Daniel Jones and the Giants offense were feeling great after last week’s win over the Detroit Lions. They hoped that this momentum would cross over into this week’s game versus the Indianapolis Colts. The previous superbowl winning coach retired abruptly leaving Coach Codes as the new coach. Not much was known about this new coach, however, if his first game versus the Texans was any indication then the Giants knew the Colts would run the ball up the middle most of the game. This was the defensive gameplan that Coach Burn schemed for with the offensive game plan the same as last week.
The game started off with a bang as the Colts ran the first kickoff back for a touchdown. After the Giants scored, things went as planned with the Colts running up the middle. Even with the game plan they came up with to stop the run, the Giants were giving up enough yards to where the Colts were able to convert on third down and move the chains on most drives. The Colts took off most of the clock with these drives to the point that only two full possessions were given to the Giants before the half. After the half the Colts kept rushing the football, however, the Giants defense got a stop and took the lead 26 -21 with 8 minutes left in the game. This lead wouldn’t last long as on the ensuing kickoff the Giants would give up their second kick return of the game.
Down three the Giants would get to the Colts 36 yard line where a sequence of plays would lose them the game. On first down, a play action pass was called, however, linebacker Okerke would come unblocked for a quick sack. On second down Golladay would get 15 yards to make it 3 & 5. On 3 & 5 Coach Burn called a shot play for Toney which ended in defensive tackle Stewart breaking through a double team for the sack. Toney was open for a touchdown if Jones could have gotten the ball off. 4th & 15 on the 41 isn’t in field goal range for the Giants kicker so the call was to go for it. Coach Burn called the perfect play in order to get the yards, however, before Jones was able to drop back five steps Left End Turay was able to beat two offensive lineman and Barkely for the quick sack. Turay left one lineman on the ground with the other standing there blocking no one with his hands up. After this the Giants would all out blitz, however, they would give up a touchdown. After a Daneil Jones throw out of sack interception, the game ended in a score of 36-26.
All things considered, Daniel Jones had another impressive game throwing the ball. While he did have the one interception, that came in a desperate time, it had no effect on the final outcome. Jones was efficient with the ball and had his offensive line held up in the final moment, he could have won the game for the Giants. Jones, who is up for resigning as of this week, is playing like a man who wants to stay with the team.
The defense created two turnovers, however, allowed the Colts to consistently convert on third down. Ironically it wasnt Taylor who worked them in the run game, it was Mack. Mack sliced through their defense like a knife through butter. This combined with the two kick returns they gave up was all that was needed for the Colts to win. This was another game where the defense gave up at least 30 points which makes for 7 in 10 games.
After last week’s victory, the Giants find themselves once again in a position that could have been prevented. If a few plays went differently they could have had their first winning streak since week 1. Instead, they are sitting at 3-7 and on the verge of being officially knocked out of the playoffs. They need to treat each game as a playoff game going forward and it starts with the Arizona Cardinals next week.
