Week 1 is in the books and New York’s football teams are 0-2. That opening day hope that comes with every season has probably already disappeared, unless you’re the most positive of Big Blue or Gang Green fans.
Here’s how we’re grading the teams after their losses.
NEW YORK GIANTS
27-13 loss vs. Denver
Even a two-score loss makes the game look closer than it actually was — the Giants put up a second touchdown as time expired.
New York was right there at halftime, but the second half was all Denver. And that’s not exactly something you want to hear about a Denver team that went 5-11 last year and doesn’t quite look primed for a playoff run this year.
It’s a pivotal year for Daniel Jones — a poor season will likely mean his time is up with the Giants as a starter. But he opened 2021 doing what he’s done far too much in his career — fumbling. It was Jones’ 30th fumble, a stat the he has led the league in over his first two seasons.
The Giants were heading into the red zone at the time of the fumble, and all momentum was completely gone with a field goal knocked through by Denver on the ensuing drive.
The good: Saquon Barkley was back, meeting his goal of playing in week 1. The bad: It was not an impressive start, running 10 times for just 26 yards. Jones ended up leading the team’s rushing attack with 27 yards.
Barkley is coming back from a serious knee injury, so it seems fair to give him more time to ease back. We’ll see where he ends up in the coming weeks. He told reporters postgame that he felt “pretty good” and didn’t mention any issues, besides knocking off the rust after not playing for nearly a year.
On the defensive side, the Giants made Teddy Bridgewater, who’s definitely not ranked among the top half of starting QBs in the NFL, look great at times. He danced around Big Blue’s attack and made some great throws.
Six different players made 3+ catches during the game for Denver, and missed tackles allowed the Broncos to burn the Giants for some big plays, even not including a wide open TD dropped by KJ Hamler.
Giants players and coaches said they need to make changes to improve — but they’ve only got a few days to do it — they play again Thursday night against Washington.
GRADE: D+
NEW YORK JETS
19-14 loss @ Carolina
While the Giants hoped for an improvement with some of the same featured players, it was a lot of shiny new toys for the Jets to start 2021. But in the end, their old leader came out on top.
After dumping Sam Darnold for rookie QB Zach Wilson, of course the Jets had to play him in week 1. And then Darnold threw a long TD to another ex-Jet in Robby Anderson in the first half.
The Jets were kept off the board in the first half despite a handful of opportunities, while Darnold got his first tries with the best offensive weapon of his career in Christian McCaffrey — who led the team in rushing and receiving yards. But Darnold made plenty of great deep throws as well, something to make Jets fans feel a bit ill.
The big point of emphasis for the day is just how little protection Wilson had. He was sacked six times — a mix of some where he had zero time to do anything, and others where he danced around as many defenders as he could before it was too late.
And even when it was good — it wasn’t good. Wilson’s first career touchdown was an impressive strike on the move to Corey Davis … but on that same play, star tackle Mekhi Becton had to be carted off. Many worried it was a season-ender, but it seems it might just leave him out for a month or so, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Oh, and defensive back Lamarcus Joyner is reportedly done for the year with a torn arm tendon, adding to the season-ending injury Carl Lawson suffered before the season started. Brutal.
All in all — Wilson looked solid in situations that he could control. But on more occasions than you’d like, he had to defenders flying at him, almost as if no one had even blocked them. That’s a brutal recipe that could lead to injuries.
The Jets also only put up 45 rush yards on the board, including just six from rookie Michael Carter.
And the defense was … fine. Only one sack but they kept the offense in the game. But now that defense will have to stop old foe Bill Bellichick’s Patriots next week. They're not quite the Pats of old, but it's sill an important division battle.
GRADE: C