Sterling Shepard was out but Kenny Golladay was active on Sunday, and the trio of he, Darius Slayton, and Kadarius Toney combined for…three catches for 37 yards, with Golladay having two of those grabs.
No problem at all for the Giants, who rode a strong ground game, an incredibly efficient game from Daniel Jones, and their defense to a 23-16 win over the Las Vegas Raiders to head into their bye week on a high note.
“They’re a good defense, their scheme lends itself to that and we knew it was going to be one of those games,” Jones said of the Raiders. “The guys up front did a great job getting movement and opening up holes, and (Devontae Booker) and Eli (Penny) did a great job hitting them.”
Jones was perfect on nine attempts in the first half and finished 15-of-20 for 110 yards and one touchdown, a beautiful 30-yard pass to Evan Engram on the opening drive.
“He did a great job of going up and making a play; you just kind of throw it up to give him a chance and he made a play,” Jones said.
“We worked on that play all week, because we knew what kind of coverage they like to play, and DJ made a perfect throw and trusted me with it,” Engram added. “I just made a play for the team. We knew what we were going to get, and when opportunities come my way, I want to cash in. Everybody did a great job on that play.”
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Engram finished with three catches on three targets for 38 yards, and that output almost totally eclipsed that of the wide receiving corps; only four of Jones’ 20 attempts were targeted at receivers, but that’s because two fellas in the backfield stepped up huge.
“It has a lot to do with how well we were running it and trusting that. When the offensive line is playing like they were, you lean on it,” Jones said. “We have the versatility as a team to be able to play different ways and that was working, so we stuck with it.”
“We were ready for anything; I know those guys would love more targets, but they made big plays with the opportunities they got,” Engram added.
Speaking of that, Devontae Booker was one yard short of becoming the Giants’ first 100-yard rusher since Wayne Gallman had 135 in Week 13 last year, but he lost three yards on his final carry before a hip issue held him out the remainder of the game.
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Booker finished with 99, and didn’t even know how close he was until postgame – joking that, with his 23 yards receiving, “I still got over 100 either way” – but he and Eli Penny (five carries for 35 yards) kept the sticks moving all day long.
“We knew what was at stake. We knew we wanted to prove we could run the ball on these guy, and our line was clicking well all game and opening up holes,” Booker said. “Really, we did everything we needed to do offensively to get the win.”
“Both those guys played really well. I think a lot of credit foes to the guys up front who did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage,” added Jones, who had 17 yards on four carries himself.
Booker also praised Penny, who doesn’t carry the ball often (just 17 carries entering the game) for getting the job done on the final drive, finishing off what was a revenge game for Booker against his former team in Las Vegas.
“He’s a hell of a player who can do it all. He gives you everything you need, and watching him finish out the fame like that was critical,” Booker said. “For me, it was just going out there having fun with these guys, just like backyard football talking smack and running up and down the field.”
Booker said his hip felt fine after the game and no tests are scheduled, and he’ll head into the bye week with 14 full days to get healthy ahead of a Nov. 22 Monday night showdown with Tampa Bay…at which point Saquon Barkley could be back,
“I’ll leave that up to the coaches and whatever they decide.
Right now I’m going to enjoy this, come back from the bye and see what happens,” Booker said.
But if the Giants’ offense can hum like this even with all but a select couple players breaking out, what will it be like when Barkley and Sterling Shepard are back (as well as John Ross III), and the offense has every single one of its playmakers?
“It’s exciting and I know those guys are working hard to get back, but we’ll keep game-planning based on who is available,” Jones said.
Added Engram: “There’s been flashes of an offense with everyone healthy, and I know those guys are working to get back, and we’re going to try to work and continue to grow to be explosive together.”
Either way, as Engram also noted, it feels better going into a bye off a win, and while the Giants will get a little rest time amidst the never-ending work of the Joe Judge regime, they’ll have a lot of positives on the tape this week.
“A complete team win and something we can build off of,” Jones said. “Still a lot of things we can work on and improve, but it feels good to get that win.”
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