Giants-Ravens: 5 plays that led New York to victory

The New York Giants continue to shock opponents, as the resilient squad overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit on Sunday to defeat the favored Baltimore Ravens, 24-20. The Giants had huge impact plays in all three phases. Here is the special teams play that positioned Daniel Jones in a position to lead a 10-play, 53 yard drive:

This was a 47-yard return by second-year running back Gary Brightwell. Here are the five other major plays - or sequences of plays - that led to the Giants' victory.

Play(s) 1: Third down, gotta have it

The Giants were 50 percent on third down; they converted seven of fourteen attempts, while the Ravens were 40 percent. On the Giants’ first touchdown drive, Big Blue suffered a third-and-4 offensive pass interference penalty against Darius Slayton that negated a fourth-and-1 opportunity. The Ravens accepted the penalty and backed the Giants up to a third-and-14.

First touchdown drive

Daniel Jones did an excellent job stepping up into the pocket; he kept his eyes downfield and found Slayton (86) on an in-route at the numbers. Any third-and-long conversions are impressive, but to do it twice on a drive deserves praise, especially when that drive ends with a third-and-4 touchdown to Wan’Dale Robinson. Here’s the third-and-12:

Jones stepped up into the pocket and gets hit as he released the football. I love the design to Robinson on the quick whip route underneath two clear out routes. Smart football, and a great job by the quarterback and receiver.

Second touchdown drive

Again, Jones does well to step into the pocket - which is clean - to hit the intermediate route to Marcus Johnson on a mesh call by Kafka Jones exploited the Ravens’ desire to sit at the sticks and stop the mesh, so the signal-caller found Johnson for an 18-yard gain.

Play(s) 2: Fourth-quarter takeaways

Baltimore took an illegal formation penalty that set up a play where the Ravens botched the snap, and Lamar Jackson (8) attempted to create magic where it did not exist. Xavier McKinney (29) came off the edge unblocked, and Jackson threw across his body where Julian Love (20) baited the quarterback and came away with the Giants' first interception of the season.

The final two drives for the Ravens resulted in turnovers. Rookie sensation Kayvon Thibodeaux stresses the edge and gets his arm on Jackson to force a fumble that is recovered by Leonard Williams (99). As Ian Eagle stated with excitement, “Big blue, with the big play.”

Play(s) 3: Rookie touchdowns

The Giants' efficiency in the red zone is drastically better than anything we witnessed over the last two seasons. New York is creative, unpredictable, and they design plays for young players in high-leverage situations.

After the Ravens’ eight-play, 89-yard drive that ended in a Kenyon Drake touchdown, the Giants responded with their own touchdown drive, culminating in a pass to rookie Wan’Dale Robinson (17) (on the drive sparked by Brightwell’s return). The Giants had two pivotal third-down conversions on the drive (refer to play “one”).

The first Giants’ touchdown was important, but Big Blue desperately needed the second touchdown in the fourth quarter, down by 10. Jones and the Giants go on a 12-play, 75 yard drive that ended in a play-action rollout to Daniel Bellinger (82).

Bellinger and David Sills (13) release inside, in the same area. Sills sinks to depth out of his break, and two defenders sink with Sills and leave Bellinger open; the rookie tight end does an excellent job reading the coverage and sitting between the voided zone, presenting an easy target for Jones. The Bellinger touchdown made the score 20-17, Baltimore; it was the catalyst to the Giants' comeback.

Play(s) 4: Sequence after Love’s interception

A huge third-and-3 situation for the Giants' offense was extended after a defensive pass interference penalty against veteran cornerback Marcus Peters. Jones had pressure in his face, and Darius Slayton was getting held badly. The flag was thrown to set up this touchdown run by Saquon Barkley:

The difference between tying the football game with a field goal and going up by four, with less than two minutes in the game, can’t be overstated. The Giants continue to impress and find ways to win football games.

Play(s) 5: Force long field goal

In a scoreless game, the Ravens drove down the field with two third-and-5 conversions and eventually a 12-yard pass to Josh Oliver that hit the ground but was ruled a completed pass upon further review (the ball was controlled).

The Ravens had a first-and-10 at the Giants 32-yard line, but a great play by Julian Love (20) to knock a pass away from Demarcus Robinson (10) forced a second-down attempt that was pushed back by another Baltimore false start.

Oshane Ximines (53) does a great job staying outside and reacting to J.K. Dobbins (27) rush to force a loss of yardage for Baltimore. Then, on third-and-16, Jackson failed to connect with Kenyon Drake (17).

With the best field goal kicker in the game, the Ravens still seemed almost certain to come away with points. Justin Tucker, however, doinked the 56-yard field goal attempt off the left upright. The Giants' defense, coupled with silly mistakes by Baltimore’s offense, halted a promising drive for Baltimore and kept Lamar Jackson’s offense scoreless.