The Buffalo Bills defeated the New York Giants 28-14 on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium. Here are five thoughts from the game.
1. Saquon Barkley was and is the lone bright spot.
The New York Giants are not a very good football team. They are devoid of top end talent and that is needed to win in the NFL.
But, they have Saquon.
The second year running back had 21 touches for 135 yards. That’s 6.4 yards per touch. The bulk of those yards came on the ground (107), at a blistering 5.9 ypc.
Barkley made quick cuts, powered through defenders and was the best player on the field for either team.
Saquon is the ultimate team guy. But it has to be frustrating playing as well as he is and not having the level matched by those around you. Football is the ultimate team game and “eleven as one” is how he approaches the game.
“It’s very disappointing to start 0-2, but we still get to live another day. The season’s not over, our chances at the playoffs aren’t over, but you can’t keep having that mindset. You’ve got to come in and attack it, we’ve definitely got to execute better, we’ve got to come to practice, we’ve got to practice at a high level. Everything we’re doing, just try to turn it up a notch just so we can take care of the rest of the games in the season.”
Saquon Barkley postgame. The Giants lost to the Bills 28-14. Part I #NFL100 pic.twitter.com/PrAoZIczKb
— Jarod Hector (@jshector) September 15, 2019
2. Josh Allen is…
Better than we thought. Maybe?
Well, he was on Sunday. Allen is another of the “new wave” of dual-threat quarterback. Though his running ability is better than his passing ability right now.
The Bills second year QB was 19-30 for 253 yards and a touchdown.
More importantly he was able to use his mobility to avoid the Giants pass rush. He made excellent throws while on the run, and when plays completely broke down, he turned negatives into positive gains.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott seems to understand Allen’s strengths and limitations and is allowing him to do what he does best, while he works on his development areas.
Giants head coach Pat Shurmur was impressed.
“I thought he did a really good job. There were a couple times he broke contain, and he made some really nice throws. A couple times when we were in really tight coverage, I thought he did a nice job. Then they had the structured quarterback run that he scored on. I thought he played well.”
3. The Giants’ defense is struggling…
The statistics will say they only gave up 388 yards of offense. But it was the way they gave up those yards. It’s a small sample size, but the Giants headed into Sunday’s game with the worst DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) rating in the league.
They didn’t get gashed as bad as last week against the Cowboys but they weren’t much better.
The defensive line didn’t get consistent pressure, though they did record three sacks. The linebackers had some trouble when Allen got mobile, and the secondary left Cole Beasley wide open on at least three occasions.
There were missed tackles, communication breakdowns, and a lack of gap discipline up front. Against average league offenses they’ll be ok. But when they play high octane offenses and mobile quarterbacks, they will be in trouble.
To be fair, the Giants have a lot of young players and new guys working into defensive coordinator James Bettcher’s system.
Linebacker Alec Ogletree was not happy following the loss.
“Everybody has to hold their own weight. We can’t do each other’s job, I have a job to do, the young guys have a job they need to do as well. We expect them to carry their own weight, just like us. It’s also up to us to make sure everybody is doing their job. It all works hand in hand. If we don’t cover well, then the pass rush won’t get there. If we don’t rush well, then we can’t hold in coverage that long. It takes all 11 of us to get the job done. It’s not we need more out of this, we need more out of everybody.”
4. Let’s talk team culture
This 0-2 start is not good for morale. It’s early in the season, but 16 games goes by quick. NFL coaches and personnel like to break the season into quarters. When you get behind the 8 ball in the first quarter of the season, it makes it very difficult to make a playoff push, which this team wants.
General manager Dave Gettleman made a big deal this offseason about creating a culture with “team first” guys. Gone are Odell Beckahm Jr., Landon Collins, Olivier Vernon, and Eli Apple among others. Players whom at one time or another were seen as not always placing the team above their own needs.
Whether or not shipping those players out will lead to the culture Gettleman desires remains to be seen. Again, it’s early. But winning solves most, if not all culture issues.
5. Can we talk honestly about Eli Manning?
The two-time Super Bowl MVP is on the back 9 of his career. Likely the last couple holes. He becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season and who knows where he will play next season, if he does.
But it is safe to say that he hasn’t been a top tier quarterback in quite some time. He no longer makes downfield throws with regularity and accuracy and his yards per attempt has dropped dramatically.
Nobody can take away what Manning has done or meant to this franchise, but he is not their future. This team is not good enough to compete at the upper echelon of the league, so having a 38-year-old quarterback at the end of his career doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Given the Giants drafted Daniel Jones #6 in the 2019 draft.
