Stock Up/Stock Down After NY Giants' Week 4 Win

The New York Giants won their first game of the season Sunday afternoon, defeating the Los Angeles Chargers 21-18 behind a dominating game from the front seven defensively and a strong run game offensively.

In his first start with the Giants, quarterback Jaxson Dart walked away victorious, using a run-first attack to get the job done against the Chargers.

Although the Giants walked away from week four with an upset victory and an inspiring effort from their rookie backfield duo, it wasn’t perfect. 

They gave up multiple long runs on the ground to Omarion Hampton, as well as a big play through the air, which are mistakes that can be cleaned up moving forward.

Following the Week 4 victory, here is a look at who is trending up and who is trending down.

Stock Up

OLB Abdul Carter

As expected, the Giants' pass rush has been the team's strength on defense. In Week 4, they were able to take that to another level with rookie outside linebacker Abdul Carter leading the way.

Carter had his best overall performance of the season against the Chargers, recording eight total pressures and five quarterback hits, which led the Giants in both categories.

Carter worked in tandem with fellow outside linebackers Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux, who recorded seven and five pressures, respectively. The three edge rushers combined for 20 pressures.

Carter was able to make his presence known in a variety of ways, utilizing his speed off the edge to not only frustrate Herbert in the pocket but also chase him down when the quarterback attempted to scramble.

The Chargers were just 4-of-12 on third downs on Sunday, the lowest conversion rate of any Giants opponent this season.

Carter played a big role in that, starting in the second quarter when the Chargers were inside the red zone looking to respond to a 10-0 deficit. 

On 3rd-and-5 from the Giants’ 15-yard line, Carter nearly sacked Herbert, forcing an errant throw away that resulted in an intentional grounding penalty and kept the Chargers to just three points on the drive.

On the Chargers’ first drive of the fourth quarter, Carter was able to force another crucial third-down stop. On 3rd-and-2 from the Chargers’ 17-yard line, Carter almost sacked Herbert again off the edge, ultimately forcing an incomplete pass short of the sticks that forced the Chargers to punt back to the Giants with 11:31 to play.

RB Cam Skattebo

In Week 4, the Giants walked away with not only a win but also their best rushing performance of the season. The Giants gashed the Chargers for 161 total yards on the ground, the most the Chargers have allowed in a game this season.

With a rookie quarterback at the helm in Dart, Brian Daboll opted to lean on the run game, the Giants finishing with 42 rushing attempts to just 42 21 pass attempts, and Cam Skattebo was a big part of that.

Skattebo led the Giants in both rushing attempts and yards, rushing 25 times for 79 yards, and catching both of his targets for 11 yards while also cashing in on a 2-point conversion in the third quarter.

The Giants' offense was able to put Dart in a lot of manageable passing situations on Sunday, largely due to their ability to utilize Skattebo on first downs to stay ahead of the chains. 

On first down, Skattebo rushed 15 times for 62 yards on Sunday, good for 4.1 yards per carry. Skattebo finished with the most carries and yards of any Giants running back in a game this season, which has his stock trending up heading into next week.

TE Theo Johnson

Although the Giants' pass game was somewhat limited in Week 4, the connection between Dart and tight end Theo Johnson was evident on multiple crucial plays.

Johnson recorded three receptions on five targets for 17 yards and a touchdown, with his two biggest receptions on the day coming in the second half.

On 2nd-and-goal from the Chargers’ 3-yard line and the Giants up 13-10, Dart found Johnson for their first big connection of the day on a shovel pass for the touchdown that gave the Giants a 21-10 lead with 2:49 to play in the third quarter.

Later in the game, with the Giants looking to run the clock out on Los Angeles, Dart found Johnson again on the biggest third down of the game to that point. On 3rd-and-5 from the Giants’ 31, Dart found Johnson over the middle for a gain of 10 and a first down.