Giants lose to the Dolphins 31-16

"The way things have been going I wasn't expecting much, and that's what I got. The Giants fell behind 7-0 quickly, and as usual when they start to put some things together, other things go wrong. On their second possession, rookie Eric Gray had a 21 yard run taken away by an offensive holding penalty. Sterling Shepard overcame that with a 13 yard catch for a first down. Then Gray ran for 8 yards, and Daniel Jones for 2 and a first down. Jones was sacked, and offensive lineman Ben Bredeson was injured on the next play.
Darius Slayton took a short pass 15 yards for a first down, but three plays later, at the Miami 31-yard line, Jones lost six yards when he was sacked again. That made it a 55-yard field goal attempt for Graham Gano which he missed. That's how things seem to go for the Giants. Their drive lasted over 7 minutes, and they came away with no points, leaving the Dolphins with good field position.
Again I wasn't expecting much from our defense when they next took the field. Miami had sliced through them quite easily on their first drive, but they surprised me. Safety Xavier McKinney forced a fumble, and Kayvon Thibodeaux recovered the ball. However, after Jones was sacked for the third time, the offense went three-and-out. Three plays later, Miami's running back who had fumbled earlier, came up with a 76-yard touchdown run, and the now we were down 14-0. The Giants then put together another long drive, with a mix of good and bad plays, including 2 catches by Darren Waller for 21 and 13 yards. The Giants committed two false starts, but aided by 2 defensive penalties, got down to the Miami 25-yard line. Once again the drive ended with sack on Jones taking a six yard loss, and another field goal attempt. Gano was good on this one for 44 yards, and the Giants managed to finally put up 3 points.
On defense though, they allowed another big play, when Tyreek Hill caught a short pass from Tua Tagovailoa, and took it 64 yards downfield. Miami soon had a 3rd-and-goal at the Giants 4-yard line, and the Giants defense came up with a big play of their own. Tagovailoa threw a pass to the end zone that was deflected by Bobby Okereke and intercepted by Jason Pinnock, who took it 102 yards for a defensive touchdown.
I couldn't believe it. We were close to the end of the half, and the Giants were trailing by just four points. However, Miami wanted their home crowd fans to believe that they were not done. Tagovailoa threw a number of passes that went for ten or more yards. Thibodeaux managed to sack him once, but they were in Giants territory, and Miami kicked a field goal to extend their lead, and the half ended with the Giants trailing 17-10.
Still it was a close game, but any thoughts of the Giants keeping it that way vanished quickly when the Dolphins scored right away on their first possession of the second half. Three plays in Tagovailoa completed a 69 yard touchdown pass to Hill. The Giants offense made two first downs and punted, but soon got the ball back when Bobby Okereke came up with an interception, and they had the ball at the Miami 23-yard line. Yet another offensive holding penalty limited their opportunities, and Gano added a 37-yard field goal to make the score 24-13.
Miami then changed their offensive strategy, or just wanted to rest their wide receivers as all they did on this drive was use their two running backs. There was one pass to one of them, and all of their 7 carries went for 5 yards or more, except for their last 2-yard touchdown run that ended the third quarter. It was a powerful statement that the Giants could not stop them. They drove that home when they later sacked Jones for the sixth time, and knocked him out of the game.
Tyrod Taylor came in and made a few plays, including scrambling for 9 yards on a 4-and-8th play. Like some others on the day, this Giants drive ended with a sack on the quarterback that had Gano coming in, and his 51-yard field goal was good. Later, Taylor was in for the Giants last possession which ended with him trying to make a 4th-and-3 from the Miami 19-yard line, and he scrambled just short. Overall, it was depressing to watch the Giants take this 31-16 loss, not just for the loss itself, but for how it all played out."

"The Giants defense came up big at times, but also gave up some really big plays. You have to give them credit with Jason Pinnock returning one of their two interceptions on Tua Tagovailoa 102 yards for the Giants only touchdown in the game. In fact, it was the Giants first touchdown scored in the first half of all their games this season. They also forced a turnover for the first time this season when linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux recovered a fumble caused by safety Xavier McKinney. There was also a sack on Tagovailoa by Thibodeaux, his fourth on the season.
You just can't look at the good though. The Dolphins put 31 points up on the board, and that's with the Giants offense controlling the ball for 36 minutes. Two of Miami's touchdowns were scored in less than a minute of playing time on three plays. They weren't on short fields as you might think. One started at Miami's 25-yard line, and the other at their 6.
Their first big touchdown was a Tagovailoa pass to Tyreek Hill for 69 yards, and the other, a 76 yard run by De'Von Achane. The Giants allowed 524 total yards, and the 222 yards on the ground averaged 9.7 yards per carry. By coincidence, or did Miami somehow plan it, their average per pass play was also 9.7 yards, with Tagovailoa completing 73 percent of his passes.
The Giants offense was the usual mess with Daniel Jones working behind an ever shuffling offensive line that included some just elevated off the practice squad. There was constant pressure, with false starts and holding calls thrown in for good measure. Jones took 6 sacks, to go along with the 10 he took last week. He was not able to return after taking the last one, and Tyrod Taylor came in. Tayler was sacked once and avoided a few, while taking some big hits in the process. Darren Waller was more involved as a receiver this game and he caught 8 of 11 passes for 86 yards. That's the most Waller's caught in any game. Wan'Dale Robinson with 5, had the second most catches today, but for only 11 yards. Robinson came out in the second half to be checked for a concussion but later returned. Darius Slayton, Parris Campbell, and Isaiah Hodgins each caught 2 passes. The ground game totaled only 85 yards, and that's with Jones and Taylor running for 38 of them. Running backs Eric Gray and Matt Breida shared 21 carries for 46 yards, and that's not good.
It's obvious that moving forward the Giants need at minimum Saquon Barkley, left tackle Andrew Thomas, center John Michael Schmitz, and certainly Jones, if they expect to have some semblance of a working offense. Buffalo is up next Sunday, and that's not going to be an easy task for the Giants even if they are at full strength."

[Back to Team Giants] Click on the Team Giants logo to be informed of all Giants game previews, reviews and off season football news. Stop in and visit "Mike's Keys to the Internet" at  MikesKeys.com