What did we learn from the Giants’ 33-15 loss to the Patriots?

I had an opening to this post all lined up before the game: About Brian Daboll, for all his shortcomings, knowing how to evaluate quarterbacks, and how tonight’s game would match the quarterback he wanted last year and couldn’t get against the quarterback he wanted this year and was able to get. About whether Jaxson Dart would tone it down a bit coming off his concussion and seek to avoid unnecessary contact. About how new defensive coordinator Charlie Bullen might be able to rally the defense with a more aggressive approach and make a game of it against the 10-2 New England Patriots, especially with the New York Giants’ best cornerback, Paulson Adebo, returning to the lineup.

None of it mattered, though, as the Giants laid one of their familiar eggs that they manage to every season. In 2023, it was the 40-0 opener vs. Dallas. Last year, it was their post-bye 30-7 shellacking by Tampa Bay after returning from the bye and releasing Daniel Jones. This year, it was tonight’s desultory showing in Foxboro, a 33-15 embarrassment of a game that was for all intents and purposes over by the end of the first quarter.

What did we learn from this sorry showing?

Mike Kafka had better get his resume ready

Kafka was 0-2 as interim head coach in his first two tries, but the Giants led both games and played spirited ball against better opponents. The defense let them down in the fourth quarter of both games, but that was at least partly attributable to the vanilla defensive scheme of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. With Bowen jettisoned last Monday, there was hope that interim DC Charlie Bullen might get the Giants’ pass rush going, confuse Maye with disguised defenses, and give the Giants a chance to preserve a fourth quarter lead for a change.

What we got, though, was an embarrassment on both sides of the ball. The defense if anything was worse than it ever looked this year under Bowen. The Patriots marched up and down the field with little resistance most of the evening. Meanwhile, the Giants’ offense looked stuck in the mud (though there was no actual mud). After they were already down 17-0 before the first quarter was even over, the Giants got the ball back, and Deonte Banks returned the kickoff to the 38-yard line. Good position to start a drive to get back in the game. Kafka proceeded to call five consecutive running plays. Three of them gained 1 yard, continuing a Giants trend of not being able to run the ball effectively early in games. What are we doing here? Trying to run out the clock? Fortunately they had one running play in each series that kept the chains moving. Kafka seemed to have little confidence in the Giants’ receivers against the New England secondary.

Finally, Kafka had Dart throw to Theo Johnson, who wasn’t able to quite make the catch but drew a penalty for a late hit. That put the ball at the New England 30, and finally Kafka called a pass on first down. Dart diagnosed a Patriots bltiz, changed the call, and hit Darius Slayton on an in route, Slayton made a beautiful cut and outraced five defenders to the end zone to give the Giants brief hope. Only brief, though, as the Patriots scored 10 second quarter points to take a 27-7 lead into the locker room.

If Kafka wanted to make his case as a head coach candidate because of his great offensive play design, he didn’t succeed with Monday’s game plan. We also saw that he didn’t exactly get through to Dart, who early in the game tried to squeeze every last yard out of a scramble and got blasted by Christian Elliss before getting out of bounds . At least Kafka seemed to keep the designed runs for Dart on the shelf.

Maybe Abdul Carter should be benched at the start of every game

If Kafka wanted to make his case for head coach as a motivator and respected leader, tonight did not help. We learned tonight that there was yet another Abdul Carter incident this week of him apparently missing a meeting or some other team event, although Kafka refused to actually say that. Once again, Kafka benched Carter to start the game. Kafka apparently got the memo that sitting for the first series was not enough to get his message across. This time Carter cooled his heels for the entire first quarter. Maybe it lit a fire under him, because he had arguably his best game as a Giant, with his first solo sack, a QB hit, and four pressures overall. Was it a sign that Carter has finally woken up? Or was it just that the Patriots were missing two of their starting offensive linemen?

It will be a while before we know, because the Giants now head to the bye. Hopefully Carter won’t go on any ATV rides.

Our long special teams nightmare isn’t finally over

The Giants are not Pro Football Focus’ lowest ranked special teams group. In fact they’re middle of the pack. It’s hard for me to imagine what truly bad special teams play is, if this is middle of the pack. The Giants play PFF’s lowest ranked special teams group, Las Vegas, in a few weeks. I look forward to watching that.

Tonight we had:

• With the score 3-0 Patriots, the Giants’ first drive fizzled and they punted. Jamie Gillan seemed to outkick his punt coverage, because Marcus Jones took the punt at the Patriots’ 6-yard line and returned it 94 yards for a TD to put New England up 10-0.

• Then in the second quarter, after the Patriots’ punter shanked a punt that set the Giants up at the 44-yard line, they drove down and almost scored, but Theo Johnson could not come down with a pass into the end zone. No problem. Kick a 47-yard field goal, cut the lead to 17-10, and they’re right back in the game…except that Younghoe Koo actually caught his kicking foot in the grass as he swung his leg forward and never kicked the ball. I have never seen that in 66 years of watching NFL football.

• Meanwhile, Gunner Olszewski left with a concussion suffered on a Giants’ kickoff return.

Maybe Paulson Adebo should have gone on IR

The Giants’ pass defense was supposed to tighten up this week with Paulson Adebo returning from a knee injury that caused him to miss five games. It didn’t. Maye mercilessly picked on Adebo all evening, targeting him 11 times and completing 8 for 95 yards and a touchdown. Maye had a 129.0 passer rating when targeting Adebo. I have no reason to think that Adebo isn’t fully healed, but if this is the type of play he’s giving them, it’s not a good sign.

If a harsh light is shined on GM Joe Schoen at season’s end, his decisions in signing free agents may eventually be his undoing. Adebo was the big signing of the offseason, someone who would tighten up the secondary and allow the pass rush time to get home. For a lot of the season, he hasn’t been that, nor has safety Jevon Holland, who has also missed a couple of games. Adebo doesn’t have an interception this season, and Holland’s only one came last week in Detroit off a deflection.

At this point, it is difficult to say whether the Giants’ secondary is improved at all over last season.