Giants lose to the Jets 13-10

"It was a real wet day at MetLife Stadium today, and all the fans were soaked. That accounted for some of the game play we saw from both teams. The Jets got the ball first, and Jets quarterback Zak Willson started off with an easy first down pass. Three plays later though, Wilson was sacked by Kayvon Thibodeaux for a 10 yard loss, and his fumble was recovered by Jihad Ward who took it to the Jets 19-yard line.
I was hoping to see the Giants jump to an early 7-0 lead for a change, but that didn't happen. Being creative, they had wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson run with the ball for a 7-yard gain. That didn't stop the Jets defense from keeping their eyes off Saquon Barkley, and he lost a yard on the next play. Tyrod Taylor's pass to Darius Slayton was incomplete, and it was field goal time. Graham Gano kicked a 31 yard field goal, and they were up 3-0.
The Giants defense kept the pressure up on the Jets next three drives, but then Wilson connected with a short pass to his running back Breece Hall, who refused to be tackled as he ran it 50 yards into the endzone for a touchdown. The Giants responded right away with a drive that got them to a 4th-and-1 at the Jet's 29-yard line. Brian Daboll passed on going for it and unfortunately, Gano's 47 yard field goal attempt was no good. The Giants defense continued to keep the Jets in check, and their defense did the same back until the teams left the field at halftime with the Jets leading 7-3.
Some of the reasons the offenses on both team were unable to move the ball was that they were both hit with injuries. The Jets were hit most at the center position, and the Giants lost Taylor and tight end Darren Waller. They were both out for the rest of the game. The Giants were down to their third quarterback, Tommy DeVito, who had only played in preseason games.
I was relieved to see the Giants be the first to score in the second half. DeVito had so far taken two sacks, and thrown incompletions. During this first drive, Barkley was running up a storm, including one up the middle for 34 yards. The Jets wanted to intimidate DeVito, and they were hit twice for unnecessary roughness. Those two penalties helped the Giants get down to the Jets 5-yard line. On a 3rd-and-goal, DeVito surprised the Jets, and the whole stadium, with a run into the end zone for a touchdown to put the Giants ahead 10-7.
Subsequent drives after that did not go as well for the Giants or the Jets, who continued to have trouble making first downs. DeVito didn't throw another pass, and every play was a run by Barkley, barely spelled by Matt Breida until there was just a minute and a half left, and the Jets were stuck going for it on a 4th-and-1 from their own 41-yard line. Thibodeaux came up with a big sack on Wilson, and the Giants had the ball at the Jets 26-yard line.
Barkley had three runs as the Jets used up all their timeouts, but he was short of a first down. On the 4th-and-1, Daboll had Gano come in to kick a 35-yard field goal, so the Jets would need a touchdown to win with only 24 seconds left, but he missed. Still, the Jets were back at their own 25-yard line with almost no time left to get downfield for a try at kicking a field goal.
It looked like the Giants were going to win this one for sure. That is until Wilson completed a 29-yard pass. A defensive offsides penalty was declined, but saved Wilson some time to get his unit together. Wilson was able to complete another 29-yard pass, and spike the ball to stop the clock with one second left. It didn't look like the refs handled that properly, and when the Jets kicked a field goal, the game was tied at 10-10 and headed to overtime.
The Giants won the toss, but played poorly. There was a ten yard penalty on a pass from DeVito to Barkley, and then somehow two pass completions and one incompletion lost them a yard. The Jets offense had good field position after the punt, and with the help of two pass interference penalties, were soon set up for an easy field goal to win the game, and they did, 13-10. I really thought the Giants were going to finish up with a win today, but then they let it get away."

"It was not a tale of two cities. It was a tale of one city with two football teams going head to head with heavy casualties on both sides. This game already started with two backup quarterbacks on the field, Tyrod Taylor and Zach Wilson. By halftime the Giants had lost Taylor to a a rib injury, and tight end Darren Waller was out as well, after injuring his hamstring. The Giants threw in their next backup quarterback, Tommy DeVito to take the sacks. The Jets, were down to their fourth-string center Xavier Newman, after Connor McGovern and Wes Schweitzer were taken out of the game with injuries.
The offensive units of these teams were the weak links for both the Jets and Giants going into this game. Neither could do very much from the start, and things were worse for each of them as these injuries piled up. Newman's first snap to Wilson ended up being a fumble recovery by Micah McFadden at the Jets 41-yard line. It was a great opportunity for the Giants who were trailing 7-3 at the time near the end of the half, but after a sack and delay of game penalty, they had lost four yards.
The first half ended with the teams combining for 0-for-18 on third down plays. The Giants defense came up with two turnovers, but the Jets defense held the Giants to just three points off a field goal. Both defenses were doing a good job, except for the Giants letting running back Breece Hall take a short pass from Wilson for a 50-yard touchdown to give the Jets their 7 points. Thanks to those 50 yards on one play, Wilson finished the half completing 8 of 18 for 129 yards, with 1 touchdown and 2 fumbles. The combination of Taylor and DeVito was 4 completions on 7 throws for 8 yards. There were no interceptions and each quarterback was sacked two times.
The defenses continued to dominate in the second half, and when they didn't play well the other team scored. A sudden breakout run by Saquon Barkley, and two Jets penalties early on, led to the Giants scoring a touchdown for a 10-7 lead. At the very end of the second half, the Giants allowed two big pass completions which enabled the Jets to kick a field goal with one second left to tie the score. In overtime, a pass interference call by the Giants put the Jets in position to kick a field goal and win the game.
Everything wasn't on the Giants defense. The weather and injuries were a big factor as well as some coaching decisions, and debatable calls by the refs. Though Graham Gano did kick one field goal, he missed on the other two, while the defense held the Jets to just 10 points which led to the game being tied. The Giants completed only 6 of 14 passes for a total of 7 yards, and running backs Barkley and Matt Breida caught four of those six passes.
On the plus side, DeVito followed orders to be careful out there with the ball, and even ran it in for the Giants only touchdown of the game. Barkley rushed 36 times for 128 yards. Kayvon Thibodeaux had 3 sacks, and Dexter Lawrence had 1. Thibodeaux also forced a fumble, which was recovered by Jihad Ward, and Micah McFadden recovered another. As we say almost every week, the Giants have a lot to figure out before their next game. Injury considerations will be an even bigger issue as they prepare to travel for their matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders."

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