Snap counts and PFF grades from the Giants’ thrilling victory over the Eagles

In my opinion, the New York Giants’ triumph over the Chargers a few Sundays ago was quite encouraging following their disappointing 2025 season debut. When the Giants defeat a division rival who has dominated them for ten or more years, there’s nothing better. Furthermore, there is nothing better than a game in which your team is just five minutes away from winning. It was, coincidentally, the Giants’ last victory over the Philadelphia Eagles prior to last night, and I believe that was the last time that occurred. Since Tommy DeVito’s last-minute victory over Green Bay in 2023, which was significant only because it prevented the Giants from acquiring Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye, I would contend that this was the team’s best game. The significance of last night’s victory is still unknown to us. Perhaps, following their thrilling victory over the Chargers in the Superdome last week, the Giants will wreck the place in Denver the following week. Or perhaps this marks the beginning of something significant for the team’s long-term future, if not for this season.

As you might expect, the Giants’ Pro Football Focus grades for last night’s game were the highest of the season thus far and higher than anything they had received in the previous two seasons, which is why I included this preface. They’re not, spoiler alert. That’s because, from what I understand, PFF grades don’t account for factors like the game’s importance or the opponent’s skill level. As far as I know, they are unable to grade the game’s mental components. They simply ask: How well did each player physically perform his duties on each play? This is then added up in some way to determine the team grade for each area of the game. The Giants team grades for each game this season are listed below.

Compared to the Dallas game, last night’s overall grade was somewhat lower. As you can see, Russell Wilson and the Giants’ receivers had a fantastic game against Dallas, putting on play after play of explosiveness. We all witnessed the Giants’ best running grade of the season last night, and it was by far the team’s best special teams performance of the year, which also tracks but is rarely considered unless a player returns a kickoff or punt to the house. Let’s start by examining the individual grades and attempting to make sense of them, as well as the information regarding who participated and how much.

Offense.

grades for PFF.

To begin with, no offensive player for the Giants scored less than 50 points for the first time this season. Although not extremely so, anything under 60 is regarded as below average. Three of the Giants’ offensive players were in their 40s and one was in their 30s as of last week. That’s advancement. Let’s examine a few specifics. First, the quarterback.

Jaxson Dart was outstanding last night. He had no turnover-worthy plays, a big-time throw, and a touchdown pass. According to PFF, he was under pressure 40.6% of the time; however, Next Gen Stats indicates that he was only under pressure on 27.3% of dropbacks. What matters is that, unlike in his first two starts, he performed nearly as well under pressure as he did when kept clean. Wan’Dale Robinson’s excellent move to elude Eagles safety Andrew Mukuba after the catch was the primary cause of the touchdown. However, if Dart hadn’t felt the pressure coming from the right end, he would have scampered forward, then left, and then back to the right to give himself time and space to get the pass off. Otherwise, the pass itself would never have happened.

When kept clean, Dart’s time to throw was a neat 2.22 seconds. E. He was moving quickly to get the ball out. However, with Dart, that appears to be a feature rather than a bug. Under pressure, it was an apparently terrible 4.44 s. In contrast to simply bailing, Dart has demonstrated an incredible ability to keep a pass play going while still looking downfield—more than I recall seeing at Ole Miss in the few times I watched him. Even though he only had 195 yards overall, he had an ADOT of 15 points on pressured throws, and half of those yards were under pressure. E. He wasn’t dunk-dunking.

The receiving grades are listed below.

In my opinion, PFF grades can be a little deceptive, and this is one instance. I don’t mind Theo Johnson receiving a low grade because his one big catch was overshadowed by a drop that ended a drive earlier in the game (which PFF didn’t even call a drop). He had five drops last season, and it’s those drops that prevent him from contributing more to the offense. However, Wan’Dale Robinson received an offense grade of 70.6, which is above average but not particularly noteworthy. I agree that his touchdown play was a pretty standard catch, but it was amazing how he chose to go back inside instead of going out of bounds after the catch, avoiding the safety, and then squeezing past his blockers to enter the end zone for the touchdown. Similarly, I believe Lil’Jordan Humphrey should have received a receiving grade higher than 62 points because he had two contested catches in three targets. Lastly, I felt that Jalin Hyatt received only a 55.2 receiving grade, despite the fact that (a) his first catch was a really nice one that was somewhat difficult, and (b) he didn’t seem to have received credit for drawing an end zone DPI that later turned into a touchdown.

The rushing grades are next.

Dart’s rushing touchdown is a perfect example of what he has shown in the NFL in a short period of time. He ran for 648 yards and three touchdowns on 100 rush attempts in 13 games last season at Ole Miss, all of which came in his first three games. He has made just three starts this season and already has 32 carries for 167 yards and two touchdowns. Skattebo earned a rushing grade of 80 points last night, with 64 of his 98 yards (including three touchdowns) coming after contact, four of which were explosive (10+ yards), and four of which included forced missed tackles.

Now let’s talk about pass blocking.

With pass block grades of 28.8, 41.4, and 29.5 in three of his last four starts, Jon Runyan has been struggling this season. Although he gave up four pressures last night, the rest of the offensive line played excellently, allowing only six pressures in total, no sacks, and just one quarterback hit. Before he was injured, John Michael Schmitz was enjoying his third straight strong pass-blocking performance (72 points, no pressure). After taking over, Austine Schlottman scored 80 points with 14 clean snaps. Jermaine Eluemunor allowed a quarterback hit but finished with a 76-point 7 grade. Giving up his first two pressures and finishing with a “worst” score of 69 points, Andrew Thomas had his worst game of the season. Greg Van Roten had two pressures and a below-average 50.8. Overall, the OL had a respectable performance. Additionally, the tight ends’ pass was blocked quite effectively.

Lastly, run blocking is arranged according to the quantity of run-blocking snaps.

Jalin Hyatt’s lack of skill as a run blocker is something I can overlook. All of the players who genuinely play block for a living performed admirably, but particularly Runyan (74.1), JMS (84.7), and Schlottman (76.0), who took his place.

There are snap counts.

After JMS’s injury, Schlottman took his place at center, and four of the five offensive linemen participated in every snap.

When Dart left to be evaluated for a concussion, he played all but two snaps; Russell Wilson took the remaining two.

Although it was Tyrone Tracy’s first game following his injury, Skattebo has taken over as the star in his place, and given Skattebo’s success, it will be interesting to see if that continues. Devin Singletary received his coffee, as he usually does.

Theo Johnson participated in nearly every snap. Chris Manhertz and Daniel Bellinger each played slightly more than half, averaging 1 point 7 TEs per snap.

Lil’Jordan Humphrey played more than three-quarters of the snaps, while Wan’Dale Robinson played nearly every snap. Jalin Hyatt has now spent three weeks in a row seeing the field for roughly 40% of the snaps.

Protection.

One would assume that having Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and A. J. . PFF would give some excellent defensive ratings if Brown, Devonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert scored 17 points. You would be mistaken. Dane Belton (93.9), who undoubtedly had a crucial forced fumble, must have played well, but the PFF grades don’t really reflect it. Let us examine each component separately. We start with the pass rush.

The world won’t burn down because of sixteen total pressures, but it’s worth it. Despite only having two pressures, Brian Burns turned both of them into sacks, earning him a 64-point score. 73.7 Darius Muasau received the other sack. Abdul Carter, Dexter Lawrence, and Kayvon Thibodeaux all had four pressures, but they only received 50s grades. Come on, figure.

The grades for run defense appear more realistic.

Kayvon Thibodeuax had four tackles, all of which were stops, and his overall performance this season has been impressive. Rakeem Nunez-Roches (78.6), Tyler Nubin (76.2 and no missed tackles), and Roy Robertson-Harris (73.9) were the other three Giants who received very good grades. Except for Cor’Dale Flott, who missed one tackle without making one (45.7), Abdul Carter, who did the same (39.1), and Bobby Okereke, who made two tackles but missed one (31.3), everyone else was in the average to slightly below average range.

Lastly, the coverage of the pass.

The results were mixed. Dane Belton (92.9), who had a pass breakup and only allowed 18 receiving yards on two completions, impressed PFF. Additionally, they like Cor’Dale Flott (72.7), who only gave up two short completions in four targets and had the game-changing interception in the second half. With the exception of Tyler Nubin (47.7), who allowed four completions in four targets for 67 yards, the other defensive backs and linebackers primarily received grades in or close to the average range.

Snap counts.