5 things we learned: Rookies shine in Seattle

Jones and Slayton are stepping up in the passing game

The offense started Sunday without its best playmaker in wide receiver Malik Nabers. The rookie wideout had the highest target percentage in the NFL after the first four games of the season and was among the league's leaders in almost every receiving category. Despite the 21-year-old's absence due to a concussion in Week 4, the Giants' passing game didn't falter.

Quarterback Daniel Jones got off to another strong start, completing 12 of his first 13 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. He finished the game 23 of 34 (67.6 percent) for 257 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, giving him a passer rating of 109.6. He also added 38 yards on 11 rushing attempts and forced six missed tackles, according to Pro Football Focus. One of the most important factors in Jones' success against the Seahawks was the deep ball. Jones caught both deep passes (over 20 air yards) for 71 yards and a touchdown. This was the first time since Week 2 of last season that he completed multiple deep passes in a game. Jones now has three games this season with multiple touchdown passes, no interceptions and a passer rating of 100+.

“It was always fun to coach him because he’s a true professional,” Daboll said of Jones. “Again, I always want the results but have a lot of confidence in him, how he plays, how he prepares. You know, feel comfortable putting the ball in his hands. We did that at the start of the game. We chased them. “I threw the ball a little bit, so I have a lot of confidence in him.

“You know, we've been saying since training camp how much we like our talented guys and how deep we think those positions are,” Jones added. “Today you saw how many guys improved and made a lot of plays. When we say that, we mean it. We have a lot of confidence in these guys. You know, they stepped up and played very well.”

With Nabers sidelined, the veteran wide receiver room was able to take a big step forward. With an increased target percentage, Darius Slayton had his best game of the season. The sixth-year wideout scored a game-high 11 times and caught eight of those passes for 122 yards and a touchdown. In fact, Slayton was the recipient of both of Jones' deep completions, as the two passes were just a few plays apart and resulted in the Giants' touchdown early in the third quarter. His 122 receiving yards were the third-highest total of his career and the most he has had since the 2020 season. It was also his sixth 100-yard receiving game of his career.

“You have to have a short memory,” Slayton said of the team’s difficult start. “Obviously we came out on the first drive, we drove it there, fumbled and gave up a touchdown. It's gone from as good as you can start to as bad as it can be. That’s what we’re trying to do.” Our identity is about being resilient and able to overcome.

The Giants faced a difficult task going up against the Seahawks offense. In their Week 4 road loss to the Detroit Lions, the Seahawks gained a whopping 516 yards, 38 first downs and had a 50 percent conversion rate on third and fourth downs, while their running backs averaged nearly 7.0 yards per carry. Well, that all changed in Week 5 against the Giants defense.

Seattle finished the day with 333 yards of total offense and 17 total first downs. The Giants' defense was able to hold the Seahawks to just three conversions on 11 third down attempts while stopping them on both fourth down attempts. The defense was also able to force the Seahawks to abandon the running game entirely, as Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet combined for just seven carries and 30 yards despite contributing to the passing game. The Seahawks entered halftime with just two total rushing yards on two runs, the fewest rushing yards by a Giants opponent in the first half since 2005.

Perhaps the most impressive part of Seattle's defensive performance was the pass rush. The Giants got a burst of seven sacks from Geno Smith, three of which came from defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence. Fellow defensive lineman DJ Davidson recorded the first two full sacks of his NFL career, outside linebacker Brian Burns added a sack and Kayvon Thibodeaux and Rakeem Nunez-Roches shared the seventh sack. The seven-sack performance brings the Giants to 22 sacks this season, the most in the league, two more than any other team. Her 22 sacks are the second most through five games in Giants history (1985).

Lawrence's three-sack game brings him up to six sacks this season. He has the second-most sacks in the NFL, just half a sack behind Detroit's Aidan Hutchinson, who has the most sacks in the NFL. According to Next Gen Stats, Lawrence finished the game with three sacks and five quarterback pressures despite being double-teamed on 22 of his rushes (55 percent). The trio of Lawrence, Burns and Thibodeaux each contributed at least one half-sack in the same game for the second time this season (Week 3 at Cleveland) and combined for 18 total quarterback pressures, according to NGS.

“I think we executed the plan well and the defensive backs guarded well,” Lawrence said after the win. “They gave us time to get there. Geno was looking for a second and third read, and that gave us time.”

Lawrence added: “I think we stood up when we needed to and played when we needed to. This is winning football.”

Cornerback Deonte Banks also deserves a lot of credit for his outstanding performance against DK Metcalf. Banks lined up opposite Metcalf on 35 of the receiver's 47 routes, limiting him to just two catches on four targets for 24 yards. The second-year cornerback also had a great play, knocking the ball out of Metcalf's hands, which Tyler Nubin recovered just outside the red zone to stop Seattle's first drive of the second half. Banks finished the game with a career-best six tackles (two solo) and three passes defended, while Pro Football Focus had him underperforming in targeted passing with a passer rating of 49.6.