The New York Giants’ surprising 27-22 win in London against the Green Bay Packers might not signal any meaningful arrival onto the NFL scene, but it certainly means NFL fans will take them much more seriously.
New York Giants Forcing Us to Reconsider What It Means To Be “For Real”
At 4-1, it’s easy to ignore mistakes like forgetting to call a timeout as the Packers were driving near the goal line to preserve time for a potential comeback drive or forgetting that the Packers had two timeouts as they tried to kneel out the clock after the turnover on downs.
Instead, it’s easier to remember that the Giants forced a turnover on downs in the first place and generated a sack on the final Hail Mary attempt. And as memories of game management mistakes fade, observers instead turn to the question of how head coach Brian Daboll turned a team missing three of its five receivers, one of their two early-round pass-rushers, and their best run-defending interior lineman was able to topple NFC royalty three hours after a moving rendition of God Save the King.
How teams manage expectations and reality – how our illusion of what teams are and the reality of how they play – has been a big theme of the season, and in particular of games played in London, as Americans try to convince the English that football is played with a prolate spheroid.
The Giants are 17th in offensive expected points added and 16th in defensive expected points added. They have a quarterback averaging 6.0 yards per attempt – 29th in the league – and a defense giving up 7.0 yards per attempt. And, to this point, they don’t care.
To Daboll’s credit, how a coach adapts to personnel changes, changing game conditions, team morale, and the weekly gameplan matter much more than the most visible moments fans have available to them. And Daboll seemingly executed it perfectly.
Initially, the offense seemed far too reliant on their oft-injured but outstanding star running back Saquon Barkley. The first six offensive plays were all intended for Barkley. Those plays occurred over two drives and resulted in two punts.
As soon as they moved on from that, allowing Barkley to dominate touches but not consume them, the Giants’ offense was moving. Indeed, over those first six plays, they generated four yards. Not four yards per play, but four total yards.
After the Giants decided to distribute the ball to role players like Darius Slayton, Richie James, Daniel Bellinger, and Marcus Johnson, Barkley took advantage of the extra space and earned 102 yards on 13 plays. As he got going, he was even able to take direct snaps and take advantage of the extra blockers that wildcat formations afford.
Players like Slayton played a critical role, and he earned 79 total yards on six receptions, with a first down on every single catch, if we’re including the penalty following his final reception.
And they have the opportunity to get better – they had 14 players on the injury report. Not only were they missing Kenny Golladay, Wan’Dale Robinson, Kadarius Toney, Leonard Williams, and Azeez Ojulari, Jones was playing through an ankle injury, and Barkley sustained a shoulder injury during the game.
Are the Giants a “real” 4-1 team? In the way that question is meant, probably not. But that doesn’t matter until it does, and Daboll is doing all he can to make sure that it doesn’t matter. One of the last teams to win unsustainably all the way to the playoffs was the Buffalo Bills – with Daboll as offensive coordinator.
Despite the missing personnel – often forcing the Giants to play with three tight ends and one receiver on the field – Jones averaged over 8.0 yards per passing attempt and put up perhaps his best performance of this early-season stretch. As Daboll said after the game, “The quarterback had an excellent game. He’s had a few of those.”
Jones wasn’t perfect – he had some issues with pocket presence and could have had some throws back – but play like this and the prior game before his ankle injury will be key to any sustained relevance the Giants have. Trailing only the undefeated Eagles in the NFC East, the Giants are quickly turning into an underdog that continuously punches above its weight.
What Are the 2022 Green Bay Packers?
On the other side is a Packers team that is clearly not what it once was. While still sporting a winning record, their play on the field seems discordant and unlike the teams we’re used to seeing under Matt Lafleur.
“We have yet to put together a complete game as a team,” said Lafleur after the game. “It’s like every game is one good half.”
That might feel true, but even in the successful first half, where the Packers scored all 20 of their points, Green Bay was out of sorts. Much of the offensive production seemed to come from penalty production, with 33 penalty yards playing a big role in one of their two touchdown drives. Otherwise, they only had one drive of over 50 yards.
Defensively, the Packers were hoping for things to come together as well. With remarkable talent at all levels of the defense, including nose tackle Kenny Clark, linebacker De’Vondre Campbell and cornerback Jaire Alexander – not to mention emerging pass rusher Rashan Gary, first-round pick Quay Walker and on-again-off-again talent Darnell Savage – they should be playing much better. Instead, they looked lost in coverage and turned around in the run game.
The Packers have historically started slow, and they’ve fallen back on Aaron Rodgers’ mantra to R-E-L-A-X, uttered after fan discontent following a 1-2 start to the 2014 season. They finished that year 12-4 and made the playoffs, one botched onside kick recovery from the Super Bowl. That said, these promises haven’t always come through – they did miss the playoffs in 2017 and 2018, after all.
And the Packers are pretty late in the season to be demanding patience, though having a couple of wins under their belt as they figure it out will be big. While the next two games aren’t projected to be big challenges, they follow those matchups against the Jets and Commanders with games against the Bills, Lions, and Cowboys.
The Giants are determined to prove that their record is a reflection of who they are as a team. That may or may not be the case – the real question might not be if the Giants are real but if the Packers are.