New York Giants 27, Baltimore Ravens 23
Here are the top takeaways and highest-graded players from New York's win over Baltimore:
Quarterback grade: Eli Manning, 75.7
After three poor performances in a row Eli Manning finally bounced back with an extremely productive display against the Ravens in the Giants final game on American soil until the sixth of November. After Manning and the Giants struggled early on Manning came alive as the game wore on as he and Odell Beckham Jr. took the Ravens secondary apart with two touchdowns from the Giants’ own side of the field playing the pivotal role in turning this game in the Giants’ favor. The big plays to Beckham swung the game but Manning’s consistency on the short passes helped keep the Giants’ offense ticking over as the ground attack could only muster 38 yards on 17 carries.
Top offensive grades
LG Justin Pugh 84.0
WR Odell Beckham Jr. 76.2
RG John Jerry 74.8
WR Roger Lewis 70.1
RT Bobby Hart 65.7
The Odell Beckham Show departs for London with a bang
The Giants head for Twickenham Stadium in London off the back of a resurgent performance from Odell Beckham Jr. who cast aside recent difficulties and a fumble on the first play of the game to deliver victory for Big Blue. Beckham racked up more yards this week than in his last three games combined breaking three tackles for the second time this season to boot. Beckham benefitted from a collision in the Ravens’ secondary to get into the open field for the game-winning score but once he was there it was his devastating speed and ability to pick an angle through the defense that delivered the decisive score.
Top defensive grades
CB Janoris Jenkins 86.3
S Landon Collins 84.7
MLB Kelvin Sheppard 83.9
CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie 82.7
DE Jason Pierre-Paul 78.3
Big plays throughout the Giants’ secondary
The Giants’ secondary was a feature throughout this game, both in a positive and negative light. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was heavily involved from the outset with a pass break up and two stops on the Ravens’ opening drive and so that story remained the same until the final drive where Rodgers-Cromartie broke up the hail Mary as time ran out. The trio of Rodgers-Cromartie, Janoris Jenkins and Landon Collins combined to allow three plays of 20 yards or more in coverage but broke up four passes (two each for Jenkins and Rodgers-Cromartie) while Collins racked a game high five defensive stops, sniping around the line of scrimmage against the run and closing quickly on short passes. The Giants’ vaunted defensive line failed to overwhelm an undermanned Baltimore offensive line but the New York secondary picked up the slack, even if they gave up some big plays en-route to the victory.
Quarterback grade: Joe Flacco, 47.8
If ever proof were needed that a 300-yard passing game was not proof positive of a stellar performance by a quarterback, this was it. In spite of numerous misses throughout the game all the way up to the final drive Flacco almost led the Ravens to a comeback victory picking up where a surprising offensive line performance had left Baltimore in contention into the final quarter. Flacco was under pressure on 38 percent of his dropbacks but actually performed marginally worse when he wasn’t pressured. Flacco’s passer rating was 74.4 when under pressure, compared to 73.6 when he wasn’t pressured; his yards per attempt took an even sharper drop, from 9.1 under pressure to 4.9 without pressure.
Top offensive grades
C Jeremy Zuttah 84.7
LG John Urschel 81.8
HB Terrance West 80.4
RG Ryan Jensen 78.2
WR Mike Wallace 70.6
Ravens’ offensive line exceeds expectations
A 98-yard rushing performance at 3.8 yards per carry may not be the production of a legendary offensive line but considering how undermanned the Ravens came in (without starting left tackle Ronnie Stanley and All-Pro right guard Marshal Yanda) this was a strong showing against a talented Giants defensive front. The Ravens gained 48 percent of their rushing yards before contact and held both Johnathan Hankins and Damon Harrison to their lowest run defense grades of the season.
Top defensive grades
ILB Zachary Orr 86.1
S Eric Weddle 84.4
OLB Terrell Suggs 83.2
NT Michael Pierce 78.8
CB Jimmy Smith 78.1
A tale of two corners
The Ravens’ starting cornerbacks had endured drastically differing fortunes against the Giants with Jimmy Smith rebounding from a rough outing against Washington last week with his best game of the season. Smith was targeted six times, allowing four catches but for only 21 yards with a long gain of 10 yards and only one completion for six yards to Odell Beckham Jr. Meanwhile rookie corner Tavon Young starting opposite Smith allowed a season high 123 yards and two touchdowns including Beckham’s game winner after he collided with Eric Weddle on fourth and one. Young did snag his second interception of the season, capitalizing on a clip of heels with Sterling Shepard for a diving interception, but did allow twice as many passing yards this week as he had allowed in the first five weeks of the season combined.
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