Sunday’s 44-20 divisional loss to the Dallas Cowboys became properly known as the “Disaster in Dallas” among the New York media, who published the headline straight across the front pages of the daily papers the next morning. Their blunt description of the Giants’ afternoon wasn’t totally incorrect, however it was a disaster for reasons beyond the scoreboard.
Already having entered the week without two receivers in Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton, captain and middle linebacker Blake Martinez, and linemen Nick Gates and Shane Lemieux, the Giants most important goal, after winning the game, was to leave with no more than some healthy scratches.
The win never surfaced, and likewise their second goal of remaining free of further injury woes.
In the first half against the Cowboys, the New York Giants lost two additional critical offensive starters in quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley. Jones departed in the late second quarter after bangng helmets with linebacker Jabril Cox on a 3rd and goal roll out play where he tried to use his legs to beat the defense to the outside goal line. He was evaluated and later diagnosed as having a concussion.
Barkley was the first Giant to exit Sunday’s competition in the first quarter, after he rolled his left ankle on the foot of Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis as he was slowing down from a route in which he had a pass from Jones soar over his head. He was briefly checked by trainers on the sideline while in serious pain, and then was loaded onto a cart for evaluation and designated out for the rest of the game. One expert feared that the Penn State suffered torn ligaments in the ankle, but there was no sign of any breaks as indicated by the team on Monday.
While the Giants were likely receiving the news and a stern motivational speech from head coach Joe Judge during halftime, then trailing 17-10 to Dallas, the organization also received word from medical personnel that wide receiver Kenny Golladay was done for the day with a knee injury he suffered during the first half.
Suddenly, the 1-3 Giants were left with Mike Glennon taking over the passing reins and a receiving core with its newest leaders being the ever questionable tight end Evan Engram and rookie wide receiver Kadarius Toney, the Giants 2021 first-round draft pick out of Florida. You know the rest of the story, as the Giants’ finished with a 16 completion, 196 yard performance from Glennon but a beatdown defeat by the Dallas Cowboys in another important NFC East game for both squads.
Sure, sounds like a recipe for disaster for the Giants (1-4), who are now left with so many questions on the offensive side of the ball leading into another poorly timed game against an incredible team in the Los Angeles Rams (4-1) on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Early indications for Saquon Barkley expect him to miss between 2-4 weeks with his ankle injury, and Jones’ status on Monday was no more than a “play it day-by-day” issue from the Giants organization, making it feel destined that he would undoubtedly miss Week 6.
On Wednesday, the Giants released their post-practice injury report to provide an update on the statuses of their injured players, and the picture didn’t look much brighter. Jones, Barkley, Golladay were listed as non-participants (DNP), while several others were limited participants (LP), including receivers Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton who’ve both missed the last two games with hamstring injuries. Kadarius Toney was also limited with his own ankle injury.
Joe Judge backed the report by telling reporters that Jones’ simply “observed” practice, attending team meetings and watching drills from the sideline. Some reports, however, said that Jones was spotted for some time out on a side field in full pads working with trainers and doing individual work, which surprised the head coach and is about stage 2-3 of the NFL’s concussion protocol for evaluating a player’s return to full participation in football activities.
While we wait to see the practicing statuses of most of the Giants key offensive weapons the remainder of the week, the one underlying question seems to be the direction the Giants take on the offensive side if many of the above names aren’t able to go against the Rams and possibly longer.
If Jones, whom the Giants say is “on track” for nearing a return, doesn’t suit up on Sunday, then it will be a second straight game that offensive coordinator Jason Garrett sends plays through the mic to Mike Glennon. The start would be the 28th for Glennon in his nine-year NFL career, who stepped in Sunday and at least kept the ball moving downfield in the second half of a game where there wasn’t going to be enough production to outmatch the Dallas Cowboys’ offense.
Last season, as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Glennon started the final five games, averaging 62% on his passes while throwing for a total of 1,072 yards and 7 touchdowns. However, the Jaguars lost all five of those games by a combined score of 154-90, and Glennon was sacked 9 times and threw 5 interceptions.
On Sunday, Joe Judge told reporters that his coaching staff believes Glennon is talented enough to run the offense in the absence of Jones.
In the running backs department, former Bronco and Raider Devontae Booker will likely receive most of the rushing snaps. Booker joined the Giants this offseason after leaving the Raiders with a 93 rush, 423 yard campaign in 2020 as the backup to Josh Jacobs. His best performance came on Nov. 15th against the Denver Broncos, when Booker ran for 81 yards on 16 carries and scored two touchdowns.
Last Sunday in Dallas, Booker ran 16 times for 42 yards and two touchdowns again, this time one rushing and the other receiving. His longest rush was for 14 yards and he was the only person responsible for Giants’ points other than kicker Graham Gano.
Behind Booker on the depth chart is rookie running back Gary Brightwell, the sixth-round pick out of Arizona, who only has 1 carry for four yards on the season.
The Giants’ reliance on Booker will need to come on early downs, especially against a talented Rams defense led by All-NFL defensive end Aaron Donald. Booker is capable of forcing his way for 3-5 yard gains behind even a suspect offensive line to set up favorable third down scenarios for Glennon and the receiving unit. Overall, they can’t expect the same production out of him as they could Jones and Barkley with their more impressive skill sets as rushers.
Turning to the wide receivers room, all will depend on the official gameday statuses of Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton. The sixth and third-year pros have been two of Daniel Jones’ favorite targets over the last two seasons, and their absences the past two weeks have been noticeable.
Shepard, the veteran of the receiving group, was finding his payday playing from the slot position in Weeks 1-3. The Oklahoma product caused huge damage to the Denver Broncos in the season opener from that spot, taking screen passes, jet sweeps, and using his quick speed to outrace defenders for an average of 16 yards per reception. That game was his best performance, catching seven times for 113 yards and a touchdown.
His current totals are 18 receptions for 223 yards and one touchdown, with an average catch of 12.4 yards.
Slayton, earns attention as Jones’ deep ball threat and has been trying to follow up on his 751 yard and 3 touchdown performance from 2020. Slayton had just one catch for 8 yards in week 3 against Atlanta before he left with the hamstring injury, and his current season totals stand at 7 receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown.
Both players have been listed as limited participants in practice, but the Giants seem confident they will get these two weapons back.
For some reason should one or both not be available or full participants on Sunday, the Giants will have to turn to the party of John Ross, Kadarius Toney, Collin Johnson and CJ Board.
John Ross gave his hello to New York in Week 4’s three reception, 77-yard performance at New Orleans, where the former Bengal caught a deep, 51-yard strike from Jones and carried it into the endzone for a touchdown that sparked the Giants’ upset victory in that game. Ross can be a shifty, deep ball threat in replacement of Slayton, but Jones would likely prefer to have both as options to dish off too against a top-rated Rams defensive line led by Donald.
Kadarius Toney was the Giants’ shining star in the lone star state last Sunday. In the absence of so many offensive players, Toney became the instant playmaker and Mike Glennon’s favorite target. Catching 10 passes for 189 yards against Dallas, the rookie broke the Giants single game rookie receiving record previously held by Odell Beckham Jr, the single most receptions by a Giants receiver in Dallas formerly held by Victor Cruz, and put everyone on notice of the impact he can have on the Giants’ offensive gameplan.
Wouldn’t be too surprised if the Giants try to run a few wildcat plays with Toney this Sunday if Jones is absent, as they did once in Dallas and Toney was about a yard short of converting the attempt for six points.
There are options for the Giants offense, whether or not they are appealing is a different story.
Nonetheless, even before the injuries began, it felt like the Giants would need to have offensive contributions by committee this season in order to have any form of success. In fact, the Giants front office went out and spent a bunch of money in the offseason to load up Jones’ offense with new targets to diversify their offensive schemes.
The offense by committee and next man up mentality will need to combine on Sunday more than ever before if the Giants want to compete with a talented and exciting Rams team earning comparisons to the Greatest Show on Turf. The Giants showed they can win the big time game against the Saints two weeks ago, but now their next test is winning with possible injury woes instead of a boisterous enemy crowd.
The hope is for the Giants to have clearer answers on their injured offensive players, outside of Barkley, by the end of Friday after the Giants wrap up padded practices, and then provide them towards the lingering questions of the media.
Using the words of Jason Garrett in talking about Daniel Jones’ progress towards clearing concussion protocol and returning to full participation on gameday, it’s “day by day” till then.
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