JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — This is getting monotonous.
The Giants keep winning, almost the same way, week after week. Hang in. Stay close. Get tough. Hand the ball to Saquon Barkley and watch him get stronger and stronger as the opponent wilts. Allow Daniel Jones to be the athlete he clearly is, using his arm and his legs to get it done. Bend on defense but when it comes time for the key stop, make it.
It all came together, once again, as the Giants had fun in the sun Sunday at TIAA Bank Field. They trailed, of course, for most of the second half but not when the scoreboard expired, beating the Jaguars 23-17 to keep breathing life into their resurgent season.
It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Giants, who at 6-1 are continuing to stun the NFL with their tightwire winning.
Jones finished with a career-high 107 rushing yards on 11 carries.
This was a poor game for the Giants on defense, until it wasn’t. They did not apply any real pressure on Trevor Lawrence and never got a handle on elusive running back Travis Etienne. Down the stretch, though, Lawrence and Etienne were held in check.
It was also a poor game for the Giants’ rushing attack, until it wasn’t. Barkley had 18 rushing yards at halftime. He finished with 24 carries for 110 yards.
Down 17-13, the Giants came up with a fourth-down stop when Lawrence was stopped for no gain on a sneak at the Giants’ 20-yard line. What followed was a drive that was not all Jones, but he was most of it. The winning points came at the end of a 10-play, 79-yard drive that put the ball in the hands of Jones and Barkley. The big play was a 24-yard run by Jones, who faked the Jaguars into thinking he was going out of bounds on the right sideline as he picked up a few more yards. Barkley then broke out a few juke moves on an 18-yard scamper.
A pass interference penalty on Tyson Campbell for hauling down Darius Slayton in the end zone put the Giants on the 1-yard line and Jones took it in from there. The Giants were up 20-17 with 5:31 to go.
The Giants needed a stop on defense and got it when cornerback Adoree’ Jackson came back from a concussion check to defend against former Giants tight end Evan Engram on a third down pass that dropped to the grass.
Then it was the Barkley show. He ripped off runs of 13, 7 and 20 yards to keep the clock moving and keep the yards churning. Graham Gano hit a 34-yard field goal with 1:07 remaining to give the Giants a six-point lead. Barkley failed to stay in bounds on his third-down run, costing the Giants 42 seconds, as the clock had run down to 25 seconds before a review determined he had stepped out.
The Jaguars’ last shot was not without anxiety for the Giants because of defensive penalties on Jackson and Dane Belton — Belton’s negated an interception by Fabian Moreau — and a roughing the passer penalty on Dexter Lawrence that put the Jaguars on the Giants’ 17-yard line. Lawrence’s final pass, to Christian Kirk, was caught on the 1-yard line and he was hit by Moreau and then Xavier McKinney and then Julian Love from the side. The defenders kept Kirk out of the end zone as the clock ran out.
On the opening drive of the second half, Etienne’s 49-yard run set up Lawrence’s 1-yard touchdown dive to put the Jaguars ahead 17-13 after the extra point try was blocked. The first drive of the second half for the Giants was a good one, helped along when rookie linebacker Devin Lloyd’s interception of Jones was wiped out when linebacker Foyesade Oluokun was called for roughing the passer for nearly head-butting Jones. The drive made it inside the 5-yard line but stalled, with Jones throwing twice for Marcus Johnson. The fourth-down throw was placed in Johnson’s midsection but he dropped the ball near the goal line. As he ran off the field, Jones did what he rarely does — show emotion — when he appeared to look back at the spot of the drop and yell “Catch the ball.’’
The Giants in their first six games scored only three points on their opening drives and a focus for this week was to finally start off strong. Mission accomplished. Jones was crisp from the jump, completing 6 of 7 passes for 65 yards on a robust 75-yard drive capped by his pinpoint toss to Slayton for a 32-yard touchdown hookup, with Slayton getting a step on Tre Herndon and completing a juggling grab.
The 7-0 lead did not last long. Lawrence completed all three of his passes — a well-executed screen to tight end Dan Arnold went for 24 yards — and Etienne notched his first NFL touchdown on a 7-yard run. The Jaguars kicked the extra point to pull even at 7-7 but a rare illegal formation penalty on the extra point prompted coach Doug Pederson to go for two from the 1-yard line. Etienne ran it in and the Jaguars were ahead 8-7.
The Giants did not exactly put the hammer down on defense but allowed only three points the remainder of the first half. The Jaguars were on the move when Etienne ran for 12 yards to the Giants’ 5-yard line, but was separated from the ball on a hit and strip by Xavier McKinney. Love recovered the fumble in the end zone.
Without Barkley to lean on — the Jaguars stuffed him in the first half, limiting him to 18 yards on nine rushing attempts — Jones attempted 22 passes before halftime. This was despite the Giants losing two starting offensive linemen, rookie right tackle Evan Neal and left guard Ben Bredeson to knee injuries.
Rookie Wan’Dale Robinson caught five passes for 50 yards in the first half. His 17-yard gain on a jet sweep and his 11-yard grab helped set up Gano’s 33-yard field goal to pull the Giants within 11-10. Jones’ bullet over the middle to David Sills for 19 yards, followed by a 14-yard strike to rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger, set up Gano’s 33-yard field goal to put the Giants up 13-11 at the break.
Source: New York Post
