Giants Vs Packers Pro Football Focus Grades Wildcard Weekend
From Pro Football Focus
“Quarterback grade: Eli Manning, 75.0
Eli Manning’s outings at Lambeau Field helped cement his status as a franchise quarterback. Although his fantastic streak was ended, his performance did nothing to tarnish that reputation. Instead, he could legitimately look at those around him with accusing eyes. Discounting drops, batted passes and throwaways, he missed only 13 throws, finishing with 23 completions for 299 yards, one touchdown and an interception deep into garbage time. Although Manning’s location was not always perfect, particularly on deeper and intermediate throws, he made two outstanding plays only to see his receivers drop passes in the end zone. The Giants’ offense underperformed in their Wild Card loss, unlike their quarterback.
Top offensive grades:
WR Tavarres King, 76.4
QB Eli Manning, 75.0
TE Will Tye, 74.6
OC Weston Richburg, 71.6
WR Sterling Shepard, 71.5
Receiving corps issues leave Giants exposed
Much of New York’s success has been forged behind a dynamic receiving corps. Odell Beckham Jr. chose a bad time to have his worst game in quite some time. Coming into the game with only 14 career dropped passes, ODB put a trio of balls on the turf, including during the crucial opening exchanges when the Giants had the upper hand. Sterling Shepard and Tavarres King both had solid games, catching seven of 14 targets for 136 yards and a touchdown between them, but the Packers’ decision to commit extra resources to pass defense ultimately proved decisive.
Top defensive grades:
S Landon Collins, 79.5
LB Keenan Robinson, 79.1
DT Jonathan Hankins, 76.4
CB Leon Hall, 69.3
DT Jay Bromley, 67.7
Lack of pass rush strains secondary
The Giants’ secondary will deservingly receive some flack for their second-half performance, but the Giants’ pass rush did little to help out the coverage. The majority of pressure they were able to get on Rodgers came on clean-up plays or after four seconds into the play. Giants’ high-paid defensive end Olivier Vernon had his lowest pass-rush grade of the season going against Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari, who entered the game as the highest-graded tackle in pass protection this season. Vernon managed just two hurries on a whopping 46 pass rushes. On the other side of the line, Romeo Okwara had just a clean-up sack as his only pressure on 37 pass rushes. The other issue for the Giants’ defense was losing Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who was injured after just two snaps on defense. So instead of having one of the highest-graded cornerbacks in coverage on the field, the Giants were forced to play Leon Hall and Trevin Wade more. While Hall fared well, Wade gave up receptions on all three targets, and allowed a perfect passer rating into his coverage.”
