Giants are not the winless New York team everyone expected
Cowboys’ Prescott, Elliott get Packers next in uneven year 2
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — There were a lot of people who believed there would be a winless team in New York four games into the NFL season. It just wasn’t the New York Giants. The Jets? Sure. They were supposed to tank the season and get the No. 1 overall draft pick. They’re 2-2, though, and thinking turnaround.
The Giants were coming off an 11-5 season that got them into the playoffs and had high expectations. Now, they are in big trouble. They are off to their worst start since going 0-6 in 2013, and coach Ben McAdoo is hoping his players aren’t overwhelmed by the task in front of them.
Only one team since the NFL and AFL merged into one league in 1970 has started 0-4 and made the playoffs. That was the San Diego Chargers in 1992.
Coincidentally, the winless Chargers — they play in Los Angeles now — are coming to MetLife Stadium to face the Giants on Sunday.
“We’re the only ones who can do anything about it,” McAdoo said Monday, a day after the Giants lost their second straight game on a last-second field goal. “We got to get back out there on the practice field and we got to work through the fundamentals. We can’t get numb. We can never get used to this feeling or accept it. We have to get back to work.”
Watching the tape of the 25-23 loss to the Buccaneers (2-1) in Tampa, Florida, McAdoo isn’t surprised his team is winless.
The mistakes are obvious: missed blocks, poor tackling, dropped passes, mistakes punting and kicking, blown fourth-quarter leads the past two games, and slow
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott lost two games when both played during a remarkable rookie year for the Dallas Cowboys.
The star quarterback and running back have already matched that a quarter of the way through what’s been an uneven second season. They face Green Bay on Sunday less than nine months after the Packers (3-1) spoiled the duo’s first playoff appearance as the NFC’s top seed at home.
The Cowboys (2-2) solved the problem of slow starts in two straight games, but created a new one by letting an 11-point lead slip away in a surprising 3530 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Prescott, last year’s NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, was off-target as the Cowboys punted three straight times in the third quarter after scoring on all four first-half drives Sunday. The starts. New York has not scored in the first quarter and has played behind for most of the first month of the season. McAdoo hopes to simplify things for his team so they can just play and showcase its ability.
Unlike two weeks ago when he said he believed he still had a good team, this week he said he has a team that needs a lot of work.
“It’s fight or flight time,” the second-year head coach said. “We have talented men of integrity in the locker room. It’s not going to be easy. But we have to go out there and fourth possession after halftime ended with his third interception of the season. Prescott threw four his entire rookie year.
“I think I missed some throws in the second half that I didn’t miss in the first half or that I can’t miss, simply,” Prescott said. “Going along with that, it is just knowing where I am going with the ball so that my feet can be in tune with my body.”
Prescott was 20 of 36 for 252 yards and three touchdowns with his third sub-100 passer rating in four games. He had five such games last season, when he set an NFL rookie record with a 104.9 rating as the Cowboys went 13-3.
They lost their finale when Prescott played only briefly and Elliott sat with a first-round playoff bye clinched.
There were bright moments for Prescott against the Rams, we have to fight. I expect us to fight. The biggest thing that I get concerned about is guys going numb. We can’t go numb. Can never accept this. You got to fight through it. You got to work for that first one. Work for the first win.”
The Giants are also dealing with injuries more than season. Odell Beckham Jr. missed the season opener with an ankle injury that has bothered him all season. Defensive end Olivier Vernon sprained an ankle and missed the end of the Eagles’ game last week and the second half of Sunday’s loss. Center Weston Richburg sustained a concussion Sunday and starting halfback Paul Perkins has bruised ribs. Rookie Wayne Gallman played well replacing Perkins.
“It’s a game of confidence and you build confidence through the way you practice,” McAdoo said. “And then it has to transition to game day, and that’s really been where we’re struggling. Falling behind early and then hanging on late. Second and third quarters we’re playing some pretty good football. We just have to start better and finish stronger.” such as his duck-and-spin out of what looked like a sure sack for All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald before an 18-yard throw to Dez Bryant, who had a season-high 98 yards receiving.
“He made a lot of plays for us, in the pocket, out of the pocket, throughout the game,” coach Jason Garrett said.
“He stood in there under some duress and made some throws. Having said that, the standard is high. And he did miss some throws.”
Elliott matched the longest drought from his rookie season with his third straight game of less than 100 yards rushing. Last year’s NFL rushing leader scored two touchdowns in the first half against the Rams and had 97 total yards at halftime: 56 rushing and 41 receiving.
But Elliott had just nine touches and 42 total yards after halftime the day before a federal appeals court heard arguments over the NFL’s emergency request to lift an injunction that blocked the league’s six-game suspension over domestic violence allegations in Ohio.
“I think we have an identity in what we want to do,” tight end Jason Witten said.