The Good, Great, Bad, and Ugly of NY Giants’ Week 4 Win vs. Los Angeles Chargers

The Giants' run game had its most productive showing, which was a significant reason why the Giants not only won the game but also helped rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart ease into his first start.

The Giants ran the ball 42 times Sunday for 161 yards, the 42 rushing attempts not just a season high but also the fourth highest total in the Brian Daboll era:

The Giants, in the four mentioned games in which they’ve primarily run the ball, are 3-1 in those games, the lone loss being a 13-10 decision to the Jets (the game in which kicker Graham Gano’s knee injury had a direct effect on the outcome).

While it’s still too soon to say if the Giants will be running the ball as much, or at least more often, as Jaxson Dart continues to acclimate to life as an NFL starter–and with Dart’s mobility, let’s hope that’s the case–good things do seem to happen for the Giants when they run the ball effectively.

The Great

When was the last time the Giants' pass rush completely took over a game? It doesn’t happen very often–and we’re not just talking about the front end of the pass rush but also the back end getting its hands on some balls.

Per NFL+, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was pressured on 47.7% of his dropbacks, a week after he faced a season-high 54.7% pressures against the Denver Broncos. 

The Giants hit Herbert 12 times and finished with two sacks, none bigger than Brian Burns’s fourth-quarter sack for minus 16 yards that knocked the Chargers out of field goal range.

In addition to the two interceptions by the Giants, one of which, of course, was by Dexter Lawrence II, the back end of the Giants' defense came up with five pass breakups and five forced incompletions in what was the defense’s best showing of the season so far, and which was their first “finish” of the season. 

The Bad

Jaxson Dart took way too many hits in his NFL starting debut. The breakdown includes five sacks, eight quarterback hits, and 10 tackles when he ran with the ball. That comes to 23 total hits on the young quarterback.

Moreover, when Dart was hit when dropping back to pass, he went 2-of-7 on his pass attempts.

Being tough is admirable, but if the Giants are going to continue insisting on running Dart as much as they did in his starting debut, the kid must learn to slide toward the end of the run before all those extra hits start taking a toll on him. 

The Ugly

The Giants' run defense allowed 152 yards on 13 rushing attempts, which averages out to 11.7 yards per attempt. As noted in our review of the defensive players, the Chargers found the most success when attacking the edges of the Giants’ defense.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Chargers didn’t really attack the middle of the Giants' run defense, given that Dexter Lawrence was sitting right there to disrupt things and clog up running lanes. 

Where the Chargers did enjoy success was mostly outside the tackle box. They averaged 8.6 yards per attempt off the left end and 18.0 yards per attempt off the right end. 

They also got their big 54-yard touchdown run by Omarion Hampton behind the right guard slot, giving them a 54.0 yards per attempt average. 

On that play, it looked as though inside linebacker Bobby Okereke might have been caught inside for a split second too long, which allowed Hampton to bounce it outside and find daylight.

In all, the Chargers picked up 125 of their 152 rushing yards (82.2%) on four plays: the 54-yard touchdown run, a 29-yard fourth-quarter run by Hampton, a 24-yard first-quarter Justin Herbert scramble, and an 18-yard third-quarter Hampton run.

The Devastating

We probably won't make this a regular category, but we have to acknowledge the Malik Nabers ACL injury. 

That's an awful blow for a Giants offense that just turned the page to its franchise quarterback, and quite frankly, we're not sure if the Giants are going to come close to replacing what Nabers can do in the lineup. 

While it's good that the Giants hung in there and won the game for their fallen teammate, make no mistake: the loss of Nabers is going to be felt the rest of the season.