Giants Film Review: Jayden Daniels Sacked 5 Times, Scrambles for 103 Yards in 27-27 Tie With Commanders
Coach John Harbaugh said the Giants had four-man rushes called on Jayden Daniels' long runs, and Marcus Mbow played the last 45 snaps at right tackle after Jermaine Eluemunor was hurt.
The Giants sacked Jayden Daniels five times in Sunday's 27-27 overtime tie with the Washington Commanders, two more than they had in their first four games combined. Daniels also gained 103 yards and scored two touchdowns on seven scrambles. His only designed run gained 1 yard, and he took a kneel-down for minus-1.
Opposing quarterbacks had scrambled five times for 24 yards against the Giants in their first four games. Daniels' 103 scramble yards are the most by any quarterback in a game this season through Sunday's games, by our count from nflverse play-by-play.
The pressure plan
Through four games the Giants had 20 pressures on 143 dropbacks, a 14.0% rate that was the lowest in the league, by our calculation from Pro Football Reference's pressure charting and nflverse dropbacks. They had three sacks. Our Oct. 1 analysis found Brian Burns had five of the Giants' first 11 pressures before he went on injured reserve, and defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson said that day the Giants would send extra pressure without him.
FTN's charting, published through nflverse, shows the change began against Arizona: The Giants rushed five or more on 21 of 39 dropbacks in Week 4 (54%), up from 27 of 104 (26%) in the first three games. The league rate through four weeks was 31%. FTN had not published charting for Sunday's games as of Monday afternoon, so we could not count Week 5 ourselves. ESPN's Jordan Raanan reported Monday, citing Next Gen Stats, that the Giants rushed five or more on 62% of Daniels' dropbacks and blitzed a defensive back on 41% of them.
Daniels had been sacked once in his first two games. Sunday he was sacked five times on 37 dropbacks.
| Time | Down and distance | Spot | Sack by | Loss | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr., 6:49 | 2nd-and-8 | WAS 42 | Abdul Carter | 6 | Punt two plays later |
| 1st qtr., 3:29 | 3rd-and-10 | WAS 15 | Dru Phillips | 8 | Punt from the WAS 7 |
| 4th qtr., 5:50 | 3rd-and-8 | WAS 39 | Dru Phillips | 6 | Punt; Giants drove 72 yards for the tying TD |
| 4th qtr., 0:44 | 2nd-and-10 | WAS 49 | Arvell Reese | 3 | Timeout, incompletion, punt |
| OT, 0:12 | 2nd-and-8 | NYG 24 | Tremaine Edmunds | 0 | Time expired |
Four of the five came on shotgun snaps, and the last did not, the play-by-play shows. The play-by-play does not record how many players rushed on each sack. Raanan also reported that the defensive-back blitzes produced three sacks. The box score credits Dru Phillips with four of the Giants' seven quarterback hits; Abdul Carter, Arvell Reese and Tremaine Edmunds had one each.
Pro Football Reference adds its charted hurries for a week's games the following Wednesday, so a complete Week 5 pressure rate is not available yet.
The scrambles
Daniels' two rushing touchdowns were a 38-yard scramble on second-and-6 in the third quarter and a 26-yard scramble on third-and-2 early in the fourth. With a two-point pass to Terry McLaurin, the second put Washington up 27-13. An 11-yard scramble on third-and-11 set up a second-quarter field goal. A 16-yard scramble on second-and-4 with 1:09 left in overtime carried Washington into Giants territory on its last drive.
Asked in his postgame news conference about Daniels' runs, coach John Harbaugh said, "We didn't have spies calling those runs." He said the Giants had "four-man rushes called."
SNY posted video of Harbaugh's postgame remarks.
Who played
Kayvon Thibodeaux and Carter each played 54 of 62 defensive snaps (87%), after 95% and 97% against Arizona. Jihad Ward played 23 snaps in his first game back with the Giants, and Trace Ford played 16, up from three. D.J. Reader, Shelby Harris and Darius Alexander split the interior snaps almost evenly. Chauncey Golston, who played 25 snaps against Arizona, has been on injured reserve since Saturday.
| Defense | Week 4 vs. ARI (66 snaps) | Week 5 at WAS (62 snaps) |
|---|---|---|
| Abdul Carter, OLB | 64 (97%) | 54 (87%) |
| Kayvon Thibodeaux, OLB | 63 (95%) | 54 (87%) |
| Jihad Ward, OLB | Did not play | 23 (37%) |
| Trace Ford, OLB | 3 (5%) | 16 (26%) |
| Arvell Reese, LB | 66 (100%) | 62 (100%) |
| Tremaine Edmunds, LB | 66 (100%) | 62 (100%) |
| D.J. Reader, DL | 42 (64%) | 32 (52%) |
| Shelby Harris, DL | 37 (56%) | 32 (52%) |
| Darius Alexander, DL | 36 (55%) | 33 (53%) |
| Chauncey Golston, DL | 25 (38%) | Injured reserve |
| Dru Phillips, CB | 43 (65%) | 48 (77%) |
| Tyler Nubin, S | 51 (77%) | 35 (56%) |
| Ar'Darius Washington, S | Did not play | 29 (47%) |
| Jason Pinnock, S | 17 (26%) | Did not play |
Tyler Nubin was hurt with 13:00 left in the fourth quarter. Ar'Darius Washington played 29 snaps at safety, and Jevon Holland played all 62. Colton Hood was hurt covering a kickoff late in the third quarter; he has not played a defensive snap in either of the last two games. Greg Newsome II and Deonte Banks played every snap at corner.
On offense, Bryan Hudson played all 89 snaps at center, as he did against Arizona. John Michael Schmitz played four special-teams snaps. Jermaine Eluemunor was hurt on a J.J. McCarthy run with 6:42 left in the third quarter, and Marcus Mbow played the last 45 snaps at right tackle. Jameis Winston was sacked twice on 24 dropbacks before the injury and not at all on 36 dropbacks after it. Harbaugh said that with the Giants down, they "started going no huddle" and "started throwing the ball, drop back game." McCarthy played five snaps. Isaiah Likely played 71 snaps (80%), Theo Johnson 43 and fullback Patrick Ricard 21.
Three plays that decided it
Likely's 17-yard touchdown. Down 27-13 with 7:24 left, the Giants called timeout and faced fourth-and-8 at the Washington 17. Winston threw to Likely over the middle. The officials ruled that Likely was stopped at the 1 and fumbled, and that Washington's Rasul Douglas forced the fumble and recovered it in the end zone for a touchback. The replay official reviewed the ruling that Likely was short of the goal line and reversed it to a touchdown.
Skattebo's fumble. In overtime the Giants had first-and-10 at the Washington 24 with 2:00 left and no timeouts. Dominic Zvada had missed from 46 yards earlier in the period. Harbaugh said the plan was to run, "protect the football," take a knee and kick, so Washington would have no time to answer a miss. Cam Skattebo had runs of 9 and 5 yards to get there. On the next carry Daron Payne forced a fumble, and Washington recovered. "That field goal's very makeable, but it's not a gimme," Harbaugh said.
The last snap. Washington started at its 23 with 1:55 left and no timeouts. Daniels completed three passes and scrambled for 16 yards to reach the Giants 26. Rachaad White ran for 2 yards with 55 seconds left, and Washington did not snap the ball again until 12 seconds remained. On second-and-8 from the 24, Edmunds sacked Daniels for no gain, and time ran out.
Next: New Orleans
Tyler Shough has started all five games for the Saints (1-4) and has 16 carries for 72 yards. By our count from nflverse play-by-play, six of those carries were scrambles, for 55 yards, in 223 dropbacks. Nine were designed runs for 18 yards, and one was a kneel-down. Daniels scrambled seven times in 37 dropbacks Sunday.
The Giants host the Saints on Sunday.