New York Giants Defense Dominant Once Again In Win Over Detroit Lions

The New York Giants got their tenth win of the season on Sunday as they defeated the Detroit Lions 17-6. The Giants defense had another solid outing in the game.

Right now, the New York Giants are 10-4 and have a very good chance to make the playoffs. The dominant performance of the defense has been a major reason for the team’s success this season.

The Detroit Lions came into the matchup against the Giants having won five straight games and eight of their last nine overall. Facing a balanced offense led by quarterback Matthew Stafford, the Giants certainly had a tough task ahead of them. Judging by the result of the game, they were definitely up for the challenge.

Stafford was never really ever able to get into a rhythm against the Giants defense. The Giants scored on the opening drive of the game on an Eli Manning six-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard.

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Detroit was unable to respond, as they ended up punting on their first drive. After they forced the Giants to punt, the Lions were able to get a good drive going. They ended up having to settle for a field goal.

After the Giants could not get anything going offensively and punted again, the Lions had the ball back trailing 7-3. At this point, the Giants defense was already without cornerback Janoris Jenkins, who suffered a back injury early in the second quarter.

Stafford took advantage of his absence by completing a 67-yard pass to wide receiver Golden Tate. This gave the Lions their best opportunity of the day to score a touchdown, as they had the ball at the Giants’ 11-yard line.

On the next play, Lions running back Zach Zenner took the handoff from Stafford and ran straight up the middle. It looked like he had a chance to get into the end zone, but he was met by cornerback Leon Hall at the 4-yard line. Hall was able to force a fumble while tackling Zenner, and the ball was recovered in the end zone by defensive end Olivier Vernon. This was the biggest defensive play of the day for the Giants.

The Giants were able to take advantage of that turnover by adding a field goal on the ensuing drive. After that, Lions had a few more possessions but were forced to punt a few more times. At halftime, the Giants had a 10-3 lead.

On the opening drive of the second half, the Lions drove down the field and again had a good chance to score a touchdown. Facing 3rd-and-8 at the Giants’ 10-yard line, Stafford was sacked by Vernon and Johnathan Hankins. This forced the Lions to settle for another field goal. Not only were the Lions unable to find the end zone, but their drive took up nearly half of the third quarter. Neither team was able to do anything offensively for the rest of the quarter.

Late in the fourth quarter, the Giants added to their lead when Manning hit wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. for a 4-yard touchdown pass. A few possessions later, the Lions had one final chance to try and score a touchdown. Stafford was intercepted in the end zone by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie however, and the Giants defense squashed the Lions’ chances of making a comeback. This interception basically sealed the victory, as the Giants went on to win 17-6.

This was the first time all season that the Lions failed to score at least 10 points. The Giants defense held them to just 324 total yards in the game.

Next: New York Giants Team Grades vs Detroit Lions

It was another commanding performance by the Giants defense. For the second consecutive game, they held their opponent to single-digit points. The Giants will continue to succeed if this unit keeps playing at this kind of a high level.