By Michael Stewart @TheTruthNYG
The Giants hopes of extending their winning streak to two was quickly crushed by the Kansas City Chiefs in a game that saw both offenses move the ball, but only one team fully capitalizing on their scoring chances. The Chiefs made the most of their opportunities with a 20-17 win over Giants to even their record to 4-4. The Giants are now 2-6 and must now reflect on the missed opportunities that saw a possible win slip through their hands and in all fairness; the score could have been worse. Here are my top 3 reasons why the Giants lost.
- Missed Opportunities: Coming into this game, the Chiefs were -10 in the turnover department; while the Giants were even on the year. This was one of the only categories the Giants had a clear advantage over the Chiefs and it certainly came into play, as the Giants squandered their takeaways by not converting them into points.
- Time of Possession: It’s a very simple concept in the NFL, the more you control the clock with time of possession on offense; the better your chances are in putting points on the board and keeping the other team from scoring. Clearly the Giants didn’t get the memo on this one and were dominated in this department 34:38 to 25:22. This lopsided stat resulted in Kansas City having a total of 77 offensive snaps to the Giants 56.
- Penalties: This one might as well have been the first one listed as it sealed any chances the Giants had in winning this game. In total the Giants committed 11 penalties for 88 yards, however; the final two were the costly ones by the Giants defense; which prolonged the Chiefs final drive which resulted in the game winning field goal. The crushing blow was the interception by Darnay Holmes nullified by an off sides by Oshane Ximines.
What now:
The Giants now stand at 2-6 and will return home to face the Las Vegas Raiders; who are 5-2 before they enter their bye week. It’s not a stretch to see this Giants team being 2-7 before they play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after their bye week.
The Giants are finding different ways to lose games and until they can turn the corner and learn how to win the close games; this trend will continue and the Giants will certainly be picking in the top 5 with at least their own 1st round pick.