New York Giants: Who Helped, Hurt Themselves in Quest for a Roster Spot
The third preseason game is widely regarded as NFL teams' final dress rehearsal. However, where the New York Giants are concerned, they look far from being ready to start the season in two weeks.
“Not real complicated,” head coach Tom Coughlin said following his team’s 28-18 loss to the New York Jets, their third loss this preseason.
“We had six penalties in the first half. We kind of broke our play up, I thought. You know we had an interception for a touchdown. We had a punt return for a touchdown. We were backed up and punted from the 1 after a sack.
“We couldn’t run the ball with any consistency. I thought they ran the ball well, not just in the second half, but they did basically with what they happened to do there. So, I mean, as I said, you give two scores away like that, and it’s gonna be the most difficult to win in this league in any town.”
While Coughlin and his staff continue to try to find some way to get this team to flip on the switch to start playing with more consistency, let’s look at some players who stood out for one reason or another in this game, breaking it down according to who helped themselves in a quest for a roster spot and who hurt themselves.
Hurt: Cornerback Jayron Hosley
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Cornerback Jayron Hosley, a third-round draft pick in 2012, who has yet to make any kind of contribution, had quietly been having a strong camp until a concussion brought everything to a screeching halt.
After sitting out several practices and a game, Hosley was back in the lineup this week; in fact, he received snaps with the starting defense in place of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie simply because Hosley needed the work.
The results weren’t pretty. Hosley failed to defend the edge and twice lost contain, as running back Chris Ivory gashed the Giants' run defense for 35 yards on five carries on the Jets’ first scoring drive of the game.
Two of Ivory’s runs, a 12-yarder and a 16-yarder, were on Hosley, according to former Giants offensive lineman Shaun O’Hara:
"Jayron Hosley looking lost on 2 big runs vs Jets. Fails as force defender & then can't get off block of Marshall.
— Shaun O'Hara (@ShaunOHara60) August 29, 2015"
Helped: LB Uani’ Unga
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With the exception of maybe one play, first-year linebacker Uani’ Unga, whose stock has been rising each and every week, put forth another solid effort.
Relieving starting middle linebacker Jameel McClain, Unga finished as the Giants' team leader in tackles with eight (five solo).
This is a player who has shown himself to have natural instincts for the position and who has the foot speed to get to the ball-carrier before he breaks free.
Of Unga’s tackles, five were made within five yards or less of the line of scrimmage.
That’s solid production, regardless if it came against the Jets backups or their roster hopefuls, and it’s a big reason why Unga deserves a roster spot on this team.
Hurt: WR James Jones
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Veteran receiver James Jones, who joined the team once training camp began, drew rave reviews from both his coaches and teammates for his veteran presence and level of compete.
Jones, who has taken advantage of the absences of Rueben Randle and Victor Cruz, appeared to have locked up a roster spot after two weeks of preseason play.
This week, however, he took a step back in his quest for a roster spot. Jones was the intended receiver on quarterback Eli Manning’s lone interception, a ball on which Jones appeared to hesitate in his route because he might have not been sure of what was expected.
While an argument can be made that Manning shouldn’t have attempted to complete the pass given that cornerback Antonio Cromartie jumped in front of the receiver, Jones could have at least tried to knock the ball away when he saw it being thrown.
Jones’ bad night continued in the third quarter when he allowed Marcus Williams to strip the ball away from him after making a reception on the Jets’ 19-yard line.
The turnover stood, and the Giants ended up wasting a red-zone opportunity to close the scoring gap.
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Helped: TE Jerome Cunningham
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At first glance, tight end Jerome Cunningham’s game stats were a pedestrian two receptions (out of three pass targets) for 30 yards and one touchdown.
However, look beyond the numbers for a bit because Cunningham, who led the Giants tight ends this week in the receiving department, does something that the other tights ends on this roster don’t do with any consistency.
He separates and picks up huge chunks of yardage.
Using the stats provided by Pro Football Focus for the Giants tight ends, and then adding in the stats from this week’s game against the Jets, Cunningham is the Giants’ leading receiver among the right ends, with three catches for 58 yards. That yardage total not only suggests his ability to separate, but also his ability to pick up yards after the catch.
What about blocking, you ask? Again, per PFF, Cunningham is the second-highest graded blocking tight end on the Giants.
Although he is the group's smallest, at 6'3", 250 pounds, Cunningham’s blocking style reminds one of Kevin Boss, who simply used to get in the way of a defender just enough to slow him down.
It’s not always pretty, and after the game Cunningham told me that he’s still trying to become more comfortable with his hand placement when it comes to run blocking so that he’s no longer thinking about it and is just executing.
However, he has been getting the job done which is all you can really ask for.
Hurt: S Jeromy Miles
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There was a reason why the Giants delayed signing Jeromy Miles, the former Baltimore Ravens defensive back for as long as they did.
That reason was on display this week as Miles, a veteran, was fooled too easily on the Jets’ first touchdown pass, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick's 18-yard strike to receiver Eric Decker.
On that play, Miles, who bit on the play action, ended up having a miscommunication with cornerback Jayron Hosley, simply ended up standing there watching Decker score untouched.
Miles, who per Pro Football Focus has graded negatively overall in his first two preseason games, could be in jeopardy of losing his roster spot given how well Cooper Taylor played.
It also doesn’t help Miles’ case for a roster spot that, according to Kim Jones of the NFL Network, the Giants are reportedly set to sign safety Stevie Brown, who was cut this week by the Houston Texans, to this coming week.
Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.
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