its water with 0:37 left is not on this kid. He led his over-matched offense to a 19-0 lead after three quarters despite throwing to a bunch of subpar receivers. He played smart, and he played fearlessly.

Beating so many of Denver’s blitzes by knowing exactly where to go with the ball while under pressure was impressive for any quarterback, not just a rookie four starts into his NFL career.

More to his credit, he’s re-introduced the tight end into the passing offense. However, the kid is still a rookie. His offense panicked a bit in that crazy fourth quarter, not getting lined up on several snaps that became damaging delay penalties, and some of that is on him.

The group needs to learn from its mistakes, and the coaches need to coach them up to do the smart things when the crowd is going wild and the game is on the line.

The offensive coaches called a good game through three quarters, but they needed to manage the game a whole lot better in the fourth quarter to get their young group home.

Dart executed that early game plan and never once showed any panic out there, until that fourth quarter craziness ensued.

Besides getting the tight ends more involved, we love how Dart has raised Wan’Dale Robinson’s game to another level. Finding Robinson isn’t always easy, but Dart is developing a trust in him that can only get better with time.

Dart’s numbers were solid – 15-of-33 for 283 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT. He absorbed four sacks but none of the heavy hits that he took the last two weeks (except for two quarterback sneaks).

He only went 5-for-11 on the ground, but his gutsy sneak from the 1-yard line got his team the late lead that should have stood. In a difficult environment, we thought Dart raised the level of his game and played big.

He was clutch, and he was tough, and he was smart (three of his throws drew pass interference calls as he knew each time to go after the single coverage).

It’s time to get Dart some explosive playmakers to exploit his obvious feel for the position. Malik Nabers will be back next year; that’s one. He’s obviously got what it takes. Now he needs others around him who can scare defenses like he does.

Running Backs 

⏹Cam Skattebo

Though Skattebo's performance wasn’t on the level of last week’s national TV three-score explosion, he gave his team a lot of what they needed: toughness.

Denver looked to gather their troops heavy between the tackles, not wanting to be over-run like the Eagles were by this rookie last week, and the strategy worked to an extent.

There was a lot of tough sledding between those tackles throughout, Skattebo taking a lot more hits than he gave.

His best moments came on the edges when he bounced several runs outside and showed enough burst to get there. He had runs of 7, 8, 13, 9 and 18 yards mixed in with all the non-gains.

He totaled 60 yards on 16 carries on the ground. He was even more productive through the air, his three catches getting 34 yards, including that very pretty screen pass catch-and-run into the end zone from 13 yards out.

This was a great play call on 3rd-&-11, and Skattebo executed it perfectly by setting up his blockers to find the space around the edge, not the cutback.

On the negative side, though Skattebo did lay a couple of heavy help blocks on the edges, he was also too quick to escape the pocket for checkdown opportunities when interior blitzers were screaming right into his quarterback’s face.

He's got to be able to adjust to the unexpected blitz while in pass pro, as his quarterback’s safety must be Priority One.

He also failed to stone an in-line blitzer on the key interception, allowing the foot traffic that kept the quarterback from stepping into his throw.

⏹Devin Singletary

Getting just one series–and that from his own end zone–Singletary got just two touches, the coaches going with the calm and experienced hand to not make any mistakes in the shadow of the team’s own goal posts.

⏹Tyrone Tracy, Jr.

Getting most of the rotation snaps alongside Skattebo, Tracy had a couple of flash touches to the right side that set up a 31-yard untouched third quarter touchdown run to the left side, through a hole you could drive a truck through.

This touch gave the team a 19-0 lead that it could not hold.

Tracy finished with 9 carries for 46 yards (5.1 avg.) for the day. He was not involved in the passing game, though he was tasked with picking up several blitzers, where he held up well.

Receivers

⏹Wan’Dale Robinson

In Malik Nabers’ absence, it’s heartening to see somebody stepping into the void, raising his game, and rewarding the trust that the coaches and the quarterback is putting on him.

Robinson is that guy. He was the offense’s top target throughout the game, and he came up big.

Of his 12 targets, Robinson caught 6 for 95 yards, while drawing 2 of the 3 pass interference calls that were important pieces of the offense’s success.

Mixed in with his short routes were the intermediate ones that he executes so well, and which Dart likes to throw.

The quarterback might not be a big downfield thrower yet, but he’s got a natural feel for those intermediate routes, and so does Robinson.

There were downfield catches of 23, 18, 13, 14 and 19 yards. That 19-yarder came on a 4th-&-19 with 1:08 left, and preceded the go-ahead score that should have won the game.

The one throw that bounced off Robinson’s hands and should have been labeled a drop bounced right into the hands of tight end Theo Johnson, who took it in for the score.

⏹Jalin Hyatt 

Getting just the one target late in this week’s game, Hyatt did in fact have a step deep, but the ball was slightly overthrown.

That target was the extent of Hyatt’s involvement in the passing game in the 25 snaps he played.

⏹Lil’Jordan Humphrey

Getting one of the starts at receiver, Humphrey only had two balls thrown his way, neither which was completed.

However, he was utilized in the running game on the edges and seemed to get his man every time with one of those powerful blocks of his.

Though he lacks the explosiveness and speed to be a reliable target in the passing game, Humphrey’s physicality cannot be ignored. He is a weapon with his blocking if nothing else.

⏹Beaux Collins

Getting a bit more playing time with this week’s more wide-open offense, Collins found himself on the field late and drew the key pass interference penalty in the end zone by getting behind his man and setting up the contact on the underthrown ball.

This 38-yard penalty was a huge play, and came on Collins’ lone target of the day.

Tight Ends 

⏹Theo Johnson

Though Johnson could not hook up with his quarterback on several short blitz-buster routes, he stayed with it and finished with three catches for 66 yards and one score in the passing game on seven targets.

His biggest play came in the fourth quarter when he hauled in a deflected pass and took it into the end zone from 41 yards out. Johnson also got open against the blitz on a crosser that went for 19 yards.

We still see inconsistencies with Johnson being where he’s supposed to be, and then adjusting to the ball, but his blocking remains an every-down weapon that is sure to keep him on the field so that he can continue to work on his receiving game.

⏹Daniel Bellinger

Two weeks ago, Bellinger had a four-catch breakout game. Last week he played decoy and wasn’t targeted once. This week, Bellinger was back in the game plan, and he responded with 3 catches for a whopping 88 yards– a 29.3 average.

His catches went for 15, 44 and 29 yards. The 44-yarder came on an uncovered route that sprung him wide-open up the seam for the score.

His 29-yarder came on a downfield combo route that surprised the Denver secondary.

Bellinger had a chance for an even bigger day when he ran a deep corner route and saw the catchable ball slip through his outstretched fingers.

We’re not sure if this one can truly be labeled a drop – it would have been a spectacular leaping catch if Bellinger had come down with it – but we were a bit surprised that the sure-handed Bellinger did not bring it in. His blocking was average, per usual. 

⏹Chris Manhertz 

Getting just eight snaps, Manhertz was once again a solid and reliable seal blocker on the edges.

Offensive Line 

⏹Andrew Thomas

There was zero leakage around Thomas’ edge all night, save for one jailbreak blitz that seemed to surprise the entire offensive unit. Fortunately, the quarterback got rid of the ball quickly.

It was Thomas’ powerful down block that opened the huge hole for Tracy to cruise through from 31 yards out.

Thomas is not only this unit’s best pass blocker, but also their best run blocker too. If you can keep both Thomas and Dart healthy, you can line up with anyone around them and this offense will be able to function.

⏹Jermaine Eluemunor

Playing a very solid game against one of the best pass-rushing units in the league (Nik Bonitto), Eluemunor was a rock with his pass-blocking on most every snap.

His run-blocking was sloppy and uninspired for the most part, and he was called for one false start (while several more were ignored), but the pass-blocking was sharp from start to finish.

⏹Jon Runyan

The pass pro leakage, when it did come, happened between the tackles, but for the most part Runyan held up.

Though the lack of physicality on his run blocks mucked up the works on numerous inside runs, there were no egregious errors or misses.

The O-line was one of the day’s better units out there, and Runyan built on last week’s solid effort.

⏹Greg Van Roten

There were the usual handful of clumsy misses in-line on running plays, but when Van Roten ends up on the ground it seems to get in people’s way.

The veteran’s pass-blocking was solid off the snap where he gained most of his advantages.

There were no stunt pickup snafus this week as his pass-blocking was sharp throughout. 

⏹Austin Schlottmann

We thought this veteran backup center was the unit’s least efficient blocker. We didn’t like how too often he passed up a physical hit by turning his body and choosing the softer, slip-slide, just-get-in-the-way route. He had chances to hit people and simply passed them up.

Schlottmann was also a bit sloppy with his in-line play, his double-teams especially. He ran the offense well enough, but his snaps seemed a bit late at times.

He was also responsible for at least one of this week’s sacks, perhaps two, thanks to poor decisions. And yet, his offense scored 32 points, and was efficient.

It’s tough to be overly critical of that level of play from a backup running the show in enemy territory.