How do Giants fare entering Week 5?

Nate Davis, USA TODAY:

The decision to let RB Saquon Barkley go continues to age terribly after they averaged 1.1 yards per carry against a Dallas D which had allowed five times that much in its previous two outings.

Barry Werner, List Wire:

An anemic rush game led to an offense that produced five field goals. The defense was stellar but you aren’t going to beat the Cowboys without touchdowns.

NFL Nation, ESPN:

It’s easy to look at the Giants’ run defense — where they are allowing 4.7 yards per rush (24th in NFL) — and blame the defensive line. But a lot of the damage is coming on the outside. Teams are averaging over 5.6 yards per rush running wide right. They’re averaging over 6.0 yards running outside the left tackle. The Giants’ cornerbacks, particularly Deonte Banks and Cor’Dale Flott, need to help better on the edges if this team is going to fix the problem.

Matthew Cannata, Pro Football Network:

It feels like we very much know who the New York Giants are after four weeks. They are a below-average team (23rd in net EPA, 22nd offensively, 19th defensively) that can win against other bad teams but don’t have the talent or knowledge to win against average or better teams.

“We don’t feel good about losing,” said QB Daniel Jones. “We didn’t didn’t do enough to win. We’re frustrated. We’re not discouraged. I think we’re still confident in our team and what we can do well, but we don’t feel good about this.”

New York’s next five games are against the Seahawks, Bengals, Eagles, Steelers, and Commanders. Look out below.

Vinnie Iyer, The Sporting News:

The Giants missed a lot of chances to take down the Cowboys with a host of self-inflicted mistakes. They’re not making a change at QB yet, but the leash has gotten way shorter.

Frank Schwab, Yahoo! Sports:

Can you run a wide receiver into the ground? The Giants might find out. Malik Nabers has an incredible 52 targets through four games, and an NFL-leading 35 catches. He also suffered a concussion in Week 4. Nabers is all the Giants have on offense so that usage should continue, for better or worse.

Diante Lee, The Ringer:

Three years into Brian Daboll’s tenure as head coach of the Giants, we’re getting further away from the things that made him look like one of the NFL’s better play callers in 2021 (with the Bills) and 2022 (in New York). Since the start of last season, Daboll’s offense ranks 30th in rushing success rate, and that’s with Saquon Barkley on the roster for 14 of those 21 games. The Giants’ offensive line has allowed more pressures than any other O-line in the league over that span—and given up the third-most sacks. It’s impossible to make the argument that Daniel Jones is getting better, that the offensive line has developed, or that this team put the resources saved by letting Barkley walk to good use.

It’s looking like it’s time for a clean break from everyone in charge.

Eric Edholm, NFL.com:

This move up is more of a function of teams shifting around the Giants. We’ll be on Malik Nabers watch as they head into a tough game against the Seahawks. Nabers turned in another terrific performance last Thursday, until he had to leave with a concussion, coming out following a play where he failed to haul in what would have been a great fourth-down catch. The Giants are already running so much of the offense through the rookie star, and Daniel Jones has played better since his poor showing in Week 1 — it’s frightening to imagine this unit without Nabers right now. The backfield lacks explosion, there’s no tight-end threat and the offensive line, while improved, remains a below-average group for the moment. This next stretch of games will tell us whether the Giants can show more life and make something of 2024. It’s a lot easier to picture that happening with Nabers playing.