The Giants.com crew reacts to the team's 26-18 loss to the Steelers on Monday Night Football:
John Schmeelk: The Giants did many of the big things well offensively against the Steelers, but the small mistakes ended up costing them the game.
The Giants moved the ball up and down the field and punted only four times. Only one other team gained more than the Giants' 394 yards against the Steelers' defense this season: the Cowboys in Week 5 when they gained 445. The Steelers were a top three run defense this year, yet rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr. rushed for 145 yards on 7.3 yards per carry. Daniel Jones also had his second-most passing yards in a single game this season, falling short of the 281 he had against Dallas.
As of October 20, according to Bill Barnwell of ESPN, the Giants were the youngest team in the NFL on a snap-weighted basis. When you play a lot of young players, mistakes are going to happen.
Not all the mistakes, however, were by young players. An illegal shift in the third quarter took the Giants from a reasonable third-and-four into a more difficult second-and-11. A sack on the next play short-circuited the drive. On the Giants' second-to-last possession, Jones failed to motion Theo Johnson over to chip T.J. Watt, resulting in sack.
On the Giants' two-point conversion try in the fourth quarter, not everyone was ready at the snap. On the Giants' second drive of the game, they committed four penalties (offensive holding, illegible man downfield, false start, and illegal shift) to turn a potential touchdown into a field goal. On their first drive, a delay of game penalty turned a third-and-seven into a third-and-12. The Giants gained seven yards and settled for an eventual field goal.
They are small mistakes and lapses in the moment, both mental and physical, but they add up to take points off the board over the course of a 60-minute game. When you are playing a good team like the Steelers in their building, you can't make that many of them and expect to win the game. That's why the Giants lost.
Dan Salomone: The Giants had a chance to bookend the Steelers' 21-game home win streak on Monday Night Football, which began after a loss to Big Blue in 1991. But you need all three phases to avoid the 22nd.
The Giants went toe-to-toe with the Steelers in the first half, exchanging three field goals apiece in the as they played to a 9-9 draw. Then Calvin Austin III returned a punt 73 yards for the first touchdown of the game – by either side – with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter. Pittsburgh pounced on the momentum and forced a three-and-out on the Giants' ensuing drive. Austin found the end zone again on a 29-yard pass from Russell Wilson, and the Giants found themselves down by 14 points after they had been tied just six minutes earlier. To their credit, the Giants never folded, but special teams once again proved to be the game-changer.
"Obviously, the punt return is a tough one to overcome," coach Brian Daboll said Monday morning. "But we missed some opportunities that we have to make. That's, ultimately, the bottom line."
Matt Citak: Last night's loss to the Steelers saw the Giants' defense once again mix in a little bit of good with the bad. Let's start with the latter. In just his second start of the season, Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson completed 20 of 28 passes (71.4 percent) for 278 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for a passer rating of 114.9. The Giants' secondary struggled to slow down the Steelers' targets, as eight different players caught at least one pass while no player had more than four receptions. Wilson was hitting his receivers all over the field, but really had success with the deep ball. The veteran quarterback completed three of his four pass attempts 20+ yards down the field for 108 yards and a touchdown, earning a passer rating of 156.3 on those attempts. It didn't get a whole lot better in the run game for the defense, as Pittsburgh finished the game with 167 yards on the ground and an average of 5.4 yards per carry. Despite coming into the game as one of the run-heaviest teams in the league, the Steelers were able to stay balanced. Wilson finished with 28 pass attempts, while the Steelers combined for 31 rush attempts. It's certainly easier to be balanced on offense when you're able to move the ball down the field with success both on the ground and through the air. Najee Harris averaged 6.0 yards per carry, his second-highest mark of the season, while his 114 yards on the ground set a new season-high. Jaylen Warren added a season-best 46 rushing yards and 5.1 yards per carry.
There were two positives for the defense to hang its hat on. The pass rush continues to succeed regardless of the opponent. The defense added another four sacks on Monday night – two from Azeez Ojulari, one from Brian Burns and a combined sack from inside linebackers Bobby Okereke and Micah McFadden. Burns now has a sack in each of the last four games and five sacks across the last six weeks. Meanwhile, Ojulari also has at least one sack in each of the last three games and a total of five sacks during that span. Believe it or not, Ojulari is now tied for 10th in the NFL with his six sacks on the season, despite playing limited snaps in the first five games, while Burns' five sacks have him tied for 14th. Of course, Dexter Lawrence is still leading the league with his nine sacks, and while he didn't register one against the Steelers, he gets the assist for forcing Wilson right into Burns' arms on his sack. Lawrence was once again a force in the middle of the pass rush and looked like a bulldozer on a few plays in which he simply ran over the Steelers attempting to block him. The Giants' 35 sacks on the year are five more than any other team.
The other positive is the performance in the red zone. While the defense did allow the Steelers to drive down the field and get into the red zone four different times, the unit stepped up when its backs were against the wall and held Pittsburgh to four field goals on those possessions. The Giants have now allowed opponents to score a touchdown on just eight of 19 trips inside the 20-yard line, with their 42.1 percent red zone defense ranking as the fifth-best in the NFL.
