Giants vs. Falcons Full Team Grades

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Sep 20, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones (11) and New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (13) exchange jerseys after their game at MetLife Stadium. The Falcons defeated the Giants 24-20. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Giants, for a second consecutive week, were in great position to pull off a strong win, leading by 10 points in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, for the second consecutive week, the Giants shot themselves in the foot and couldn’t get out of their own way, this time losing to the Atlanta Falcons 24-20.

This was another game that was expected to be high scoring, but was a bit of a struggle at times offensively. Unfortunately for the Giants, their defense was unable to stay strong throughout all four quarters again as the Falcons piled up 205 yards on their final three drives, while the Giants offense managed only 74 over their final three drives.

Unlike last week, when the Giants had real beef with the referees and the NFL admitted multiple mistakes that the Giants expense, this one was all on them. They failed to execute down the stretch once again, as they seem to tighten up on both sides of the ball, playing not to lose instead of playing to win. That is a bad mindset to have, and the Giants are building poor habits of how to lose early in the season, something they need to shake or it will be another long season for Big Blue.

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Overall, this was another excruciating loss, as the Giants find themselves with an 0-2 record when they could easily be sitting at 2-0. Things you hope are only aberrations are looking more like trends for this team, as the same problems reared their ugly heads in the losses to the Cowboys and Falcons.

The Giants will have no time to wallow and sulk about this loss, as they have a quick turnaround this week as they will be playing on Thursday night against the Washington Redskins. One thing working in their favor is the fact it will be a home game, which gives them a distinct advantage heading into the matchup. But, the Redskins are coming off a nice win over the St. Louis Rams in Week 2, and almost pulled off an upset over the Miami Dolphins Week 1, so they are riding much more positive momentum than the Giants are.

But, before we get to that game, let’s take a little more of an in-depth look at the Week 2 game against the Atlanta Falcons. Check out our Week 2 grades for the Giants against the Falcons, as a long season looks to be on the horizon with the outcomes of the first two games.

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