N.Y. Giants: Hog Mollies Giving Wayne Gallman His Space

From the desk: DO IT FOR THE DUKE

HOG MOLLIES CONTINUE SURGE

WEEK TWELVE

GIANTS     19

BENGALS  17

FINAL

SMASH MOUTH: Punishing Running Game, Maintaining Ball Possession, and Controlling The Clock.

The Giants are officially trending.  Recent developments are no longer a matter of coincidence.  They're winners of three in a row and four of their last six games.  However, I care not that they temporarily find themselves atop the NFC East standings.  A 4-7 record quells that conversation. Instead, it's the steady improvement that I desire, and from week to week, we see just that.

Daniel Jones has yet to break 300 yards passing this season.  But for as long as the Giants keep winning, the matter of yardage remains something more of a cosmetic issue.  What's more important is where he was versus where he is now.  The closest Jones has come to cracking 300 yards was in Week One against the Steelers, of all teams, when he threw for 279 yards.  In four of his next five contests spanning Week Three through Week Seven, he failed to throw for 200 yards.  But over his last four games, the Giants are 3-1, in which they just barely lost to the Buccaneers.  Jones threw for over 200 yards each time, averaging 231 yards per game, which speaks to an emerging consistency that earlier in the season was absent from his game.  This is also his third straight game without a fumble or turnover, making the Giants' win streak far from a coincidence.  Sunday's game was obviously not without its casualties.  The full extent of Jones' strained hamstring sustained against the Bengals remains to be seen.  By the way, a very questionable move by Judge reinserting Jones back into the game.  Otherwise, I would hate to see Daniel Jones' development sidetracked while amid a good run. 

Meanwhile, the offensive line yielded no sacks and limited Cincy's QB hits to just three.  The running game again rushed for high yardage with a net 142 yards on the day regarding daylight.  Gallman was the big man on campus with 24 rushes for 94 yards.  In his last three games, Gallman has rushed for 215 yards with four touchdowns.  Gallman, Dion Lewis, and Alfred Morris joined together on thirty rushes for 112 yards.  I find the number of rushing attempts very pleasing.  As such, the Giants owned time of possession 37:26 minutes versus just 22:34 for Cincinnati, and have now won the time of possession in three straight games - again, no coincidence.  This, to me, is a clear indication that the offensive line is growing into a more cohesive and integrated unit.

We all know by now about the confrontation between Joe Judge and former offensive line coach Marc Colombo.  If nothing else, Sunday's performance further confirms Coach Judge's decision to fire Colombo as being correct.  In fact, I applaud him for it.  After failing to breach 100 yards in their first three games and four of the first five, Joe Judge got more involved in coaching up the offensive line.  Since then, the Giants have rushed for 100+ yards in six consecutive games and seven of their last eight.  In fact, they've exceeded 140+ yards in three straight games and four times in their previous five.  Looking back, it indeed seems as if the rushing turnaround is partly the result of Joe Judge's intervention.

On average, Patrick Graham's defense is yielding the tenth least points per game.  In six of eleven games to date, the defense has held opponents to twenty points or less.  A big reason for that has to do with being tied for fourth in the NFL with 18 takeaways.  They are also one of only five teams limiting their opponents under 100 yards rushing per game.  Lastly, they are tied for tenth with 2.5 sacks per game.  Blake Martinez is tied for fourth with 101 tackles.  

And what of Dave Gettleman's controversial acquisition of Leonard Williams?  After averaging just 2.5 sacks over the last three seasons, he presently has six sacks, one shy of his career-high of seven set in 2016 during his sophomore season with the Jets.  Five games remain in the season.

And yeah, the Giants are in first place ...