3 Takeaways from Giants' Week 11 Loss vs. Lions
Coming out of a Week 9 bye, the New York Giants appeared to be in a great position to reestablish their momentum. In Weeks 10 and 11, they had home matchups against the Houston Texans and Detroit Lions, two teams that have struggled for much of 2022.
The Giants took care of business against the Texans. They did not against the Lions.
On Sunday, New York fell 31-18 to Detroit at MetLife Stadium in a game in which it trailed by as many as 19. The only points scored across the second and third quarters came on three touchdown runs by Lions running back Jamaal Williams, the third of which put the Giants in a 24-6 hole entering the fourth.
After winning six of its first seven games, New York has now dropped two of its past three contests. But the Giants are still in a good position to contend for an NFC playoff spot down the stretch.
Here are three takeaways from New York's Week 11 loss.
Turnovers and Penalties Were Costly Mistakes for Offense
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The Giants racked up 413 yards of total offense and quarterback Daniel Jones accounted for two touchdowns (one passing and one rushing). However, that wasn't enough for New York to overcome the large number of mistakes it made throughout Sunday's game.
Jones threw a pair of interceptions and wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins lost a fumble, as the Lions' defense forced three turnovers. Two of those led to touchdowns on Detroit's ensuing possession, including a 4-yard scoring run by D'Andre Swift that pushed the Lions' lead to 31-12 with 6 minutes and 10 seconds to go in the game.
Jones was also sacked twice, while the Giants committed eight penalties for 63 yards.
"I felt we were getting killed on penalties, turnovers, maybe explosive plays," New York safety Julian Love said, per Tom Canavan of the Associated Press. "All those situational things that we’ve been doing so well at on both sides of the ball, we didn’t have that today."
Because the Giants have fared well in these areas all season, there are reasons to believe this won't become a concerning trend. But they'll need to clean up these mistakes and get back to playing at a high level in the upcoming weeks.
Barkley Surprisingly Could Never Get Going
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Saquon Barkley had been putting up huge numbers during his bounce-back 2022 season. The Lions have had one of the worst run defenses in the league. It seemed like a prime opportunity for Barkley to carry the Giants' offense and power them to success.
Instead, the 25-year-old running back was a non-factor in Sunday's game. Barkley had a season-low 22 yards on 15 carries, only five of which came in the second half. He wasn't even on the field much after halftime, as New York put veteran Matt Breida in its backfield.
However, Barkley isn't concerned that the season may be taking a bad turn.
“They came out here, they played great. We’re not going to panic,” Barkley said, per Canavan. “We’re not going to worry. We’re not going to waver at all."
But if the Giants are going to get back on track, they'll need Barkley to move past this tough performance and return to having success. He's been one of the NFL's top running backs this season, and he's been one of the biggest reasons for New York's strong start.
The Upcoming Stretch Is Crucial for Giants' NFC East Chances
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There isn't much time for the Giants to move past Sunday's loss and onto the next opponent. That's because they're set to go on the road to take on the NFC East rival Dallas Cowboys in a Thanksgiving Day matchup on Thursday.
It'll be the start of a critical stretch for New York, which will play division rivals in each of the next four weeks. It will play the Washington Commanders in both Weeks 13 and 15, sandwiched around a home matchup vs. the first-place Philadelphia Eagles, who are 9-1.
So far, the Giants have played only one NFC East game during their 7-3 start, and that was a 23-16 home loss to the Cowboys in Week 3. It's going to be important for them to prove they can stack up in one of the toughest divisions in the league this year, as all of their success thus far has come against non-division opponents.
If New York fares well during this stretch, it could ascend to the top of the division race. That would also make its Week 18 road matchup in Philadelphia a huge one.
However, if the Giants don't collect some division wins, it won't only be tougher for them to win the NFC East, but they may even fall out of the wild-card race. So they need to bounce back and play well over the next month.
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