/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70341345/usa_today_17442527.0.jpg)
Let’s get to the ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’ review of Sunday’s latest New York Giants embarrassment, a 29-3 loss to a Chicago Bears team that entered the game with a record.
This is now five straight double-digit losses for the 4-12 Giants, who can tie the franchise record for futility by losing a 13th game to the Washington Football Team in Sunday’s season finale. Eight of the Giants’ 12 losses have been by 10 points or more.
As an FYI, you won’t see Joe Judge on this list. I think all that needs to be said there is that whatever work he is doing behind the scenes, whatever progress he thinks he’s making, no one else is seeing it. [Judge’s epic 11-minute post-game rant]
Kudos to ...
Saquon Barkley — Sunday marked Barkley’s first 100-yard game since the 2019 season, and you could tell from his post-game comments that the 21-carry, 102-yard day meant something to him. It came, of course, on the same field where he tore his ACL last season.
Lorenzo Carter — Nice salary drive the free-agent-to-be is putting together. Carter had a sack, a quarterback hit, a pass defensed, two tackles for loss and six total tackles. He now has four sacks in the last three games — his only sacks of the season. I will keep asking — do you believe what you have seen for 3½ seasons from Carter or what you have seen for a three-game stretch?
Leonard Williams — I think this ‘Kudo’ is just on principle. Williams is still playing, and playing well, with one arm and when he absolutely does not have to. Williams had a team-high eight tackles and a quarterback hit on Sunday.
Wet Willies to ...
Mike Glennon — I’m pretty sure this makes Glennon 4 for 4 — four starts, four ‘Wet Willies.’ I do understand that Glennon was working with a makeshift offensive line and receiving corps, but that can’t excuse Glennon’s pitiful play.
Glennon played all of a game the Giants lost by 26 points and threw just 11 times, completing four passes. He had 24 yards passing, a 5.3 passer rating, two interceptions, got sacked four times and fumbled the ball four times, losing two.
Glennon called it “embarrassing,” and it absolutely was.
After a fumble and an interception put the Giants into a 14-0 hole the first two times they allowed Glennon to attempt a pass, the Giants went into a shell. Lots of ‘Wildcat’ and only 10 more passes. They were obviously, and correctly, petrified of what was going to happen when they let him throw the ball.
Pharoh Cooper — Cooper’s special teams gaffe, letting a kickoff he assumed would sail into the end zone bounce at the 3-yard line and ultimately costing the Giants five points — a safety and an ensuing field goal — were emblematic of so much that has gone wrong with the Giants this season.
Special teams have been a disaster most of the season. The Giants have played with a lack of discipline and a lack of situational awareness that has created the flabbergasting fact that they have been outscored 76-0 in the final two minutes of the first half this season.
Cooper is a former All-Pro who has been returning kicks in the NFL for six years. That sort of mistake should never happen.
Keion Crossen — This is another ‘Wet Willie’ that is mostly on principle. The Giants actually traded for Crossen before the season started because of his alleged special teams prowess. Crossen committed yet another penalty on Sunday — his fifth of the season — costing the Giantds what would have been their only starting field position of the day inside Chicago territory. Instead of starting around the Bears’ 43-yard line, they started at their own 32.
Joe Judge keeps telling us how good Crossen is on special teams, and how valuable he is. Sorry, Joe, I’m not seeing it.
Pass blocking — Glennon did get sacked four times and hit on five other occasions in 15 drop backs. That’s, umm, horrendous. Now, some of that was the quarterback’s own fault for consistently holding the ball in the pocket like he thought this was a training camp 7-on-7 where he couldn’t be touched. Yet, there were times the Giants couldn’t block stunts and couldn’t pick up blitzes. There was a play where they somehow thought it was a good idea to have center Matt Skura slide all the way out and block Chicago’s star pass rusher Robert Quinn one-on-one — which, of course, didn’t work.
Loading comments...