3 Takeaways from Giants' Week 8 Loss vs. Seahawks

The New York Giants have gotten off to a terrific start to the 2022 season. They won six of their first seven games, and they had an opportunity to potentially pull out another victory in Sunday's road matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.

Only this time, the Giants couldn't prevail. And they'll now head into their bye week after suffering their second loss.

The Seahawks pulled away in the fourth quarter and handed the Giants a 27-13 loss at Lumen Field. The game was tied at 13 in the fourth, but Seattle scored 14 unanswered points over the final nine minutes and 18 seconds to take down New York.

Here are three takeaways from the Giants' Week 8 defeat.

Despite the Giants' early success in 2022, they've been hampered by slow offensive starts throughout the first half of the season. That continued on Sunday, and the unit could never recover in what turned out to be a down performance.

New York's three first-quarter possessions were all three-and-outs. It punted the ball away at the end of each of its first four drives, a streak that ended with Saquon Barkley's 1-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter.

However, the Giants' final six drives resulted in two punts, two field goals, a turnover on downs and the clock running out at the end of the game. And they needed more than six points from those possessions to have a chance to beat the Seahawks.

“We just didn’t do enough today all the way around,” New York head coach Brian Daboll said, per Tim Booth of the Associated Press. “Again, give Seattle credit. It’s hard, the ball is important. We have to do a better job of taking care of it and executing and finishing drives, converting on some third downs, particularly early on in the game. A lot to work on.”

But the Giants' offense has had some high points so far this season that provide optimism that they'll get back on track after the bye.

While New York's offense struggled to move the ball, the unit didn't commit any turnovers. Instead, both of Seattle's takeaways came on a pair of special teams plays that proved to be important. And both were mistakes made by Giants punt returner Richie James.

Of James' four punt returns on Sunday, the 27-year-old fumbled two of them, and they were both recovered by the Seahawks. Not only that, but Seattle then turned both takeaways into points.

James' first fumble came late in the second quarter and led to a 35-yard field goal by Jason Myers that gave the Seahawks a 10-7 halftime lead. Then, James fumbled again in the fourth, and two plays later, Kenneth Walker III scored on a 16-yard TD run that pushed Seattle's lead to 27-13.

"Richie knows you've got to take care of it, and that's the game," Daboll said, per the team's official website.

As if James' day wasn't tough enough, he also left the game with a concussion. But even once he's healthy, the Giants may want to make a change at punt returner, as they can't afford to have those types of turnovers.

Who predicted that the Giants would be 6-2 coming out of their Week 9 bye and heading into the second half of the regular season? It likely wasn't a large number of people, considering New York had six or fewer wins in each of the previous five seasons.

So even though Sunday's game didn't go in the Giants' favor, they have to be pleased with where they're at in Daboll's first season as head coach. They're in the thick of the NFC East race, trailing only the Philadelphia Eagles (7-0) and even level with the Dallas Cowboys (6-2).

After a week to rest, New York will have a great opportunity to turn things back around after the bye. Its first two games back will be home matchups against the Houston Texans (1-5-1) and Detroit Lions (1-6), the only two teams in the NFL with less than two wins this season.

So it's quite possible the Giants could be sitting at 8-2 heading into Week 12, when they'll begin a four-week stretch of games against NFC East rivals. And if New York fares well, then it could even end up as the division champion for the first time since the 2011 season.