The Giants were heavy underdogs in Pittsburgh, but they hung tough all night and had a chance to tie the game in the last minute. However, Beanie Bishop intercepted a Daniel Jones pass at the Steelers’ 29-yard line with 34 seconds to go to seal the win.
The teams traded field goals on the first five possessions as the Giants played bend-but-don’t-break to keep the game tight despite giving up 200 offensive yards in the first quarter and a half. New York then went three and out on their third possession with Pittsburgh leading 9-6 but got the ball back just before halftime and drove downfield to set up Greg Joseph’s game-tying field goal.
With less than five minutes to go in the third quarter, the Steelers finally scored the game’s first touchdown on special teams as Calvin Austin returned a punt 73 yards to make it 16-9.
Austin scored again on a 29-yard pass from Russell Wilson early in the fourth quarter to increase the lead to 23-9. This came a few plays after Wilson had connected with Van Jefferson for 36 on 3rd-and-long.
New York didn’t quit, though, and hit back on their next drive when Tyrone Tracy broke into the clear for a 45-yard touchdown run. However, they opted to go for a two-point conversion and ran a gadget play that backfired horribly, so the Steelers remained ahead by eight points with 11 minutes remaining and extended their lead to 26-15 with another field goal on their next drive.
With just over five minutes remaining, Joseph kicked his fourth field goal for New York to make it a one-possession game at 26-18 and then the Giants got the ball back in Pittsburgh’s territory when Bobby Okereke stripped the ball away from Wilson and recovered it. However, T.J. Watt’s strip sack and fumble ended the Giants’ threat and New York was unable to drive the length of the field in the final two minutes.
Here are the takeaways…
– Penalties were a major theme of a sloppy first half, with both teams seeing a touchdown negated due to a penalty. Broderick Jones’ facemask penalty on the first possession negated a Wilson touchdown pass, while an illegal shift on Malik Nabers negated a Jones touchdown pass to Chris Manhertz. Despite head coach Brian Daboll’s protestations, and all the discussion it generated in the broadcast booth, the latter seemed clear, even in real time.
– It was an ominous sign when the Steelers had three consecutive running plays for 10 yards or more on their first possession and they surpassed 100 yards on the ground in the early stages of the second quarter. They had much better success against the run in the second half, but Najee Harris still ended up with 114 rushing yards.
– Despite having three players missing at cornerback, the Giants opted to bench their top cornerback Deonte Banks for practice squad member Greg Stroman in the second quarter. Banks, whose effort has been questioned at various points in the past few weeks, apparently angered Daboll when he allowed Harris to hurdle him on a big run. Banks had made a key play in the first half though, forcing George Pickens out of bounds on what was originally ruled as a touchdown catch.
– Jones had yet another efficient start to the game, as he completed seven of his first eight passes, including a 43-yard bomb to Darius Slayton. Slayton also had a huge catch on the two-minute drill before halftime as he led the Giants with 90 yards on three catches in the first half. Slayton ended up with 108 yards on four catches.
– Even with Devin Singletary back in the lineup, the Giants have opted to stick with the rookie Tracy as their lead back and it paid off as he had a huge game with 145 rushing yards and a touchdown. However, he suffered an apparent head injury late in the game.
– In addition to the penalty, Nabers got off to a slow start, as he went without a catch in the first quarter, although he arguably should have drawn a pass interference call on his only target. He had two short catches in the second quarter, including a fourth-down conversion. Nabers ended up with seven catches for 71 yards but had a bad drop on third down in the fourth quarter.
– With Chris Hubbard, who was poached off the 49ers’ practice squad last week, starting at left tackle, the Giants did a surprisingly good job of keeping the Steelers edge defenders, Alex Highsmith and Watt, quiet in the first half. Although Hubbard has been a right tackle in the past, the Giants opted to put him on the left so that Jermaine Eluemunor could match up with Watt. Highsmith beat Hubbard cleanly on one first half play, but this worked out in New York’s favor as he was called for roughing the passer.
– In the second half, the Steelers’ pass rush started to get home with more regularity as Watt and Highsmith recorded sacks on back-to-back plays to knock the Giants out of field goal range with the scored still tied in the third quarter. Highsmith added a second sack just before the punt return and Watt’s strip sack with three minutes remaining effectively iced the game.
– On defense, the Giants once again got a boost from Azeez Ojulari, who has played well since replacing the injured Kayvon Thibodeaux in the starting lineup. Ojulari had two more sacks. The league’s leader in sacks, Dexter Lawrence, failed to register one this week.
Highlights
What’s next
The Giants are back at home next weekend as they host the Washington Commanders on Sunday, Nov. 3rd with the kickoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET.
