Is becoming truly offensive
Manning didn’t throw downfield until an incomplete deep ball to Brandon Marshall at 1:31 of the third quarter.
This all came after McAdoo was perceived to have taken a shot at Dallas’ new secondary in a conference call with the Cowboys media mid-week: “If you know who’s playing corner for them, you can let me know,” he said, per DallasCowboys. com. How’d that work out?
McAdoo said Monday that he thought both he and Manning had gotten the offense into the appropriate looks to attack the ’Boys’ defense. But still, the coach admitted Dallas’ strategy essentially dictated how Manning was able to operate the Giants’ offense.
“We saw that it was a zone game early,” McAdoo said. “They just relied on playing zone and playing with a lot of depth and playing on top. That’s why a lot of the throws were underneath. Eli was just trying to take what they were giving him, staying disciplined and not throwing into coverage.”
Think about it, too: If the Giants struggled often last season against deep zones with Odell Beckham Jr. in the lineup, imagine how helpless they felt on Sunday without him.
“They had some new (coverages) and we just couldn’t find the right time to hit them or hurt them with those coverages,” Manning said in a more ambiguous review.
Listen: Jerry Reese’s offensive line no question was a major reason McAdoo and Manning weren’t able to get anything going. The Cowboys’ defense generated three sacks, four hurries and three pressures, per Pro Football Focus, while blitzing on just three of Manning’s 41 pass droppacks, per ESPN Stats & Info. They also intercepted Manning once.
Still, so much of McAdoo’s game plan deserves to be questioned — like why didn’t Orleans Darkwa (three carries, eight snaps, 14 yards) carry the ball more after a 12-yard rip on his first touch? Or why wasn’t McAdoo calling more plays for Marshall to be the No. 1 option if Manning didn’t have the time to get to his second and third reads, especially with Beckham out?
“We certainly want Brandon to get a touch earlier than he got a touch,” McAdoo admitted of Marshall, who came close to his first no-catch game since his 2006 rookie year with Denver. “There were just breakdowns across the board. It wasn’t one group or one position or one player or whatever the case may be. There was enough spread around.”
What is most discouraging, though, is the regression of McAdoo’s offense overall: 380 points in his first season as coordinator in 2014, 420 in 2015, and then a staggering 310 last season. Now comes this three-point dud, the Giants’ seventh straight game with fewer than 20 points going back to last year.
McAdoo on Monday wouldn’t provide an update on Beckham’s Week 2 status, but who is he kidding? Beckham is the type of elite talent who can mask the shortcomings of a poor offense, and unless McAdoo plans to pull a rabbit out of a hat or off of that diner-menu play sheet, there is no remedy he needs more.