WHAT A STRETCH
DENVER — Desperation can be a potent cocktail when served to wounded underdogs.
Desperation can be a dangerous 13th man on an NFL team scorned.
The Giants arrived to Denver a wounded, scorned and desperate team.
You can make the argument that no team in the NFL this season entered a game with lower expectations from the outside world that it had any chance to win than the game the Giants played against the Broncos Sunday night at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
If you picked the Giants to deliver the 23-10 beating they put on the Broncos, you either cashed a lot of money in Vegas or you know little about football and you just liked the color of the Giants’ uniforms better than those the Broncos were wearing.
Because this came straight out of Nowhere, USA.
The Giants have been easy an target of late, and for good reason.
They spent the first five weeks of the season underachieving and in the f ifth week, they lost so many starters you wondered not whether they could beat the Broncos, but whether they’d be able to score a point in the game against the NFL’s No. 1-ranked defense.
Yet there were the Giants delivering the first punch, taking their f irst offensive possession and marching 69 yards on 13 plays and taking a 3-0 lead on an Aldrick Rosas 25-yard field goal.
There they were extending the lead by doing something that few outside of their locker room believed they’d be able to do — score a touchdown. Yes, a 5-yard Eli Manning scoring pass to rookie tight end Evan Engram made it 10-0 just 2:30 into the second quarter. And suddenly the stadium that had been shaking from the rabid home fans when the Broncos were on defense was quieted.
There was Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins jumping a lazy route run by Broncos receiver Bennie Fowler III and picking off quarterback Trevor Siemian, returning it 43 yards for a pick-six and a stunning 17-3 lead at the half.
There was Jenkins, nicknamed “Jack Rabbit,’’ ripping the ball out of the hands of Denver’s best receiver, Demaryius Thomas, after Thomas had converted a key first down on a fourth-down play in the fourth quarter with the Broncos trying to mount a comeback.
Damn the critics, the Giants screamed with their inspired play, which put the Broncos exactly where they didn’t want to be: Playing catch up.
Entering the game, in Siemian’s 18 career NFL starts, the Broncos were 8-1 when he threw the ball fewer than 35 times and 3-6 when he threw it 35 or more times. Siemian threw 49 passes Sunday night.
The Broncos are most comfortable playing defense and running the ball. The Giants took them out of their comfort zone.
For a team that has spent the recent weeks being discredited for all of the things it wasn’t doing or was simply doing poorly, there’s a lot of credit to be doled out for what it accomplished Sunday night.
And that begins with their em- battled head coach, Ben McAdoo, who f inally handed over the play-calling (his pride and joy) to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan. Sullivan, beginning with the f irst offensive series of the game, did an admirable job.
McAdoo, playing the usagainst-the-world underdog card to textbook perfection in the lead-up to the game, should be credited with his motivational powers and keeping his team focused.
The Giants had every reason not only to lose this game, but possibly to be embarrassed. They entered the game 0-5. They lost four of their top five receivers, including starters Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall to injuries in last Sunday’s home loss to the Chargers. Beckham Jr., Marshall and Sterling Shepard (who’ve accounted for a total of 1,359 NFL receptions) were replaced by Roger Lewis, Tavarres King, Travis Rudolph and Ed Eagan (who had a combined 19 career receptions).
Defensively, they were without starting defensive end Olivier Vernon and linebacker Jonathan Casillas to injuries.
The Giants, too, had endured internal strife with the suspension of popular cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on Wednesday and McAdoo curiously taking days before addressing the team about it.
By kickoff Sunday night, all of these things were forgotten. That’s because desperation took over. And on this night desperation won.