DETROIT — Grading the Giants’ 34-27 overtime loss on Sunday:
1. There is no doubt interim head coach Mike Kafka has his team engaged and interested in playing competitive football. Is that enough to impress the powers that be that he should be a legitimate candidate for the job on a full-time basis? Kafka is 0-2, with losses to the Packers and Lions, two NFC North squads with playoff aspirations. Two contenders. Kafka’s club was outmanned from a roster standpoint in both games. He called the plays on offense that put up 20 points last week and 27 points this week, both games with a quarterback, Jameis Winston, who was third-string most of the season. It will be interesting to see if anything changes when Kafka is the man in charge with Jaxson Dart at quarterback. At this point, Kafka’s tenure has been more of the same, as far as the Giants doing just enough to lose.
2. This extended the road losing streak to 12 games, a franchise record, and dropped the Giants to 0-7 on the road this season. In 2007, the Giants were known as Road Warriors for the way they collected playoff victories in Tampa, Dallas and Green Bay en route to the Super Bowl. This year’s outfit should be known as the Road Squanderers. Strangely, these Giants do not look as if they are intimidated when they play on the road. They are in these games and usually have the lead in the fourth quarter. The noise level inside Ford Field was deafening and yet the offensive line was not called for a single pre-snap penalty. That is impressive for a unit that has performed much better than in year’s past.
3. Gunner Olszewski is a pesky player. He is solid as a kick returner and sneaky in the way he is able to contribute once in a while on offense when called upon, as his opportunities are limited. He showed great awareness on a play that he almost never is involved in — a throw-back pass trick play that resulted in Olszewski tossing a 33-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Jameis Winston. The play did not completely fool the Lions and Olszewski had to step up in the pocket and actually scan the field and make a read on where to throw the ball. Then he delivered a strike to allow Winston to make a contested, back-shoulder grab on linebacker Derrick Barnes. Olszewski is a fun little player.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
