Grading the Giants' Week 3 win over the Tennessee Titans

OFFENSE

D The Giants haven’t scored a touchdown since Jaxson Dart left the field last Monday. There were so many lost opportunities for them to put this game away, including two first-and-goal situations that resulted in field goals. Jameis Winston was 14-for-22 for 118 yards and had just one completion of more than 13 yards. Cam Skattebo ran 20 times for 60 yards and Najee Harris had 52 yards on nine carries. The Giants were just 4-for-13 on third downs. Their biggest positive was not turning the ball over.  

 

DEFENSE

C It looked as if this was going to be a dominant performance in the first half when the Giants allowed just 54 yards, one first down and posted five three-and-outs. The second half — and the fourth quarter in particular — changed things. The Titans’ last two possessions were drives of 76 yards for a TD and 64 yards to get to the 7 before Jevon Holland made the game-sealing interception. They also dropped two earlier would-be interceptions. Arvell Reese had 12 tackles (John Harbaugh gave the rookie a game ball and said he “sprang onto the scene”).

SPECIAL TEAMS

A+ When rookie kicker Dominic Zvada’s four field goals account for all the points scored in a win, the unit gets an A. It was the other parts that gave them the “plus,” including two booming punts by Jordan Stout (73 and 67 yards) that flipped the field at critical times and a fumble forced by Zaire Barnes on the opening kickoff that was recovered by Malik Harrison.

COACHING

C John Harbaugh gets an A for navigating the emotional week of losing Dart and then losing linebacker Brian Burns (at least for the rest of the game and likely much longer) in the second half of this game. The Giants cleaned up some clock-management issues that were sloppy last week. But in terms of play-calling, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy got way too cute running the WildSkatt option with Skattebo on first-and-goal in the second quarter. There were a couple of penalties that came at costly moments, and that needs immediate correction.