Buccaneers game grades: 2017 Week 4 vs New York Giants
What a difference a week makes as last week the Buccaneers secondary was the goat in a bad way. This week, Brent Grimes might get called the G.O.A.T. by some.
His return to the unit may not have been the only catalyst to a return to solid play, but it certainly was a big one.
Grimes had five tackles, but it was his play against wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. that really demonstrated his veteran skills.
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Let’s get blunt about this. Grimes is not as fast as Beckham, yet he used his route diagnosing skills and abilities gained from years of experience to give the young star problems all night.
In fact, the limited success ODB did have came mostly against Vernon Hargreaves who continues to learn as he gains more experience at one of the NFL’s hardest positions to play.
Now, Beckham had seven catches for 90-yards, sure. However, he didn’t find the end zone once, and his long of 42-yards wasn’t the back-breaker it sometimes can be.
Brandon Marshall brought in six catches for 46-yards, and Sterling Shepard had five receptions for 54 himself.
None of them scored though.
Eli Manning completed 30 passes on almost 50 attempts and failed to eclipse 300-yards of offense. Perhaps, if he had, the Giants would have walked away with a win.
The way it turned out though, the secondary was able to contain the Giants passing attack for most of the game, and the team came away with a win because of it.
A lack of interceptions caps the grade here.