Giants-Chargers: 5 plays that led to New York’s victory

The New York Giants defeated the Los Angeles Chargers, 21-18, at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. For the first time all season, the Giants played complementary football. The defense forced two turnovers and pressured Justin Herbert all game; the special teams were crisp, and the offense did enough with a rookie quarterback and despite an immense loss to score two touchdowns en route to victory. 

New York scored 10 points off the two turnovers that were both taken inside the 5-yard line. The red zone offense scored twice but still had plenty of issues, including a fourth-quarter turnover on downs where Wan’Dale Robinson failed to secure a touchdown pass from Jaxson Dart.

The loss of Malik Nabers is beyond devastating for the team. A profound loss that transcends just this game. Despite the injury, the Giants still found a way to defeat a formidable opponent. I included the Omarion Hampton play below, for the Giants’ inability to fit the run consistently is becoming an annoying problem. Here are five plays, or a sequence of plays, that led to the victory. 

Play(s) 1: Takeaways

The New York Giants had just five interceptions last season, but they intercepted Justin Herbert twice, resulting in 10 points for. Herbert’s pass met the big paw of Dexter Lawrence at the end of the first quarter, and Lawrence nearly took it all the way to the house:

Unfortunately, the Giants lost a yard on three plays from the 3-yard line, and Jude McAtamney kicked a 22-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead. The Giants’ inefficient red zone offense was an issue, again, for New York, but the Giants DID score twice in the red zone. More on that later. First, Dru Phillips’ interception off the rub concept in the third quarter.

Tyler Conklin (83) set a pick for Ladd McConkey (15) and Phillips – who played exceptionally well – did a phenomenal job slingshotting around McConkey and coming away clean from the rub concept against man coverage. Phillips got his eyes up and located the Herbert pass for an interception. Two plays later, Jaxson Dart would “throw” his first NFL touchdown pass.

Play 2: Jaxson Dart’s first touchdown pass

Complementary football; Phllips gets the interception and Dart finds Theo Johnson underneath on a well-designed Kansas City Chiefs styled shovel pass:

Two receivers stalk blocking with the fake pitch/option to Cam Skattebo (44) displaced two second level defenders, and brought them closer to the line of scrimmage, which allowed Johnson to spin into the end zone. Jon Runyan Jr. (76) did a good job kicking out the fake play-side read defender. A rare successful and well designed red zone play by Mike Kafka. 

Play 3: Omarion Hampton for 54 yards

The Chargers responded quickly and shrunk the Giants’ 11-point lead to a three-point lead after the Giants’ run defense failed to stop Hampton (8) and a 2-point conversion run by Justin Herbert:

Shotgun G/H counter against a middle-of-the-field closed look, with Tyler Nubin (27) as the deep safety. Darius Muasau (53) fits first and takes on the pulling back-side guard; Muasau went into the inside shoulder of the puller. Paulson Adebo (21) fit on the pulling H-Back, and met one yard past the line of scrimmage, with Brian Burns (0) setting the edge.

Bobby Okereke, however, went inside of Muasau and did not overlap, leaving the C-Gap open. The displacement of the three-technique (Darius Alexander, I believe) led to a much larger hole to deal with; perhaps that distracted Okereke, briefly, but the veteran did not get outside after Muasau’s path. Tyler Nubin then took a poor angle from depth and Hampton outran him to the end zone. 

It was possibly looking like another catastrophic meltdown from the Giants, but the team stayed strong and finished. Overall, the run defense wasn’t abysmal, but the lack of consistency is problematic; it seems like there’s always one or two rushing plays a game that are devastating for the unit. 

Play(s) 4: Giants’ first offensive drive

The Giants had an excellent opening script that kept the Chargers on their toes, after the Giants’ defense forced a three-and-out. Dart led a nine-play, 89-yard drive that was concluded by this Dart rushing touchdown:

The Giants leaned on this QB draw with Skattebo as the lead blocker several times. New York attempted it on third and goal in the fourth quarter and it was stuffed. Still, it was a major part of the Giants’ offensive success in the football game.

The Giants had just one third down on their opening possession – a third-and-1 that was easily secured by Cam Skattebo. Malik Nabers had two catches for 20 yards on the drive, and he also drew a 14 yard pass interference penalty. 

Play 5: Brian Burns’ sack

The Giants only sacked Justin Herbert twice, but constant pressure was applied through the game against a porous and injured Chargers’ offensive line. Herbert hit the deck several times, including this third-and-9 loss at midfield:

Los Angeles failed to pick up Burns on the T/E twist, and the star pass rusher sacked Herbert for a loss of 16 yards, forcing a punt with 3:03 left in a three-point game. The Giants offense then went on to possess the ball for 2:34, forcing the Chargers to burn all three of their timeouts before failing to get into field goal range with 18 seconds left on the clock. Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Abdul Carter all played very well in the game.