The Giants played a home game. The Giants lost their home game. The Giants failed to score a touchdown in their home games. Rinse and repeat.
It's already a situation that I can't take my eyes off. Watching this crime is like taking a stress test. You can put one foot in front of the other on a steep hill, get nowhere, and still feel exhausted.
The Giants failed to score a touchdown for the third time in four games in the loss at MetLife Stadium. The 28-3 loss by the Eagles turned a picturesque afternoon of blue skies and spring-like temperatures into a whirlwind new experience for Giants fans.
Here are some of the bad things that came out of the Giants' fifth loss of the season.
— The way Saquon Barkley crushed his former team would have been an even bigger body blow and an even bigger story if head coach Brian Daboll hadn't ultimately stopped Daniel Jones. Yes, Daboll said he benched Jones early in the fourth quarter and brought in backup Drew Lock to find a spark. In short, this is what he said. “Considering we had 100 total yards at the time, it couldn't have been any worse.” And yes, Daboll said this is a temporary bench and that Jones will be the starting QB “going forward.”
Still, what Barkley did was absolutely embarrassing from the Giants' perspective. His 176 rushing yards were the second-most in NFL history by a player against his former team. His 187 total yards were 68 more than the Giants as a team. Remember when data general manager Joe Schon revealed that running backs start to regress at age 27? Now, Barkley is 27 years old and has 761 yards from scrimmage this season. . It was the most by a player in his first six games with the team since Barkley gained 811 yards from scrimmage as a rookie in 2018. Barkley becomes the fifth player in league history to do so. He gained at least 115 scrimmage yards in five of his first six games with the team. He joins Curtis Martin, Adrian Peterson, Billy Sims and Kurt Warner in that exclusive group.
Barkley's 176 rushing yards were the most against the Giants in MetLife Stadium's 15-year history. The most yards Barkley ran for at MetLife Stadium while with the Giants was 152 yards against the Texans on Nov. 13, 2022.
As expected, Barkley didn't make it personal when he talked about playing against the Giants for the first time earlier this week. Of course he wasn't telling the truth. Of course it was personal to him. After that, he took the high road, which is no surprise. Barkley was well aware of his public image and had no interest in dancing while the Giants were down. His new Eagles teammates understood what this meant to him.
“I think it's a truism,” quarterback Jalen Hurts said. “Everything that has been publicly documented about his journey to becoming an Eagle. I'm also happy with how he's been able to keep the main thing the main thing. He's grown and I'm proud of him.”
— Want to know about alarming statistics and dark historical events? If not, look away.
The Giants allowed 269 rushing yards, the most points allowed in a game in nearly a decade. On November 9, 2014, he allowed 350 yards in a 38-17 loss to the Seahawks.
— The Giants' offense was so weak that the Eagles had nothing to do in the second half other than run the ball and eat up time, even though their halftime lead was only 14-3 I realized that. After halftime, Hurts threw only four passes, completing two of them for 16 yards. What is this, the old Army ground-and-pound team?Thus, the Eagles won easily despite having only 70 net passing yards. This was the fewest net passing yards against the Giants since October 3, 2010, when the Bears had just 51 net passing yards in the Giants' 17-3 win.
— Daboll called plays that were supposed to kick start the offense. In fact, it was more of a headache. The 119 total yards was the lowest loss of 31 yards in a game since Daboll arrived in 2022. The 43 net passing yards were the second-fewest total yards under Daboll. The 10 first downs were tied for the fewest total under Daboll.
— The 25-point loss was the fifth-largest loss under Daboll. Most worryingly, the two games with the biggest margins were against the Cowboys, and the next three games were against the Eagles, including a playoff game after the 2022 season. Instead of gaining a foothold in the NFC East, the Giants are being thrown around in their own division.
— The Giants believed they were better prepared to deal with the loss of left tackle Andrew Thomas this season than they were a year ago. If you're going to judge this from a one-game trial, they were wrong. He allowed a season-high eight sacks after allowing fewer than three sacks in the previous five games. Replacement left tackle Josh Ezeudu wasn't up to the task, and the rest of the starting lineup couldn't pick up the slack as effectively as needed to compensate for the loss of a top player.
— Daboll continues to lament the lack of explosive plays on offense, plays that gain more than 20 yards. His longest gain was 15 yards in last week's 17-7 loss to the Bengals. His longest gain against the Eagles was 14 yards. Meanwhile, their former best playmaker showed what they're missing. Barkley had runs of 55, 41 and 38 yards against opponents.
— The last time the Giants were 0-4 at home was in 2018 — Barkley's rookie season and Pat Shurmur's first year as head coach.
— Malik Nabors returned after missing the past two games with a severe concussion and played 54 of 58 snaps on offense. Was that too much of a burden in his first game back? He wasn't that important. He was targeted eight times and caught four passes for 41 yards. But again, the passing game and pass protection were aging, so no one became much of a factor. It will be difficult to keep Neighbors in good spirits after a game like this. He said he got open a few times but the ball just wasn't coming to him. That's difficult for a 21-year-old.
— Jarrin Hiatt took the field three snaps late and took a hit on one play, cracking his ribs. What a disappointing second year for a player who was supposed to play a key role in the downfield passing attack. The Hyatt front has one at 6 yards.
