For the fourth straight week, the New York Giants came away with a loss. This times, it was at the hands of the Detroit Lions.
The win at home against the Washington Redskins seems like a million years ago, and the Giants. now riding a four-game losing streak, look exactly the part of a rebuilding team with low expectations.
The good thing is, the Giants haven’t laid down in any of these losses. They continue to fight under Pat Shurmur, but you can only battle for so long — especially when you’re under-manned.
Following the loss to the Lions, whose stock is up and down for the Giants? Let’s take a look.
Stock up: Saquon Barkley
Last week, Barkley got his feet wet by getting back to action after missing three weeks with the high ankle sprain.
This week, Barkley looked like he was back to his old form against Detroit, gaining over 100 yards from scrimmage.
Barkley had 64 yards rushing on 19 carries. He also had 79 receiving yards and a touchdown as well, giving him 143 total yards on the game.
The running back also provided a highlight reel moment, stiff-arming one Lions defender straight into oblivion.
Barkley was back on Sunday, and back with a vengeance.
Stock down: The entire secondary
We could have put several players here: Antoine Bethea, Deandre Baker, Grant Haley, Michael Thomas and Janoris Jenkins.
Instead, we’re just going to put the entire group in here because they played poorly collectively. Lions receivers were being left wide open and for big plays all game long.
Matthew Stafford didn’t miss much on Sunday and was able to effectively pick apart the Giants secondary at will.
Overall, it was a lousy performance by everyone.
Stock up: Daniel Jones
After a few rough weeks of looking like a rookie quarterback, Daniel Jones got back to looking like a first round pick on Sunday against the Lions.
Jones threw for 322 yards and had four touchdown passes. But most importantly, he did not throw a single interception. Over the previous three weeks, he had thrown five, so getting that number down to zero was crucial.
Granted, it didn’t result in a win, but Jones’ progress and learning experience continues, and this was a step in the right direction.
Stock down: James Bettcher
When Bettcher was hired in 2018, the expectations were that he was going to turn around a defensive unit that had struggled and bring an edge to it.
That hasn’t been the case at all. The Giants are 27th in the league in points allowed. And for the fourth time this year, they allowed 30-plus points on defense.
With the exception of one game, the Giants’ defense has allowed no fewer than 27 points in every contest — numbers that won’t win many games.
In most games, the Giants defense looks unprepared. Bettcher has a look of a coordinator who could get fired if things don’t improve.
The Giants’ lousy performances on defense each week fall on him, and if someone has to fall on the sword at the end of the season as a result, Bettcher could be that coach who gets the ax.
Stock up: Markus Golden
For as awful as the Giants defense has played, one of the few bright spots has been Markus Golden, who just continues to get better.
Golden finished the game on Sunday with seven tackles and recorded another sack, his sixth of the season, which leads the Giants defense.
Not too long ago, Golden had a 12.5-sack season and came to the Giants this past offseason on the cheap because injuries had derailed him.
Now, he’s clearly the best pass rusher on the team and even when he’s not recording a sack, he’s in the middle of every play causing disruption and forcing the opponent to get rid of the ball.
Stock down: Pat Shurmur
Shurmur is clearly frustrated with the way the season has gone and he has every right to be — he even let an F-bomb slip in the post-game press conference as a result of his frustration.
We’re not going to completely jettison Shurmur out the door, as he hasn’t reached Ben McAdoo’s level of incompetence and ineffectiveness as a head coach.
With that said, Shurmur has to delegate some of his duties here. He’s the head coach and needs to focus on the entire team. Which means he needs to turn over play calling duties to an offensive coordinator who can effectively call a game.
If Mike Shula is only the offensive coordinator in name, then Shurmur needs to find a play caller who will do the job. As an offensive coordinator in the past, Shurmur has been strong, but he’s not that anymore and needs to realize that he needs to give the play calling duties to someone else.
Shurmur did it once before when he was running things with the Browns. He should give the play calling duties to someone else and just concentrate on being the head coach.
