SEATTLE – Brian Daboll’s temper was boiling on the sideline Sunday as his Giants strained to close out a strong 29-20 win over the Seahawks, with the looming specter of a collapse inching closer to reality as Seattle charged back.
In the first quarter, Daboll smacked his play sheet and lit into his offense for a costly Eric Gray fumble.
“I told them, ‘We shoulda ‘profanity’ scored,’” Daboll said. “No more wishy, should-a, could-a. Let’s do it.”
At halftime, “Daboll came in here yelling at us that we can’t keep doing the bullsh-t that we [were] doing,” defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said. “Whether it’s dropping a ball or letting him out of the pocket or penalties, whatever. That’s how we lose. So there wasn’t a lot of praise. It was more let’s dig in and finish this game.
“He was a little more fired up today than normal,” Lawrence said with a smirk. “But it was good. We fed off it.”
Daboll’s hot temper has gotten him in major trouble before, but his urgency spoke to how badly the Giants needed this game, all the way down to his screaming at the officials about a missed defensive call in the fourth quarter.
Hybrid linebacker Isaiah Simmons then came to the rescue, leaping over the line to block of Jason Myers’ 47-yard game-tying field goal try with 55 seconds to play. Wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton returned the ball 60 yards for a touchdown, and the Giants romped in celebration to improve their record to 2-3.
“I just knew that it was my turn,” said Simmons, who stayed ready despite not playing a defensive snap all day. “It was my turn to make a play. So go make it.”
Apart from Simmons’ late-game heroics, however, Sunday’s biggest takeaway was the progress of Daniel Jones and Daboll’s offense despite the absences of top weapons Malik Nabers (concussion) and Devin Singletary (groin).
Jones threw for 257 yards and two touchdown passes and carried the ball 11 times for 38 yards. Rookie back Tyrone Tracy Jr. carried the ball 18 times for 129 yards, a blistering 7.2 yards per rush clip. And veteran receiver Darius Slayton caught eight passes for 122 yards and a touchdown.
“It feels good,” Jones said. “There is some stuff we want to do better and clean up, but you’ve got to enjoy these.”
Showing similar urgency to Daboll’s, Slayton was trying to fire up his teammates on the sideline in the third quarter after going off for 71 yards and a score on the same drive. He was yelling to the other offensive skill players excitedly, slapping high-fives and driving their energy to the finish.
“There’s just been a lot going on these first few weeks,” Slayton said. “We were 1-3, and there was a lot of negative noise and this and that. I just wanted to galvanize the guys. Obviously I was able to make some plays today, and when it’s going like that, that helps breed confidence. Big plays specifically just breed good vibes, being able to hit some big shots.”
A Rayshawn Jenkins 102-yard Seahawks fumble return for a touchdown put the Giants on their heels in the first quarter after Gray coughed the ball up on the goal line. But Lawrence (three sacks), Brian Burns and the Giants’ defensive line wreaked havoc on Seahawks QB Geno Smith, and Seattle’s offense did not score its first touchdown of the game until a Jaxon Smith-Njigba 5-yard score with 2:09 remaining in the fourth quarter.
That touchdown narrowed the Giants’ lead to 23-20. Then Daboll’s offense failed to run the clock out, punting the ball back to Seattle with 1:40 remaining.
Simmons was ready to save the day, however, even though he played only 11 special teams snaps and none on defense all day. He had to get on the bike on the sideline, in fact, to get his legs and body warm for his game-changing leap.
“Shoot, I mean I don’t get to pick when they call my number,” Simmons said. “So the only thing I asked of [special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial] was, ‘Just give me a little heads up so I can make sure my legs are warmed up to jump.’ I was already warm because I thought I was gonna have to go in for two-minute [defense]. But everything just happened to work out right.”
The Giants return home to New Jersey now for two consecutive home games at MetLife Stadium: a Week 6 Sunday night visit from the Cincinnati Bengals (1-4) and a storyline-filled Week 7 test against Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles (2-2).
They fly home after scoring a season-high 29 points on Sunday.
They snapped a seven-quarter touchdown drought with a 7-yard Jones TD pass to Wan’Dale Robinson with 9:09 to play in the first half. And Jones hit the Giants’ first 40-plus yard pass play of the season: a 41-yard bomb down the right sideline to Slayton.
Jones then finished that drive off with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Slayton, and the teams traded field goals until the late fourth-quarter flurry.
Veteran tight end Chris Manhertz said the team responded to Daboll’s passion and intensity.
“I think it pressed the right button,” Manhertz said of Daboll’s fire. “We know [Daboll] is as passionate as they come when it comes to winning. He knows what it looks like, he’s been a part of it in the past where he’s been, and that type of message permeated throughout the locker room and sent us into halftime having the right mentality.”
One of Greg Joseph’s field goals was set up by a Burns fourth down sack of Smith at the Seahawks’ 27 yards line with 14:09 remaining in the final quarter.
Corner Deonte Banks had a nice bounce-back after getting called out by position coach Jerome Henderson for a lack of effort in last week’s loss to Dallas, as well. Banks forced a D.K. Metcalf fumble recovered by Tyler Nubin and had multiple pass breakups.
Bowen’s defense held Seattle’s offense scoreless for most of the first half. The Giants looked like they were going to take a 10-7 lead into halftime.
But when the Seahawks got the ball back with 22 seconds to play, Smith promptly completed two passes for 45 yards to Kenneth Walker III and Tyler Lockett.
Daboll was red hot on the headset on the sideline as Myers hit a 43-yard field goal to tie the game at 10 apiece heading into the break.
That was a discouraging score considering the Giants had outgained Seattle 225 yards to 90 and converted 15 first downs to the Seahawks’ five, but they didn’t have a lead to show for it.
Daboll’s team trailed 7-0 after the first quarter due to Gray’s goal line fumble, for example, despite forcing two Seahawks punts and outgaining their hosts, 92 yards to 25.
The offense overcame a Jones fumble on their first play that Thomas recovered at New York’s 5-yard line.
Gray caught screen passes of 18 and 19 yards on back-to-back plays to dig them out, and they took 10 minutes off the clock on the drive. But then Gray coughed up the killer turnover.
Bowen’s defense managed to keep the game steady anyway, forcing three punts on Seattle’s first three possessions. Then the offense launched a game-tying, eight play, 81-yard drive capped by a 7-yard Jones touchdown pass to Robinson with 9:09 remaining in the half.
A 27-yard run by Tracy Jr. jumpstarted the drive. Rookie tight end Theo Johnson then caught a 22-yard pass, the longest of his young career. And Jones carried for an 11-yard gain to set up Robinson’s TD.
The Giants’ quarterback was even lowering his shoulder on a couple of his runs to take on defenders.
Jones and the offense then set up a Joseph 38-yard field goal for the 10-7 lead with 22 seconds remaining in the half, but the defense let its foot off the gas, and Seattle tied the game with that final-minute surge.
It was an inauspicious conclusion to a mostly promising first half otherwise. Daboll’s temper was starting to boil, and it nearly unraveled at the end.
But this time the Giants held on. This time they made the plays to win it.
“I think we wanted it,” Lawrence said. “And that’s the whole thing about this: you gotta want it. You gotta want to win. You gotta want to give a little more for your team. You gotta want to do your job right. And that’s what we came out here and did.
“We defeated them,” he added. “That’s what we did.”
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