The Giants gift the rising Jets a win going into Week 9
The Jets should send the Giants bottles of expensive champagne to thank them as reciprocation for the gift they were given on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
In what was maybe the most putrid offensive game of this NFL season, in which the Giants’ longest completions of the day were inconceivably two four-yard passes, one to tight end Darren Waller and the other to running back Matt Breida, the Jets defeated the Giants 13-10 in overtime on a rainy, blustery afternoon at MetLife Stadium to improve to 4-3.
The Giants sank deeper in the standings and are 2-6, tied with the New England Patriots and the Chicago Bears, both also 2-6, for the third worst record in the 32-team NFL. Two missed field goals by place kicker Graham Gano, who converted 29 of 32 in 17 games last season but is just 11-17 through Week 8 this season, were consequential to the outcome—especially a 35-yarder with 28 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and the score tied 10-10.
The Jets, who did little more than the Giants on offense in the face of both defenses playing stellar, moved the ball in overtime and won on a 33-yard field goal from Greg Zuerlein with 6:09 on the clock.
The real culprit in the loss was Giants head coach Brian Daboll. After quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who was starting in place of first-string QB Daniel Jones, who is expected back this Sunday versus the Raiders in Las Vegas after sitting out the past three games with a neck injury, went out with a rib injury in the second quarter, Daboll abandoned the passing game with rookie Tommy DeVito.
The New Jersey native and University of Illinois product attempted just seven passes and the Giants finished the game with an astonishing minus-9 yards net passing. They relied solely on running back Saquon Barkley, who had 36 carries for 128 yards.
“I’d say this,” Daboll tried to justify after the loss. “I kind of figured this is the way the game would be played out. We were going to run the ball regardless. With the weather conditions and the way our defense was playing, we knew it would be kind of a fourth-quarter game.
“I felt comfortable with him running the offense,” he said of DeVito. “But again, the plan was we were going to keep it on the ground quite a bit based on the weather and based on how we thought the game was going to be played out, and it played out pretty much the way we thought it was going to be played out. Just came up short.”
Jets head coach Robert Saleh saluted his team’s mental capacity to continue to grind when it appeared the Giants had a near certain victory.
“It’s easy to cash it in…thinking the game is over,” he said.
With no chance of making the playoffs, the Giants traded starting defensive tackle Leonard Williams to the Seattle Seahawks for a 2024 second round pick and 2025 fifth rounder.
The Jets host the 3-4 Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night at MetLife Stadium.
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