Marshall not focused on his own bad day

ARLINGTON, Texas — A dose of good news came out of Brandon Marshall’s Giants debut: It can’t get any worse.

His first game in blue was a forgettable, dismal evening. His new team got bulldozed, thoroughly outplayed by a 19-3 result that didn’t accurately describe the uneven nature of the Cowboys’ victory. He went nearly the entire game without a catch for the first time since his rookie season in 2006.

“When the opportunities come, I’ll be ready for them,” the former Jets receiver said, the only time he chose to talk about his own struggles and not the team’s. “But the only thing that matters is that ‘W,’ and we didn’t get it tonight.”

With star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (ankle) unable to go, Marshall didn’t just fail to pick up the slack. He was virtually invisible the entire evening against a nameless secondary lacking a shutdown cornerback. He was targeted just four times, and his lone catch, a 10-yard reception, came in garbage time. He also let a third-down pass go off his hands early in the fourth quarter with the ball near midfield and the Giants trying to cut into a 13point deficit.

“We just didn’t have any plays, especially in the first half,” quarterback Eli Manning said. “He’s a weapon. We got to find a way to get him the ball.”

When the Giants signed Marshall in March to a two-year, $12 million deal, they felt like they upgraded their receiving corps, bringing in a six-time Pro Bowler who has caught 100 passes in a year six times. But clearly, his chemistry with Manning needs a lot of work after the two worked so little together during the preseason.

Afterward, Marshall made a point of not talking about his own struggles, discussing the loss from a team standpoint. He said he isn’t worried about individual accomplishments. He pointed out solid contributions from wide receiver Sterling Shepard and rookie tight end Evan Engram and repeatedly stressed the season opener was just a bad start, nothing more.

“Our offense isn’t about one player,” Marshall said. “We work as a team, and there’s going to be games where one guy gets more [chances] than another, or we may game plan [a certain way], because it is a better matchup.

“Today was a game where offensively we didn’t function as a unit and play complementary football. We got to get better at that.”