Unsung WRs stepping up
The Giants’ wide receivers are doing their best to prep in the preseason for the first four games of the regular season without suspended starter Golden Tate.
The NFL, earlier this week, denied Tate’s appeal of his suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substance policy, and Sterling Shepard is nursing a thumb injury, so fellow receivers Cody Latimer, Bennie Fowler and T.J. Jones got to show off in the Giants’ 32-13 victory over the Bears on Friday at MetLife Stadium.
Latimer led the way with two receptions for 60 yards. Jones went 3-for-4 on his targets for 32 yards with one touchdown. Fowler caught both passes thrown to him for 25 yards and one touchdown.
“We have a lot of guys who have been working hard, who were here last year and have played well for us,” Eli Manning said at halftime, regarding the various receivers he threw to. “We’ll get Cody, Bennie, Golden and Rhett [Ellison] going. When we get Saquon [Barkley] in there, we’ll have him. We have a lot of guys that we have great confidence in that can get open. We’ll spread it around and just throw it to the open guy.”
From the Giants’ first drive of the game, which was jumpstarted by Manning’s sharp pass to Latimer for a 20-yard gain, it was apparent the Bears, who started their second-string defense, had holes. Manning found Fowler for the first touchdown of the night, an 8yard strike that saw the 28year-old receiver flaunt his quickness on his second touchdown of the preseason.
Fowler showed off again during rookie quarterback Daniel Jones’ first drive of the night, getting tremendous positioning and cradling a sharp pass from the 20 for a 17-yard gain. Two plays later, Jones hit Latimer for 40 yards. But a fumble by the quarterback ended the drive.
The Giants’ second touchdown can be primarily credited to the Jones-Jones chemistry, with the rookie quarterback finding the receiver three times for 32 yards on the secondquarter touchdown drive. In back-to-back plays starting at the Bears 23, the Duke product first found T.J. Jones on firstand-10 for 8 yards before targeting him again for 15 yards into the end zone to extend the Giants’ lead to 19-3.
Running back Paul Perkins also caught both of his targets for 30 yards while Tate caught 1-of-2 passes for 5 yards.
“I’ve said it all along, it’s going to take a village. To their credit, the veterans may win the day here, these guys that know how to play. And they’re smart,” coach Pat Shurmur said. “I like them and trust them, and the crux of it all is I think they’re a bunch of tough guys.
“They play a fancy position, but I think they’re a bunch of tough guys. I think that wins the day, too.”