There was one word New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones repeated numerous times during his postgame interview after losing “Monday Night Football” to the Pittsburgh Steelers: frustrating.
It’s no wonder — his team dropped to 2-6 on the season, special teams players allowed a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown and the offense committed six penalties on the first two drives, one of which negated a touchdown.
“It’s frustrating, for sure, very frustrating,” Jones said after the game. “We hurt ourselves a lot tonight, and that’s the most frustrating part about it. We’ve gotta be more detailed starting with me and some of the good stuff that happened was negated by those mistakes.”
The Steelers topped the Giants, 26-18, before an announced crowd of 66,637 at Acrisure Stadium, the team’s 22nd consecutive victory in a “Monday Night Football” home game. The win propelled the Steelers (6-2) to first place in the AFC North as they enter the bye week.
The Giants, though, are licking their wounds after the loss that was marred by penalties, a failed two-point conversion and an end-of-game interception that sealed the Steelers’ victory.
The New York Giants after getting handed an opportunity to tie the game on a silver platter pic.twitter.com/SE9RZd93QU
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) October 29, 2024
Jones appeared angry after the game, said Art Stapleton, Giants beat writer for NorthJersey.com. Meanwhile, defensive players were vocal with their teammates, hoping to get them motivated and focused on the task at hand, he reported. Nose tackle Dexter Lawrence II told Stapleton that the lack of details and focus from players on game days is baffling.
The details just weren’t there for the Giants, wrote Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post. There were bright moments in the Giants’ game, but it wasn’t enough.
“They came to Pittsburgh with their season on life support and Jones an endangered species,” Cannizzaro wrote. “The odds were stacked heavily against the Giants on this night. And yet, they had the ball in Pittsburgh territory twice in the final three minutes down eight points with a chance to tie the game and turned it over twice.”
Wild game. Giants lost 26-18 to the Steelers on Monday night football. Too many mistakes. Four illegal shifts and formations. Didn’t chip T.J. Watt on the biggest play of the game. Can’t have that stuff.
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) October 29, 2024
It seems like Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson and wide receiver George Pickens have something special brewing, said NFL writer Nick Shook. The pair connected four times for 74 yards, including two touchdowns that were wiped out by a penalty and replay review.
“It’s clear Wilson loves to look toward Pickens’ way (especially downfield), and he’s unlocked the Steelers’ most talented weapon, bringing a new threat to an offense that needed one,” Shook wrote.
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The team had a season-high 426 yards of total offense. The Steelers moved the ball well while the Giants were sloppy, according to ESPN writers Brooke Pryor and Jordan Raanan.
“The Giants are a team that needs to play close to perfect to beat quality opponents like the Steelers on the road,” ESPN reported. “They didn’t do that Monday night.”
Giants have definitely gotten screwed by a couple penalties tonight, and when you have such a slim margin for error, those mistakes - yours and those by others - will bury you.
— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) October 29, 2024
Head coach Brian Daboll knows it.
The Steelers did “what they normally do — ran the ball, get some boots, hit a couple shots down the field, they did a nice job,” he said in a postgame interview.
“No excuses, and I thought there was a lot of different things that we did well but not enough,” Daboll said. “They made some good plays, we gave ourselves a chance at the end. … I was proud of the way they competed for 60 minutes, we knew this is a tough place to play. There was a lot of good things, just not enough of them.”
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The Giants, Yankees, AND Knicks lost tonight.
Legit clean sweep of my fav teams. It really doesn't get worse than this.
— Alex Wilson (@AlexWilsonESM) October 29, 2024