New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys: Full Report Card Grades for New York
Is it too late in the season to celebrate improvement despite a loss?
Maybe so. But considering the in-season rebuilding the New York Giants have required to recover from how much they've already lost, it still feels as if the 3-4 Giants are on the right track.
This definitely isn't where the Giants planned to be going into the bye, sitting third in the division and trailing dominant teams from Dallas and Philadelphia. It's also safe to assume they weren't planning to be short several playmakers at key offensive and defensive skill positions.
The Giants hung with the Cowboys—possibly the best team in the NFC—until the final frame of action, ultimately losing 31-21.
This report card will grade each positional unit's performance in the close call.
Quarterbacks
1 of 10
Eli Manning played a good game in a close loss. His completion percentage (63.6 percent) was well below the 70 percent bar we've talked about since the summer, but that is the only legitimate criticism of Manning's effort on Sunday.
Manning threw for 248 yards and three touchdowns, upping his season total to 14.
Perhaps more importantly, he did not throw an interception. After throwing four passes to the wrong team through the first two weeks of the season, Manning has thrown just one interception in the past five games combined.
Overall, it was a solid outing for Manning, who wasn't noticeably strained in his first game without his favorite target (Victor Cruz). He is still showing a budding chemistry with several of his young receivers when he is not being sacked.
Although the Cowboys failed to bring down Manning, they pressured him into aborting several pass attempts, which stunted his completion percentage.
Although there's next to nothing to knock about Manning's play, his team lost the game and he failed to generate many game-changing plays.
Grade: B+
Running Back
2 of 10
Andre Williams showed some improvement in his second outing as the starter. Although he was completely bottled up on most plays, he did break free on a couple runs, including a 22-yarder that was five yards shy of being a scoring sprint.
Most of the time, Williams was hit in the backfield and lucky enough to return to the line of scrimmage.
Even though the rookie showed flashes of thunderous brilliance, he finished the game with only 51 yards on 18 carries (2.8 yards per carry).
The Giants seemed desperate to feed him the ball and give him a lane to run through, but the team couldn't do so with any degree of consistency against the Cowboys. New York was 0-for-3 when targeting Williams in the passing game.
Roles became clearer this week, as Peyton Hillis' snap count rose. He is the team's go-to back on third downs and when the team is in sure passing situations. Hillis did carry the ball a bit and even caught the Cowboys off guard on a couple of his six carries, accumulating 29 yards on the afternoon (4.8 YPC).
Hillis also caught one pass for four yards.
Grade: C-
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
3 of 10
There were big plays and bigger mistakes from New York's band of pass-catchers. The receivers mostly made good plays, while one tight end's gaffe cost the team the game.
Odell Beckham Jr. continued to flourish, although only in a confined space. That's alright, as long as that space is the red zone. With two of his four catches going for short-yardage touchdowns—both shallow in the end zone, thrown after he had a moment to wriggle free from coverage—OBJ has become a legitimate scorer.
Beckham has three touchdowns in three career games. The Giants can keep this ratio up by getting the ball in his hands in a multitude of fashions.
They handed off to him on an end-around against the Cowboys, resulting in a 13-yard gain.
Rueben Randle also stepped up in spots, catching six passes for 74 yards. Although he was able to extend a few of New York's drives with timely first-down grabs, Randle never threatened Dallas all that dangerously.
Preston Parker even made a few appearances, catching two of his three targets for 19 yards.
Daniel Fells made one big play, a 27-yard touchdown catch immediately following a Prince Amukamara interception. That play gave the Giants a 14-7 lead midway through the second quarter, providing Big Blue with its largest momentum surge of the game.
Conversely, Larry Donnell committed the game's biggest blunder. His—first—fourth-quarter fumble gave the Cowboys a short field, which they turned into a 14-point lead.
Donnell's second fumble came with the game all but decided. Regardless, the Giants' starting tight end now has three fumbles on the season.
Grade: C
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
The offensive line was the weak point of the Giants offense again. It did not block well in the running game, damning New York's offensive game plan from the start.
Although the Giants' yards-per-carry average (4.0) was not terrible, the line failed to open up running lanes for starter Andre Williams, who saw the bulk of the carries and averaged only 2.8 YPC.
A 13-yard sweep by Odell Beckham Jr. and an 11-yard scramble by Eli Manning had more to do with catching the Cowboys defense sleeping than it did a dominant O-line.
The numbers indicate that the pass protection tightened up. After allowing eight sacks against the Eagles, the Giants shut out Dallas' pass-rushers. That wouldn't tell the whole truth, though. Although Manning was never brought to the ground, he was rushed into throwing several incompletions.
Justin Pugh had another bad game at right tackle. Will Beatty struggled, and so did Weston Richburg on the left. All three contributed a false start. Beatty threw in a holding call, too.
Not among the penalized was right guard John Jerry, who might have performed the worst of them all.
Can Geoff Schwartz play all five positions when he gets back?
Until the Giants develop a better rhythm running the ball on first down, the offensive line will be consistently exposed.
Grade: F
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The defensive line had individual standouts but ultimately failed to execute the game plan. The unit allowed DeMarco Murray to rack up 128 yards on 28 carries. Per carry, the Giants were gouged for an average of 4.5 yards by Cowboys rushers.
Speaking of rushers, those on New York's defense were nowhere to be found. Tony Romo was hardly hassled, completing 73.9 percent of his pass attempts on Sunday.
The only Giant to sack Romo was end Jason Pierre-Paul, who did so twice. JPP was the Giants' best D-lineman against Dallas, recording six tackles (all solo, three for a loss) and three QB hits in addition to his two sacks.
The only other standout was Johnathan Hankins, whose influence went beyond the three tackles he registered in the box score. He was disruptive in the backfield, more so on running plays than as a member of the pass rush.
Cullen Jenkins (calf) was injured in the action and the rest of the unit failed to show up. Mathias Kiwanuka, Robert Ayers, Mike Patterson and Markus Kuhn each failed to eclipse two tackles.
Damontre Moore's name did not even appear on the stat sheet.
It was an all-around bland outing, despite two above-average individual efforts.
Grade: C
Linebackers
6 of 10
The linebackers won't escape criticism, yet they were the positional unit least to blame for the Giants' Week 7 loss.
Remember, this is a group that is constantly without its leader at middle linebacker in Jon Beason. The Giants aren't able to develop a replacement leader either, as Beason is always teasing his return. He did not make it through the first half of the Cowboys game before he aggravated his foot and left the game.
With that said, I think Jameel McClain has done a solid job in a pseudo-leadership role. He filled in for Beason in the middle, finishing the game with five tackles (two solo, one for a loss).
The Giants used a strong-side linebacker more often this week as part of the focus to slow down DeMarco Murray. Devon Kennard was aggressive but on the wrong end of a couple of Murray's highlight runs. He contributed four tackles (three solo), while Mark Herzlich chipped in just one.
Jacquian Williams continues to be the most active of New York's linebackers, playing on the weak side. He finished the game with seven tackles (six solo), but few came anywhere close to the line of scrimmage.
Grade: B-
Secondary
7 of 10
A banged-up Giants secondary was overpowered by the Cowboys in the passing game. It was a valiant effort by New York's defensive backs, but eventually Dallas' receiving weapons were too much to handle.
The tone was set early in the night when Tony Romo found Gavin Escobar all alone in the back of the end zone for a first-quarter score. The Giants had blown the coverage, further proving New York's safeties as a rather volatile bunch.
They're either making a big play or giving one up.
Prince Amukamara's night was highlighted, as he was assigned the tough coverage of Dallas' Dez Bryant. It's safe to say Bryant won that matchup, racking up 151 yards on nine catches. That's not to say Amukamara didn't have his moments, though. His second-quarter interception and subsequent 38-yard return directly led to seven New York points.
The secondary couldn't crack down on the Cowboys receivers, allowing them to approach 300 yards as a unit. It should be noted, however, this is a group with a gimpy Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie that is now relying on players like Zack Bowman, Jayron Hosley and Chandler Fenner to contribute.
Slightly tighter coverage could have kept the ball in Romo's hand a half-second longer and completely changed the complexion of Sunday's action.
Grade: D+
Special Teams
8 of 10
The special teams put together a clean outing against the Cowboys.
The punting unit was New York's best, as Steve Weatherford managed to pin Dallas inside its own 20-yard line twice on five attempts. He averaged 44.9 yards per punt and mustered a long of 59 yards.
The kick and punt return units were both improved. Odell Beckham Jr. looked a little more comfortable fielding punts, returning two for a total of 21 yards. Michael Cox gave the Giants a spark in the kick return game, averaging 29 yards per return thanks to an electrifying long of 40.
The Giants did not attempt a field goal, and the kickoff team did not allow a single return.
Grade: A-
Coaching
9 of 10
The Giants did not make enough adjustments to win the game, although it's tough to fault what was essentially a working game plan.
New York had Dallas pretty much contained in the first half with the game tied at 14.
The game didn't start getting out of hand until the second half, when the Giants started struggling to keep pace with the Cowboys. There was little New York could do to match up against one of the game's best pass-catchers in Dez Bryant with a severely dinged-up defensive backfield.
With Dallas looking like one of the hottest teams in the league and the cream of the NFC East crop, I suppose it's not so bad that the Giants were able to take their division rivals to the wire.
Then again, the offensive line was just as bad as it was a week ago and little was done to shake things up. The same starting combination took the field, and it looked like the same unsuccessful running plays were called.
Until the Giants make a change here, they can expect the same horrendous results.
This game kind of felt like the Arizona Cardinals game in Week 2. After being blown out the week before, things started to come together against the Cardinals and success was right around the corner.
With Rashad Jennings and Victor Cruz injured, it's almost as if the Giants offense hit the reset button and started over with Andre Williams and Odell Beckham Jr. as the primary contributors at running back and wide receiver, respectively.
The Giants have the bye week to think things over and figure out how to make the turnaround happen again.
Grade: B-
Overall
10 of 10
Here's the Giants' full report card for Week 7:
| Position | Grade |
| QB | B+ |
| RB | C- |
| WR/TE | C |
| OL | F |
| DE | C |
| LB | B- |
| DB | D+ |
| ST | A- |
| Coach | B- |
Kevin Boilard writes about the New York Giants for Bleacher Report.
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