Giants vs. Eagles ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’ review: Maybe Daniel Jones is actually good

The New York Giants’ performance Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles in a lopsided 34-10 loss can be summarized this way. Lorenzo Carter was good. Graham Gano is always good. With a few exceptions that are barely worth digging for, pretty much everyone and everything else connected with the Giants was bad on Sunday.

We know that ownership wants desperately to keep Joe Judge for a third season. With pathetic performance piling upon pathetic performance, however, that is becoming harder and harder to justify.

Let’s get to your ‘Kudos & Wet Willies.’

Kudos to ...

Lorenzo Carter — ‘Zo is pretty much the only Giant who made an impact play in this game. Carter came up with his second strip-sack in as many weeks. Unfortunately, the Eagles recovered this one, so it didn’t make any difference. Carter also had a pass defensed and a quarterback hit, and now has 3.0 sacks and a pair of forced fumbles in the last two games.

The Giants have waited ... and waited ... and waited for Carter. Now, whoever is making the call on Carter’s future with the Giants has to ask whether or not this end of season surge is worth paying for, or if it’s Fool’s Gold.

Graham Gano — Hey, he is the offense. His 54-yard field goal in the first half is all that stood between the Giants and a shutout. Gano now has seven field goals from beyond 50 yards this season, extending his franchise record. He has 12 50+ yard field goals for the Giants in less than two full seasons, also a franchise record.

First half defense — Nothing that has happened in this four-game losing streak by the Giants is the fault of the defense. The score was 3-3 at halftime Sunday, and the Eagles possessions went punt, punt, punt, punt, missed field goal, field goal. The defense was doing everything possible, except actually creating a couple of badly-needed turnovers. The first two Eagles possessions of the second half began at the Giants’ 21-yard line.

Wet Willies to ...

Can I just say everyone other than Carter and Gano and be done with it? I suppose I could, and it might even be justified, but that is kind of cheating. So, let’s go a little deeper.

Both quarterbacks — Jake Fromm was awful. He looked overmatched and out of his league in his first NFL start. He finished 6 of 17 for 25 yards, an interception and a 19.5 passer rating. Fromm didn’t get any help, but the moment was clearly too big for him. Mike Glennon is awful. He is just not a quality backup quarterback. Glennon completed 17 of 27, but most of those were dump offs as he passed for just 93 yards.

“I would say it’s not ideal,” said Fromm, who issued an honest assessment of his play. “I wish I would have played better. It’s frustrating for myself. It’s not the way I wanted to have represented myself, my family, or, of course, this organization. It’s tough, but I’m going to learn from it. I don’t think it gets much worse than that.”

I said this Sunday night in my ‘things I think’ but you have to wonder if these two guys are proving that Daniel Jones might actually be good.

The running game — Let’s just say this encompasses both Saquon Barkley and the generally non-existent run blocking. There were very few places for Barkley (15 carries, 32 yards) or Devontae Booker (6 carries, 27 yards) to run. Andrew Thomas is a good offensive lineman. Center Billy Price might be mediocre. Beyond that? Well, all you have to do is watch. Time and time again, running backs are swallowed up before they have a chance.

As for Barkley, he was once again outperformed by Booker. I think there were at least two plays where it looked like Barkley had some open field to run in, yet got dragged down before he could get started. There was a time when that never happened.

Riley Dixon — The Giants’ punter averaged an unacceptable 36.8 yards on eight punts, 28.8 net after one of his poor punts was returned for 39 yards, which was farther than he kicked it. Dixon’s last six punts went 28, 38, 33, 33, 31 and 36 yards. Only one of those was a short-field punt aimed at pinning the Eagles deep in their own territory.

Dixon has struggled all season, and Sunday was easily his worst performance of a bad year.