Giants-Falcons highlights: One last look back at Giants’ 10th straight loss

The New York Giants are now in SOLE possession of the number one selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. They are the only two-win team in the league after Antonio Pierce and the Raiders defeated Jacksonville 19-14. Oh yeah, and the Giants lost 34-7 in Atlanta — no surprise!

New York set a franchise record with their 10th consecutive loss. The Giants could end the season with only two wins; the last time New York ended a season with two victories was in 1974. The Giants host the Indianapolis Colts next week and then travel to Philadelphia for Week 18.

The game against the Colts is Brian Daboll’s last chance to provide the home crowd with a victory. Giants’ faithful have witnessed eight losses at MetLife Stadium, and they’ve been outscored 199 to 85 at home. The 7-8 Colts are currently 7.5-point favorites at MetLife.

The Giants have not won at Lincoln Financial Field in over a decade; their last win in Philadelphia was a 15-7 win against Matt Barkley in 2013. Peyton Hillis was the Giants’ leading rusher and Josh Brown kicked five field goals to secure the win. It’s beyond embarrassing.

New York lost multiple games comically at The Linc: The Jake Elliott 61-yard kick (2017), the blown 19-3 lead (2018), and the Evan Engram drop (2020), among others.

The Eagles suffered a few injuries in their 36-33 loss against Washington on Sunday. Jalen Hurts sustained a concussion, and Saquon Barkley has battled nagging injuries in recent weeks. Week 17 may determine the Eagles’ destiny and their playoff seeding, motivating Nick Sirianni to rest his injured players.

And I know what you’re probably thinking…”Nick, the Eagles backups can easily defeat this current iteration of the Giants.” You will receive no arguments from me, but it would be very New York Giants like to steal a Week 18 victory and possibly lose the No. 1 overall pick. It’s an interesting scenario that could play out in a season devoid of intrigue.

Anyway, back to the Falcons game! The Giants are NOT GOOD! After Riley Patterson missed the Falcons’ opening field goal, New York drove the length of the field on a 14-play, 70-yard drive that ended with this Tyrone Tracy Jr. touchdown reception from Drew Lock:

New York relies on these methodical drives. Efficiency in the red zone is critical, but efficiency is tough to manage for a bad football team. This was the 27th drive of the season that took more than five minutes off the clock and lasted at least 10 plays; New York also has 12 scoreless trips to the red zone this season.

This touchdown was the only points New York would officially score. Tyrone Tracy Jr. also had this late touchdown scamper that was called back for one of the TEN Giants’ penalties in the game:

New York ran a condensed crack-toss to the field with motion away; Evan Neal kicked into space around the down blocks — and the hold — to locate the contain defender, and locate Neal did. As David points out, this play is translatable to guard with G-Lead and back-side pulling responsibilities.

Neal has not been horrendous since his return to the starting lineup in Week 10. Yes, the Giants offense is predicated on quick hitters around the line of scrimmage — hence Drew Lock’s 4.8 yards per attempt average — but Neal has stabilized a bit. He surrendered 14 pressures and two sacks in six games.

Neal lacks the overall foot speed to play tackle in the NFL. His technique, framing, and engagement style must be precise to overcome his sub-par foot speed and explosiveness on an island. But that can be rectified if he’s kicked inside, which is something I hope the Giants entertain next season. Here are all of Evan Neal’s snaps from Week 16:

It wasn’t a terrible game from Neal. Still, his lapses are egregious and tend to make their way around social media:

This was the second pick-six by Drew Lock. Neal attempted to cut Arnold Ebiketie (17), but Zach Harrison (96) contacted Neal from the 4-technique, which threw the already unsteady Neal off balance. The execution of this play is poor, but this was a designed screen away from Neal with Malik Nabers as backside free access:

The Giants go split-back with Wan’Dale Robinson (17) and Tyrone Tracy Jr. (29) next to Lock (2). Robinson flares to the field where there are two wide receivers stalk blocking; Tracy Jr. follows Robinson as the screen reception, but Lock sees that Robinson’s defender vacated the boundary, giving Nabers (1) a one-on-one matchup at the bottom of the numbers. Lock chose the one-on-one and threw right into the poor protection. Matthew Judon (15) came down with the football and casually strolled into the end zone for the defense’s second touchdown.

Drew Lock has one touchdown pass on the season (the play to Tyrone Tracy Jr. above). He threw two pick-sixes to the Falcons and one to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 13. Joe Schoen selected Lock as the number two quarterback behind a recovering and middling (when healthy) Daniel Jones, which is an indictment on his evaluatory and roster-building process.

Lock received an MRI on his shoulder after the game. His status against the Colts is up in the air; we may see DeVito, Tim Boyle, or whoever.

Other plays

Here are some other posts from the timeline about the Giants.

PANCAKES!

Neal earned a pancake on former Giant Lorenzo Carter, and Wan’Dale Robinson earned one on Malik Nabers’ 10-yard gain. It was a full stack for Neal and a short stack for Robinson.

Veteran defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches (93) earned his seventh hurry of the season with this well-timed double swipe that he quickly transitioned into a rip for advantageous positioning. This accelerated the clock of rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. who overthrew his target to force a field goal attempt that missed.

The Giants have one more interception on the season than they do wins, and both facts are depressing. Dane Belton (24) does deserve an assist on the pick, for he punched the catch point, which forced Kyle Pitts (8) to throw the ball into the air. Cor’Dale Flott (28) obliged and earned his second career interception.