Giants stun Broncos for first victory of season
Undermanned Big Blue controls both lines en route to stunning triumph over Broncos
DENVER » One suspension, three season-ending surgeries, six sidelined starters and seven lineup changes to accommodate this whole mess.
Not exactly the usual path to success, but one the New York Giants successfully navigated in a stunning 23-10 win Sunday night over the bewildered Denver Broncos .
The Giants (1-5) controlled the trenches, rolling over the league’s best run defense for 148 yards and limiting the NFL’s third-best ground game to a meager 46 yards.
“It was good that we could play this style of football and get a win,” Eli Manning said in his first game without injured wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr., Brandon Marshall and Dwayne Harris, all of whom got hurt last week.
Manning threw for 128 yards, barely beating the 117 running back Orleans Darkwa gained on 21 carries. Manning connected five times with rookie tight end Evan Engram for 82 yards and a touchdown.
“It’s a special win just with everything going on,” Manning said.
And a crushing loss for the Broncos (3-2), who failed to close in on Kansas City in the
AFC West after the Chiefs were knocked off by Pittsburgh for their first loss Sunday.
“It’s the National Football League,” Denver’s Von Miller said. “It’s not about who you’ve got playing for you or what stars are in the game or what the team looks like. It’s any given Sunday.”
Miller had a sack, but the Giants’ heavy dose of handoffs kept Denver’s star linebacker from wrecking New York’s game plan.
“We didn’t want a game where we were going to have to throw it 40 times,” Manning said. “They’ve got a good pass rush, and so I thought we did a good job. He had the one sack. They
kind of had a blitz on and so he was 1-on-1, had to be 1-on-1 that one and he got to us. He’s a good player. It’s going to happen.”
Visiting teams went 8-5 in Week 6 and are 46-44 overall this season.
Other takeaways from the game that epitomizes the topsy-turvy season:
Role reversal
Trevor Siemian threw for a career-high 376 yards, including a 13-yarder to third-year tight end Jeff Heuerman for his first career TD.
But like Manning last week, Siemian spent this game losing teammates.
Receivers Emmanuel Sanders and rookie Isaiah McKenzie sustained what appeared to be serious right ankle injuries. Although X-rays were negative, both will get MRIs
on Monday. Demaryius Thomas hobbled his way through a 10-catch night, and right tackle Menelik Watson left with a calf injury.
Sanders was injured when safety Landon Collins undercut him in an attempt to intercept Siemian’s low throw.
“I apologize for that,” Collins said. “I saw the quarterback throw the ball and I was trying to break on it and go get it and make a game-changing play . ... Much love to him because I look up to him as a player.”
Siemian came out himself after jamming his surgically repaired left shoulder into the ground while diving to keep cornerback Janoris Jenkins out of the end zone on his 43-yard pick-6 that put New York ahead 17-3 at the half.