On the surface, it’s hard to get too excited about a 29-20 win over a team that didn’t make the playoffs last season. However, the Seattle Seahawks came into the game 3-1 and gave NFC contender Detroit a run for their money last week. Additionally, Lumen Field’s “12th man” of screaming fans makes it a tough place for any visiting team to play. The New York Giants won there in 2020…but without fans in the building. Over the past two years, the Seahawks have handed the Giants two of their most disheartening losses.

Putting all of this together, the Giants’ 29-20 victory – a game they truly dominated and which was only close because of a questionable fumble on the goal line that was a 14-point swing – has to be seen as a of their more impressive efforts over the past two seasons.

How did they do it? Let’s look at some numbers from Pro Football Focus and see if they match up with the eye test.

Offence

Snap counts

• As usual, Daniel Jones and the starting offensive line played every second. The stability on the line is one of the most remarkable things about this season.
• With Malik Nabers out, the wide receiver’s snaps were almost evenly split among Darius Slayton, Wan’Dale Robinson and, for the first time, Jalin Hyatt… except Hyatt wasn’t targeted once in his 48 snaps. Isaiah Hodgins also got some playing time in the second half.
• Eric Gray started the game, but Tyrone Tracy ultimately saw most of the action, whether by design or Gray’s disastrous fumble. Dante Miller got his first NFL snap (I missed him, he didn’t touch the ball).
• The tight end rotation remained steady, with Theo Johnson playing the most snaps and either Chris Manhertz or Daniel Bellinger being on the field about 25% of the time. Josh Ezeudu saw a few snaps as a jumbo tight end.

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

It’s refreshing to see the Giants’ offense emerge from a game where six players scored above average for a change. Although I can quibble about some details.

• Daniel Jones scored barely above average (70.4), but I thought this game was much better for him than last week, when he scored 10 points higher despite never getting the Giants into the end zone. Two TD passes — and good ones, two big throws, and only one turnover-worthy play in a win were somehow less impressive to Pro Football Focus than no TD passes, one big throw and two turnover-worthy plays last week. Jones was rated 90.4 when kept clean (22 of 29, 252 yards, 2 TDs, 2 BTTs, 0 TWPs), which makes sense, and only 25.1 when pressured (1 of 5, 5 yards, 0 TDs, 0 BTTs, 1 TWP), which makes sense. Jones was pressured on 25% of his dropbacks (10 of them), with three sacks and two scrambles, so weighing his clean and pressure scores three to one and adding them up yields an average grade of about 70. I think that that’s where the overall figure comes from. For me, the whole on Sunday was greater than the sum of its parts.
• The offensive line was a mixed bag:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Still, the line was only charged with seven pressures and one sack (the other two sacks were considered Jones’ responsibility). Greg Van Roten had his best game as a Giant, and Jermaine Eluemunor and Andrew Thomas were above average at tackles. Jon Runyan and John MIchael Schmitz were slightly below average, but by Giants standards of the past decade, I’ll take these results any time. Thank you, Carmen Bricillo.

• Yesterday’s two offensive stars, other than Jones, both scored well above average: Darius Slayton (77.6 grading) and Tyrone Tracy (77.3 rushing). Wan’Dale Robinson received an average grade (60.8). Among others who touched the ball, Theo Johnson had his best game of the season (62.5), while Eric Gray (43.5) was obviously heavily downgraded for his fumble on the goal line.

Defense

Snap counts

• As usual, linebacker Bobby Okereke, cornerback Tae Banks and safety Jason Pinnock played every snap, and safety Tyler Nubin played almost every snap. In descending order, Nick McCloud, Cor’Dale Flott, Dane Belton, Adoree’ Jackson and Dru Phillips were on the field from about two-thirds to a third of the time. Meanwhile, starting linebacker Micah McFadden played fewer than half the defensive snaps, and Darius Muasau and Patrick Johnson added just a few more. In other words, the Giants spent a lot of time defending dimes, which makes sense considering the Seahawks’ three-man corps of dangerous wide receivers.
• On the edge, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux each played about 80% of the snaps. Azeez Ojulari gets about 35% playing time. Dexter Lawrence was on the field almost as much as Burns and Thibodeaux, while Rakeem Nunez-Roches played about half the downs, Elijah Chatman about 40% and DJ Davidson about a third.

PFF grades

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

• The No. 1 story of this game IMHO was the performance of the Giants’ secondary. The much-maligned Banks in particular had an excellent game, possibly the best of his career (84.6 grade, a forced fumble, three pass breakups and just two receptions on five targets for 17 yards and 7 YAC). Cor’Dale Flott was almost as good (74.2, 2 receptions in three targets for 14 yards and 0 YAC). Andru Phillips, Tyler Nubin, Jason Pinnock and Adoree’ Jackson all played quite well, while Nick McCloud and Dane Belton were below average.
• It was a good day for the defensive line, which had 24 total pressures and seven sacks. Lawrence (73.9) led the way as usual with three sacks. Brian Burns (68.3) and Kayvon Thibodeaux (64.7) played quite well, each with a sack and five and four hurries, respectively. DJ Davidson (62.8, 2 sacks) had one of his better games as a Giant, while Rakeem Nunez-Roches (55.1) also had a sack and Elijah Chatman (52.4) had a hit and rush.
• Linebackers Bobby Okereke (47.2), Micah McFadden (48.1) and Darius Muasau (65.4) all had quiet games.