It’s still the same old story. A fight for love and fame. A case of do or die. But for the New York Giants, more often than not, they die over time.

Monday night was the kind of disheartening loss the Giants have suffered too many times this season – another game against a team with two losses in the playoffs that they could have won (there have been three of them now), but due to mistakes and failures we have lost our ability to cope with the situation at crucial moments. Yes, they are what their balance sheet says, but they are not far from having a much better balance sheet. Let’s find out who played well and who didn’t and how much in the 26-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

attack

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

The Giants didn’t play particularly well on offense last night. Unfortunately, there were some notable exceptions in one important category.

• Daniel Jones had a good game (64.4), but that’s the problem. A lot of times he just feels good and fails to win the game for the Giants. Jones actually went downfield quite a bit: six passes of 20 yards and six more of 10-20 yards. And he finished half of it. He was under a lot of pressure (53.5% of dropbacks) and handled it well:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Jones’ passing mark was only slightly worse under pressure than when he was clear, and he was hardly affected by the blitz. He had two great throws… but also two turnover plays, one of which was intercepted and sealed the loss. Additionally, his receivers dropped four passes, which is now becoming the norm. That’s kind of the story of the game: the offense isn’t far from success, but small mistakes prevent it from making it.

• The offensive line obviously had a tough game in pass protection against one of the best pass rushes in the NFL. The worst offenders were Chris Hubbard (9.3) and Jermaine Eluemunor (40.4), who had to contend with Alex Highsmith and TJ Watt, but Jon Runyan Jr. (46.8) was also poor, while Greg Van Roten ( 77.4) played well and John Michael Schmitz (63.7) was also okay. Hubbard gave up one sack, six hits and five hurries, while Runyan was charged with one hit and five hurries and Eluemunor was charged with one sack, one hit and two hurries. The offense performed significantly better in run blocking, with no one performing below average and Hubbard (91.0) and Van Roten (87.3) performing excellently. The line was also given five penalties, with only JMS not flagged.
• Tyrone Tracy had an excellent run grade of 80.4, while Devin Singletary posted a 62.2 grade in limited action. We hope Tracy’s concussion isn’t a permanent problem.
• Malik Nabers (71.5) and Darius Slayton (69.9) had pretty good receiving games, but Nabers’ two drops reflect a nagging problem with him. Wan’Dale Robinson was slightly below average (53.1). Tight end Chris Manhertz earned an outstanding receiving grade of 86.0 and would have scored a touchdown had there not been a penalty; He also blocked the pass well (72.4). Theo Johnson also blocked the pass well (75.5); His receiving grade of 60.4 reflects a decline he has suffered.

Snap counts

• Once again, Jones and the starting offensive line, this time with Chris Hubbard at left tackle, played every snap. Evan Neal also had a snap! (On the unfortunate 2-point conversion attempt.)
• Slayton also played every snap and Nabers all but one snap, while Robinson played 86% of the snaps, meaning (1) the Giants played a lot of 11 players, (2) Jalin Hyatt was on the bench all night.
• Theo Johnson solidified his position as TE1 with 70 snaps, with Chris Manhertz managing 11 and Daniel Bellinger only seeing the field once on offense.
• Tracy is now the clear RB1, while Devin Singeltary still sees significant snaps and Eric Gray only makes cameo appearances.

defense

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Some defensive players performed well. To the extent that the defense contributed to the loss, it was due to 16 (yes, 16) missed tackles by nine different players (for comparison, Pittsburgh had 6) and overall poor play from the secondary. The Giants didn’t have a single player who overperformed in the run.

• Looking at the lowest grades, we see Jason Pinnock (42.3), Deonte Banks (47.8), Tyler Nubin (50.0) and Dru Phillips (52.9) as four of the worst five, while Nick McCloud (57.8) is slightly below average So. Phillips (six scores, six receptions, 115 yards) was particularly targeted by Russell Wilson. Only Greg Stroman Jr. (75.2), who replaced Banks, performed well.
• Bobby Okereke (81.3) had his third good game in a row and his best mark of the season. Maybe he’s finally gotten used to Shane Bowen’s system and is starting to remind us of the player we saw last season. Micah McFadden (77.6) also played well after three weeks of subpar performances. Isaiah Simmons performed well in limited action (74.2); He has played defense in three of the last five games, but has been effective in each one. Darius Muasau (57.5) was OK but slightly below average in limited snaps.
• Overall, the defensive line had one of its quieter games. It has to be said that Pittsburgh’s offense handled them more effectively than the Giants’ offensive line did on the Steelers’ DL. Dexter Lawrence was, as always, above average (72.2) and strong in the pass rush (87.5 with one hit and two runs), but like other defensive players, he was poorly tackled. Elijah Chatman played well (67.4), as did Armon Watts (65.3). Brian Burns (65.1) had one sack, one hit and two hurries, while Azeez Ojulari averaged just 54.0 and just a 62.0 pass rush average despite collecting two sacks and two hurries. Tomon Fox was average as a rotating edge defender (63.8). Keep an eye on DJ Davidson (55.6), who seems to be slowly improving over time, posting near-average or above-average grades in five of the last six games. He’s been splitting snaps almost evenly with Rakeem Nunez-Roches (44.6) lately, and last night it was in a game that was still tied in the fourth quarter.

Snap counts

• As usual, Okereke, Pinnock and Tyler Nubin played every snap. McFadden played most of the snaps against Okereke, while Simmons and Muasau split the rest of the time.
• The big story in the secondary was that Banks was removed late in the second quarter in favor of Stroman. Phillips and McCloud played about 80% of the defensive snaps.
• Ojulari played the most snaps on the sidelines of all the Giants, a few more than Burns, with Fox occasionally filling in for one of them. Lawrence was, as always, the workhorse of the team, and as mentioned, Davidson and Nunez-Roches split time while Chatman played less than Watts.