The New York Giants knew they had an uphill battle against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, but it became immediately apparent that their lack of depth at linebacker would be problematic.
Rather than going over .500 for the first time since 2016, the Giants saw themselves fall to 2-3 on the season with the realization that they’re still a ways off from competing with some of the league’s more elite teams.
But it wasn’t all bad. In fact, there were quite a few encouraging positives to come out of Sunday’s game. Let’s take a look:
Winners
Jabrill Peppers – The defensive line played well on Sunday, but outside of that, not many defenders stepped up. Well, outside of Peppers, that is. Coming off a tremendous performance in Week 4, Peppers was back at it this week from the game’s literal first play. The highlight was a forced fumble on Dalvin Cook as he was going into the endzone, but Peppers deserved credit for an all-around quality game. He’s coming into his own.
Dexter Lawrence – You can’t say enough about how Lawrence has progressed this season or how well he played on Sunday. He was a consistent headache for Minnesota’s offensive line, repeatedly making professionals looks like amateurs and collapsing the pocket. His fellow d-linemen provided an assist, but we’ll get to that. The D may have looked rough overall, but that was through no fault of Lawrence.
Darius Slayton – Slayton not only has a clear and obvious rapport with Daniel Jones, but his speed makes him a difference-maker even against season pros. Jones will get most of the credit for their incredible touchdown hook-up, but Slayton deserves a tip of the cap for an impressive catch and veteran field awareness. All told, Slayton hauled in four of his five targets for 62 yards and the aforementioned score.
Corey Ballentine – Ballentine still isn’t seeing time on the defensive side of the ball, but he had a key kick return on Sunday, bringing one back for 52 yards, setting up what was a key touchdown for New York at the time.
Dalvin Tomlinson – Tomlinson is not going to leap off the page when you look at Sunday’s box score, but he made his presence felt on nearly every play. As noted above, all three starting defensive linemen played exceptionally well against the Vikings considering they had nothing behind them and Tomlinson was no exception. He was consistently driving his blocker into the backfield, he played the run well on his side, stayed in his gap and just generally caused havoc in the trenches.
Others: B.J. Hill, Sterling Shepard, Markus Golden
Losers
Sean Chandler – From moment one, Chandler, who appeared to be drawing more defensive snaps than usual, struggled. He sat down too deep in zone coverage allowing a critical early first down for the Vikings and struggled bringing down the ball carrier. It was not the best performance for a player capable of much more.
Grant Haley – Haley did have one impressive open-field tackle to save a touchdown, but upon first glance, it was his sole highlight. When Kirk Cousins and the Vikings offense weren’t targeting the linebackers over the middle of the field, they repeatedly keyed on Haley to tremendous success.
Deandre Baker – Baker’s placement here is less about how he played in coverage (the Vikings ate up a lot over the middle due to lacking ILBs) and more about making foolish mistakes. He was penalized for standing over a Vikings player and talking trash only to surrender a touchdown to end the very same drive. Just a bad look.
Nate Solder – Last week I put Solder here and later questioned myself when watching the film, feeling as if I had been unnecessarily tough on him. This week, there’s no question about it — Solder is the weak link on this OL and has become consistently problematic. Sunday was no different as Solder surrendered pressure after pressure, sack after sack and just for good measure, committed a few penalties.
Others: Jon Hilliman, Nate Stupar, David Mayo, Jon Halapio
Mixed reviews
Daniel Jones – It was every bit a mixed bag for the rookie quarterback on Sunday. On one hand, he uncorked the most impressive throw of his professional career to date — a beautiful 38-yard touchdown to Darius Slayton — but on the other hand, he missed several wide open receivers, including Sterling Shepard on what would have been the first second half touchdown. There was a lot to like and an equal amount Jones will have to improve upon.
Janoris Jenkins – Days removed from being named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 4, The Jackrabbit was back at it on Sunday, but with different results. A missed tackle of Dalvin Cook will be the negative highlight for Jenkins, but that was about it in terms of legitimately bad plays. So, how did Jenkins end up in the mixed category? Simply put, he was beat in moments he had good coverage. That’s just the nature of football — sometimes you do everything right and still get beat.
Others: Riley Dixon, Kevin Zeitler, R.J. McIntosh
