More Banjo -Packers vs. Giants.

[Bretsky]

Zach Kruse
@zachkruse2

Hard to believe how undisruptive the Packers defense was against such a bad offense.

2 QB hits
0 sacks
0 pass breakups
4 TFLs

55 plays.

REALLY BAD; I think the NYG had given up around 69 sacks.

The pass rush didn't show up and let Danny Devito look like the best rushing QB in the NFL

[King Friday]

The Giants offense by most measures was very close to the worst in the league coming in. We made them look like SF. Barry has to go. His system isn’t any good. It wallows in mediocrity, turning in a few good games here and there, but far too many clunkers like this against an inferior offense. If MLF doesn’t move on from Barry in the offseason, then he’s not a great HC either, because a great coach will do what is necessary to fix the weak areas on his staff.

[ThunderDan]

5 losses by combined 13 points

Against teams with a combined 25-35 record if you don't count their wins against the Packers.

[Fosco33]

REALLY BAD; I think the NYG had given up around 69 sacks.

The pass rush didn't show up and let Danny Devito look like the best rushing QB in the NFL

Since QB starts were first tracked in 1950, only one NFL starting QB has completed 80% of his passes, rushed for 70+ yards, committed no turnovers and taken no sacks in a game.

That was Tommy DeVito last night.

[Fritz]

This loss really stung, but I’m going to try to be positive.

Reed, Wicks, Musgrave and Kraft have all looked talented enough to be starting caliber players.

Watson looks like a difference maker. I thought he was going to be a boom or bust deep threat and that’s all he’d ever be, but two years in a row he’s showing up as an elite red zone weapon. I think that football IQ shows up in the redone and he finds the open spot in tight areas.

Doubs has strong hands and looks like a reliable 3rd receiver.

Love has bright flashes



It’ll be fun to see them together with a year of seasoning.

I think this is an accurate big-picture look at those players and how the future looks positive regarding those players.

But I'm gonna vent here . . . long- and short-term.

Long term and last night: Joe Barely. They bottled up Barkely for most of the night, yes. But they knew DeVito would rush out of the pocket, yet they had no answer. But my biggest complaint is that last NYG drive. The Packers were up by only a point - not four points or six points. One point. Which is to say, why the hell did Barely set up a prevent defense, as if scoring a TD on a single play was the worst worst worst thing that could happen? My god, did you all see how wide, wide open those Giants receivers were, ten and fifteen yards down the field? The Packers were playing so far back those receivers could catch the ball and turn and run for another seven or eight yards before you even saw a defender in the picture. It made zero sense. Zero. You invited them to do exactly, exactly, what they needed to do - burn the clock and march easily down the field. So easily they didn't even need to use their timeouts. WTF, Joe????

Special teams. The most penalized in the NFL, led by our highly-paid Bisaccia. Sure, there are injuries. But does no other special teams unit in the NFL have injuries? Everybody's got injuries. But the special teams are a negative this year. Could it be because they're so young? Maybe. Carlson I'll give a pass to for this year, though Jake Elliott, rookie kicker in Philly, is killing it. But I'd say next year Carlson needs to show improvement, especially on his longer kicks. Do the coaches not trust him, or does he not have great leg strength, or both? And Keisean Nixon's fumble - yes, fall on the ball, dude.

The Flower - WTF kind of two-point conversion play call was that? I get that I'm a fan, don't see the intricacies of the defense, what he might've seen, but when the casual fan at home can easily observe that the Gints had figured out the end arounds and double reverses, why call anothe one? Okay, fake one and hand it off to Dillon. Or fake one and throw it. But yet another one, when the last three didn't work? Dumb.

Offensive line: sucks. I don't know what the hell happened to Runyan, but he's awful. And we're not big Dillon fans, but when the guy is getting hit a yard behind the line of scrimmage, what do we think is going to happen? He tried bulling his way through and did a good job. But man, the blocking's not that good.

And Love. Cocaine and shots and hookers the night before or something? Or stage too big? Or just a shitty game from a young guy? I don't know, but he sucked last night. He was throwing passes too high most of the game, and on his long shot to the end zone to Toure, had he thrown it farther, Toure was open. It was just a terrible game from him. And on that fumble when he was running to get a first down, why the hell did he not go to the sideline to get around the defender? Why cut back inside, right into a tackle? Man, he had a bad game.

The Flower said something about learning a lesson from this game - that you can't just walk out on the field and expect you'll win because you're supposed to. Something like that. Which tells me these young guys were reading their press clippings this past week. And that's on The Flower, as well as on their youth.

Let's just hope they learn from this. The Tampa Bay game will be a tussle, especially if Joe Barely keeps dialing up soft schemes when the other team is only trying to get into FG range at the end of a half or a game. Ugh.

[call_me_ishmael]

Since QB starts were first tracked in 1950, only one NFL starting QB has completed 80% of his passes, rushed for 70+ yards, committed no turnovers and taken no sacks in a game.

That was Tommy DeVito last night.

Ugh, yikes. This is pretty gross. I would love to see the Packers just go extreme aggressiveness on defense. Go in the complete opposite direction of where they are. Maybe they need another FA signing to shake up the culture a bit like Z.

I tend not to get too high or too low. This is a year of growth and 2025 will be telling, not this year. I think we're gonna come out pretty well because they seem to have drafted very well the last two years. I personally think MILF is the guy. I would like to see a much more aggressive and up tempo D. Is it crazy to think maybe they could lure Rex Ryan out of retirement? I would love that but I doubt he'd give up the cozy TV gig. Plus he's getting older.

[MadtownPacker]

Since QB starts were first tracked in 1950, only one NFL starting QB has completed 80% of his passes, rushed for 70+ yards, committed no turnovers and taken no sacks in a game.

That was Tommy DeVito last night.

Packers made his ass famous like so many other unknown QBs. We have to appreciate the timing and circumstances of the moment. Would’ve been nice to be able to watch it from outside a Packers fan perspective because it’s probably really fun today with all the NY fans acting extra Italiano. Hell I would be having cutlets and spaghetti for dinner tonight to celebrate.

[oldbutnotdeadyet]

Inconsistency is the normal attribute of a young team. I both enjoyed the game AND found it extremely frustrating. I actually still feel better about the season as a whole, and Love's performance. Let's see if next few games changes that opinion.

[Joemailman]

Unsound! What exactly is McDuffie doing here?

[texaspackerbacker]

An overall rotten game. It really sucks to lose to such a crap opponent. What Fritz said about the damn Barry D. LaFleur is a good coach, but his huge weakness is having rotten assistants. After a string of good games, Love came crashing down to earth - for whatever reason, piss poor blocking being one, but a lot of it was just him. Carlson was compared to Elliot, I'll go one better and compare (more like contrast) him to Aubrey. The Packers or anybody coulda had that guy without even using a draft pick. But Jerry Jones got him instead.

I think we still have the tiebreaker on most of those other 6-7 teams, so a playoff run isn't dead yet.

[texaspackerbacker]

There are only 8 or 9 Packers showing in that picture (with 10 Giants). In McDuffie's defense, he may be spying DeVito.

[run pMc]

They spied DeVito in the 2nd half, but I think they should have just been more disciplined in their rush lanes. Gary was bad last night, looping way up and around the arc and DeVito would just run thru the vacated area.

I'm not sure why they played so soft at end of game. That's actually where I'd think you'd want to be more aggressive - if they score fast, you have time to counter with your own drive. They had 2 timeouts. Letting DeVito complete easy throws just gives them confidence. Barry's defense is designed to work when you have a 2 score lead, which is a bad fit for a young team. Unfortunately, I think offenses are bad this year overall AND GB plays at a slow pace AND has allowed a somewhat low number of points per game, so MLF will bring Barry back. Enjoy the defensive dumpster fire in 2024.

Letting DeVito have a career day was beyond frustrating, but it would have been worse if DeVito stunk and Barkley went off. They at least tried to contain Barkley. Not getting pressure AND giving up contain was really maddening though.

As frustrating as the defense was, agree with RG that Love's body language looked off, especially in first half. He wasn't comfortable and poised like he normally is. I have to go back and watch again, but it seemed like whatever Martindale was doing really made him uncomfortable. He was also throwing some really ugly wounded ducks as well...on the telecast they showed a slow motion replay of a throw to Reed that was called for a DPI, and the ball was wobbling like a toddler threw it. Love was at a QB's worst for chunks of this game: inaccurate, lacking poise, turning the ball over. DeVito outplayed him.

I have no idea why Nixon thought it was a good idea to try to run after recovering his own muff on the punt. Dude has balls of steel but the #1 priority is always securing the punt.

Packers played careless, sloppy football. The Giants did too, but they didn't make the killer mistakes GB did.

Also - fuck that Fishface Troy Aikman. Dude acted like he wanted to be anywhere but covering that game. Complaining that the refs should 'just make a decision' is fine, how about they make the right decision. He was right that the teams weren't playing good football, but I'm sure Goodell and others didn't like him complaining about the product on national TV for a healthy chunk of the game. If you got a hot date Troy, maybe quit your job and take Buck with you. Announcing was so bad last night I had to mute them.

[bobblehead]

This loss really stung, but I’m going to try to be positive.

Reed, Wicks, Musgrave and Kraft have all looked talented enough to be starting caliber players.

Watson looks like a difference maker. I thought he was going to be a boom or bust deep threat and that’s all he’d ever be, but two years in a row he’s showing up as an elite red zone weapon. I think that football IQ shows up in the redone and he finds the open spot in tight areas.

Doubs has strong hands and looks like a reliable 3rd receiver.

Love has bright flashes



It’ll be fun to see them together with a year of seasoning.

Proper approach. I see the docs have the dosage right.

Look, this loss sucked, but its the NFL. It was windy. Both QBs stayed with lower risk short throws early. This was the Giants super bowl. Primetime game against a .500 team. We were a young team coming off a beat down of the defending champs on primetime.

Lets be positive. Love brought them back for the lead. The team fought til the end. The model of no alpha and 8 #2/3s is still sound. Love will need to address his happy feet in the off season. It seems clear that Watson does drag defenders downfield and open underneath routes more than we give him credit for.

Negatives....how many games have we seen end with Douglas interceptions over the last 2 years. Douglas no more. I'll be bitter about that all the way til the last snap unless that last snap is Love in victory formation here in Las Vegas.

It was a nice run with a lot of promise. The team is ascending. Lets see how they react to hitting a speed bump. Oh, and Joe Barry seriously has to go.

[bobblehead]

I think this is an accurate big-picture look at those players and how the future looks positive regarding those players.

But I'm gonna vent here . . . long- and short-term.

Long term and last night: Joe Barely. They bottled up Barkely for most of the night, yes. But they knew DeVito would rush out of the pocket, yet they had no answer. But my biggest complaint is that last NYG drive. The Packers were up by only a point - not four points or six points. One point. Which is to say, why the hell did Barely set up a prevent defense, as if scoring a TD on a single play was the worst worst worst thing that could happen? My god, did you all see how wide, wide open those Giants receivers were, ten and fifteen yards down the field? The Packers were playing so far back those receivers could catch the ball and turn and run for another seven or eight yards before you even saw a defender in the picture. It made zero sense. Zero. You invited them to do exactly, exactly, what they needed to do - burn the clock and march easily down the field. So easily they didn't even need to use their timeouts. WTF, Joe????

Special teams. The most penalized in the NFL, led by our highly-paid Bisaccia. Sure, there are injuries. But does no other special teams unit in the NFL have injuries? Everybody's got injuries. But the special teams are a negative this year. Could it be because they're so young? Maybe. Carlson I'll give a pass to for this year, though Jake Elliott, rookie kicker in Philly, is killing it. But I'd say next year Carlson needs to show improvement, especially on his longer kicks. Do the coaches not trust him, or does he not have great leg strength, or both? And Keisean Nixon's fumble - yes, fall on the ball, dude.

The Flower - WTF kind of two-point conversion play call was that? I get that I'm a fan, don't see the intricacies of the defense, what he might've seen, but when the casual fan at home can easily observe that the Gints had figured out the end arounds and double reverses, why call anothe one? Okay, fake one and hand it off to Dillon. Or fake one and throw it. But yet another one, when the last three didn't work? Dumb.

Offensive line: sucks. I don't know what the hell happened to Runyan, but he's awful. And we're not big Dillon fans, but when the guy is getting hit a yard behind the line of scrimmage, what do we think is going to happen? He tried bulling his way through and did a good job. But man, the blocking's not that good.

And Love. Cocaine and shots and hookers the night before or something? Or stage too big? Or just a shitty game from a young guy? I don't know, but he sucked last night. He was throwing passes too high most of the game, and on his long shot to the end zone to Toure, had he thrown it farther, Toure was open. It was just a terrible game from him. And on that fumble when he was running to get a first down, why the hell did he not go to the sideline to get around the defender? Why cut back inside, right into a tackle? Man, he had a bad game.

The Flower said something about learning a lesson from this game - that you can't just walk out on the field and expect you'll win because you're supposed to. Something like that. Which tells me these young guys were reading their press clippings this past week. And that's on The Flower, as well as on their youth.

Let's just hope they learn from this. The Tampa Bay game will be a tussle, especially if Joe Barely keeps dialing up soft schemes when the other team is only trying to get into FG range at the end of a half or a game. Ugh.

You sum up a couple of my gripes. Mainly Love not running to the sideline for the first down, then fumbling. ST sucking regardless of HC, ST coach, GM etc. Our D "bottling" Mahomes, but then leaving wide open lanes for DeVito (just like they did for Herbert). 90% of the QBs can run now. You have to collapse the pocket. They seem incapable of doing that AND stopping the run.

But my biggest grip is the end arounds as you said. You put that play on film and use it when teams are being overly aggressive. Its designed to freeze LBs for a half second so the RBs can gain a step. Once its doing its job you don't call it thinking its a plus play. You hold off calling it until LBs start reacting too fast again. MiLF calls it to call it. It won't be a plus play UNLESS LBs are over pursuing the RBs. After the 2nd one they had stopped, but we kept calling it.

[bobblehead]

They spied DeVito in the 2nd half, but I think they should have just been more disciplined in their rush lanes. .

This. Its obvious to you and I, but a guy who makes millions to be a DC is using a spy. Barry just isn't a good DC and this point shows it as much as any other point I can think of. We did it against Mahomes. They were awesome (I call it "collapsing the pocket", same as staying true to the rush lane). Why change a defense that stopped mahomes just because the QB is now DeVito??

[Sparkey]

There are only 8 or 9 Packers showing in that picture (with 10 Giants). In McDuffie's defense, he may be spying DeVito.

Everyone is getting on McDuffie, but like TPB said, 10 Gmen are in the picture so one receiver ran a deep route. GB shows 8 guys in the frame so three were covering the one deep route. Now I'm not putting it past Barry to call something like that but it seems more like someone left their coverage area.

That being said, as f'ing poorly as Green Bay played, they were able to get the lead with less than 2 minutes left in the game.

The two most important things that Love needs to work on for next year: Keeping a balanced base and throwing on time. His footwork was really bad in the first half, but it did improve 2nd half. As far as throwing on time, I think Martindale was really confusing him with all the different blitz looks he was getting. The footwork is about good reps, the blitz stuff you only learn from by facing. I think we all knew this was a learning season for Love. Think he has a bright future, but that hinges on cleaning up the sloppy base.

[CaptainKickass]

Fuck that Fishface Troy Aikman. Maybe quit your job and take Buck with you. Announcing was so bad last night I had to mute them.

BuckMan™ always sucketh!

[CaptainKickass]

The two most important things that Love needs to work on for next year: His footwork

JT O'Sullivan on his QB School videos has mentioned his poor footwork enough for even I to be able to see he's doing things like adding an extra hitch/half step when he shouldn't be, among other young QB things. Tom Clements has some serious work to do with Jordan Love to correct this long term.

[Joemailman]

MLF acknowledged DB's were playing too far off receivers on last drive. Would not address whether it was due to player decision or coaching decision.

[Joemailman]

PFF Best/Worse Players

Top 5 offense

1. RB Patrick Taylor: 77.9
2. TE Tucker Kraft: 76.4
3. RT Zach Tom: 72.2
4. LT Rasheed Walker: 67.7
5. RB A.J. Dillon: 66.1

Taylor rushed for times for 30 yards and two first downs, caught two passes for 22 yards and a first down and was the team’s highest graded pass-blocker overall. Kraft caught all four targets for 64 yards and three first downs and was excellent as a blocker in both phases. Tom allowed only two hurries and was the offensive line’s top graded run blocker. Walker gave up two pressures, including a sack, but was otherwise solid. Dillon turned 17 touches into 78 total yards and forced six total missed tackles.


Top 5 defense

1. DL Devonte Wyatt: 89.7
2. DL TJ Slaton: 86.9
3. OLB Lukas Van Ness: 72.1
4. LB Isaiah McDuffie: 68.3
5. CB Carrington Valentine: 66.3

Wyatt had a team-high five pressures (all hurries) and four stops against the run. Slaton produced two run stops and a pressure over 34 snaps. Van Ness got bullied on Saquon Barkley’s first touchdown run but also produced one pressure and one run stop. McDuffie had a stop and didn’t allow a catch in coverage but graded out poorly against the run. Valentine gave up four catches, including a touchdown, and had a penalty, but he also produced two stops and a fumble recovery.


Bottom 5 offense

1. TE Ben Sims: 52.4
2. C Josh Myers: 54.6
3. WR Romeo Doubs: 54.7
4. LG Elgton Jenkins: 55.3
5. WR Malik Heath: 55.8

Sims wasn’t targeted and received poor run-blocking grades over 10 snaps. Myers allowed a season-high five pressures including a sack. Doubs ran 39 routes but had just 32 receiving yards on seven targets. Jenkins allowed five pressures, including two quarterback hits, and had a false start. Heath caught 1-of-2 contested targets (on final two plays) over 10 routes and was below average as a blocker.


Bottom 5 defense


1. CB Keisean Nixon: 40.1
2. OLB Kingsley Enagbare: 40.9
3. CB Corey Ballentine: 46.1
4. DL Karl Brooks: 50.1
5. S Darnell Savage: 57.9

Nixon gave up four catches for a team-high 60 yards, including the back-breaking 32-yarder to Wan’Dale Robinson. He also missed a tackle. Enagbare had three hurries but graded very poorly against the run. Ballentine, an ex-Giant, allowed two catches, missed two tackles and was the defense’s lowest graded run defender. Brooks didn’t have a pressure over 13 pass-rush snaps and struggled against the run. Savage missed a team-high three tackles and was responsible for three completions.


Special teams

Rudy Ford and Anthony Johnson Jr. both committed 15-yard penalties on special teams. Ford recovered a fumble. The Packers didn’t have a tackle or miss on special teams. Anders Carlson connected on 3-of-4 field goals, with a long of 48 and a miss from 45. Daniel Whelan put 1-of-3 punts inside the 20-yard line but averaged under 40 yards per punt. Keisean Nixon fumbled away a punt return. Overall, this was the Packers’ second-lowest graded game on special teams.


Quarterback

Jordan Love: 58.6 Love finished with three “big-time throws” and two “turnover-worthy plays.” He hit on just 1-of-5 passes thrown over 20 yards and 3-of-10 passes thrown over 10 yards, averaged just 2.3 yards per attempt under pressure (14 of 41 dropbacks) and received a poor run grade after losing a fumble. Love had seven completions thrown behind the line of scrimmage gaining only five yards. Monday night was Love’s second-lowest grade of the 2023 season.