3 Takeaways from Giants' Week 8 Loss
The New York Giants put in a decent effort on Monday night, but they were unable to knock off the struggling Kansas City Chiefs.
Joe Judge's team held a three-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but that slowly evaporated during a pair of Kansas City scoring drives.
The Giants were unable to do anything on their two offensive drives that followed Evan Engram's five-yard touchdown catch.
In addition to having a stagnant offense, the Giants were once again bitten by the injury bug, as Sterling Shepard and Kadarius Toney dealt with injuries all night.
The loss dropped the Giants down into the NFC East basement at 2-6 and life may not get better for them with the Las Vegas Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers next up on the schedule.
Offense Sputtered When It Mattered Most
The Giants looked like they were headed toward a victory when Engram caught Daniel Jones' second touchdown pass of the night with 14 minutes and 53 seconds left in the game.
Instead, that turned out to be the last significant play from the Giants offense at Arrowhead Stadium.
New York did not get past its own 42-yard-line on the two offensive series that followed Engram's touchdown catch.
Kansas City turned its last two drives into a pair of Harrison Butker field goals to tie the game and then take the lead.
The victory was there for the taking since Kansas City's offense is still stuck in neutral, but the Giants failed to capitalize in the most important situations of the game.
The Giants appeared to be building something on their series after Butker's game-tying field goal, but back-to-back incomplete passes intended for Darius Slayton and Devontae Booker ended the series.
New York had no answer for Kansas City after the home side took the lead. Jones was sacked twice on second and fourth downs to finish off the loss.
The Giants finished with their fourth point total under 20 points and they head into their Week 9 clash with Tampa Bay with an average of 18.25 points in their last four games.
Defense Did Enough to Keep Giants in Game
New York was able to stay in the contest for 60 minutes because of a combination of its defensive performance and Kansas City's continued offensive struggles.
The Giants kept the Chiefs out of the end zone in the second half. They just allowed a pair of field goals in the fourth quarter.
New York's defense came up with two turnovers and its offense was able to take advantage one of those takeaways.
The Giants intercepted Patrick Mahomes in the red zone to start the game, but Jones gave the ball back on an interception.
The NFC East side did much better in its response to Travis Kelce's fumble late in the third quarter. The Giants turned that into Engram's five-yard touchdown catch.
Patrick Graham's unit forced a pair of sacks and held Mahomes to a completion percentage of 60.4. It also kept Kelce in check, as the tight end caught four balls for 27 yards.
New York's defense has gotten better in the last two weeks. It conceded 23 points in that span, and if that play keep up, the unit could win the Giants a few games that they do not expect to win later in the season.
Daniel Jones' Connection with John Ross, Kyle Rudolph Important Moving Forward
Jones' 50-yard connection with John Ross and touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph in the first half carried more importance as the game went on.
Sterling Shepard and Kadarius Toney both left the game with injuries. The pair of wide receivers were dealing with injury knocks ahead of Monday's game as well.
Shepard pulled up with a left leg injury and Toney suffered a thumb injury in the loss to the Chiefs.
If Shepard and Toney are unavailable, or hampered by these injuries, in the coming weeks, Ross and Rudolph will be vital for the Giants to move the ball down the field.
Ross and Rudolph could gain even more importance if the Giants opt to trade Engram before the trade deadline on Tuesday afternoon.
Jones has tried to make the best of his situation with most of his top offensive weapons out with injuries. Saquon Barkley and Kenny Golladay were out again on Monday night.
He still has a deep threat in Ross and a reliable goal-line target in Rudolph that can at least help him manage the situation.
Look for those two players to feature in larger roles moving forward just out of sheer necessity due to all of the injury issues.