PATHETIC!
BUMBLING GIANTS FALL TO 1-6
Pat Shurmur’s bizarre decision to go for 2 in key spot, Eli Manning’s pair of QB sneaks late in game & overthrows to OBJ pile on in Giant loss.
ATLANTA — Pat Shurmur needed a water break in Monday night’s third quarter. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Shurmur’s lips were easy and painful to read.
“Why didn’t he throw it to Odell?” the coach said incredulously on the sideline.
Odell Beckham Jr. had been open on fourth and goal from the Atlanta Falcons’ 1-yard line on the first drive of the second half, with the Giants down only a score in their only trip this season to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the site of this year’s Super Bowl.
But Manning did not throw to his best receiver running left to right along the goal line. He didn’t even throw to a seemingly open tight end Rhett Ellison in the back of the end zone. He forced one back across the field to third-string tight end Scott Simonson. And the pass fell predictably incomplete.
Same old frustrations for the Giants (1-6), whose offensive line got dominated for four Falcons sacks in the first half; whose quarterback overthrew an open Beckham in the end zone in the first half and ignored him open in the second; who took a fourth straight loss, 23-20, to an injury-riddled Atlanta team that improved to an underwhelming 3-4.
Beckham and Sterling Shepard both went for more than 140 yards receiving on a Falcons defense prone to surrendering the big play. But the Giants scored no more than six first-half points for the fourth time in seven games, trailing 10-3 at the break.
And when Saquon Bark- ley answered Tevin Coleman’s 30-yard fourth quarter TD run with a 2-yd score to draw within 20-12 with 4:47 to play, Shurmur went for two, and Beckham dropped the conversion pass from Manning. Then Atlanta’s Giorgio Tavecchio banged a 53yard field goal to ice it on the other side of the two minute warning.
Beckham would tack on a late touchdown with five seconds left followed by a Barkley two-point conversion, but only after a couple of unsuccessful Manning QB sneaks at the goal line, which zapped almost all the time off the clock, leaving no chance for another score.
Peyton Manning was in the house to witness his brother’s latest defeat. John Mara was here. So was Odell Beckham Sr. The drama faded, the game was played, the result stayed the same.
The Giants fell to 0-28 since 2012 when trailing at halftime on the road. They have lost their last 19 games when trailing by at least seven points at the half, the longest streak in the league and in team history, per ESPN’s Monday Night Football crew.
But this isn’t about history; it’s about the unbearable present, especially of the offense. It was both Manning and the offensive line on Monday.
The line gave Manning little chance to operate on many first-down snaps. And former Giants lineman David Diehl even tweeted fury at the current five, saying: “It’s one thing if you get beat and give up a sack. But its another thing if you give up the sack and you DON’T PICK UP YOUR QUARTERBACK!!! Zero excuse for that.”
But later, even former Manning lineman Shaun O’Hara, who was also heavily criticizing the line, had to admit the QB had made the wrong decision in not throwing to Beckham on fourth down.
“No idea why Eli didn’t throw that to OBJ,” O’Hara said. “The play was designed for him! It twas a foot race btw 13 & 41 & I would take 13 every time. Missed opportunity.”
The Giants defense refreshingly had come out in attack mode, sacking Matt Ryan three times in the first half led by Kerry Wynn, BW Webb and Lorenzo Carter. Coordinator James Bettcher threw some creative looks to fluster Atlanta’s offense, too. And Janoris Jenkins, beaten early on a TD, forced a big second-half fumble by Julio Jones. But Big Blue’s offense did little to help. The offensive line, restructured with Spencer Pulley making his debut at center and John Greco moving to right guard, was a disaster early. Highly paid left tackle Nate Solder was beaten often. Grady Jarrett (two), Jack Crawford and Takk McKinley got to Manning.
Return man Quadree Henderson, an undrafted rookie out of Pitt making his NFL debut, gave the Giants great second-quarter field position with a 21-yard punt return to their own 42 yard line and the game scoreless. But the offense went three-and-out, thanks to a run for no gain, Manning missing an open Beckham and a sack.
And Atlanta opened the scoring on the next drive with a 47yard Matt Ryan touchdown pass to little-known wideout Marvin Hall, who beat Jenkins with free safety Curtis Riley taking a receiver underneath.
The Giants would get an Aldrick Rosas field goal but left too much time on the clock, and the Falcons tacked on a Tavecchio field goal for a 10-3 halftime lead. And it was more of the same for the 2018 Giants offense:
Not enough. Not even close.