Lopsided loss drops Big Blue to worst eight-game start since 1980
EAST RUTHERFORD » Landon Collins and Eli Apple sat with their shoulders slumped. Darian Thompson had a towel draped over his head. The Giants’ defense appeared dazed and stricken by psychological torment at MetLife Stadium, and it was not even halftime yet.
Reach deep into the history books if you dare. The Giants are now 1-7, their worst eightgame start since 1980. They have still not won a home game as the calendar seeps into November.
Head coach Ben McAdoo has said the Giants continue to have spirited practices, but there remains only evidence to the contrary as New York was lifeless once again in a 5117 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams (6-2) Sunday afternoon.
“We’ve got weapons, and for some reason it just ain’t been going our way,” cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said inside a largely vacant Giants locker room. “We still after eight weeks don’t know why. That’s tough.
“At the end of the day we’ve got to fight. I know we’ve got playmakers, I know we’ve got guys that can take over a whole ballgame. For some reason, nobody’s doing it.”
McAdoo insists he isn’t concerned about his job security as his second season at the helm continues to spiral downhill.
“I’m disappointed,” McAdoo said. “I expect us to come out and play a better football game than we played. We have it in us. It’s my job to get it out of us.”
Personnel limitations made this a lost season weeks ago. Fans and outside observers can reasonably expect only so much from a team with its two best receivers on injured reserve and a bevy of health issues on both sides of the ball.
Still, the Giants’ level of dysfunction is likely maddening even for the franchise’s most staunch of supporters.
Rookie head coach Sean McVay’s Rams exposed the Giants in fundamentally glaring areas Sunday. They reached 48 points in less than three quarters, including two touchdowns of at least 50 yards during a three-play stretch in the second quarter.
The highlight that immediately went viral on social media was a third-and-33 screen pass to wide receiver Robert Woods, who cut down the middle of the field and somehow ran 52 yards into the end zone entirely untouched. Several Giant defenders either took ill-advised angles or were outright blocked by a Rams player, and Collins and Apple both showed little effort chasing after the play.
“It was a quick screen to the slot receiver,” McAdoo said. “We’ve got to rally to the ball and get him down. We certainly can’t let him run for a touchdown in that situation. That’s been a problem. We have to address it. We have to get it fixed.”
On the second play of the Rams’ next drive, Collins and Apple appeared to have miscommunication on a 67yard play-action deep ball to Sammy Watkins. Collins, a strong safety, ended up isolated on Watkins and was in poor position to attack the route. In a span of 2:11, Los Angeles’ lead ballooned from 10-7 to 24-7.
The Giants’ defense also extended its dubious NFL record of eight straight games of allowing a touchdown to a tight end. Tyler Higbee’s eight-yard score in the first quarter was the beginning of 27 first-half points for the Rams.
By the end of the game, the Giants’ defense yielded a season-high 473 yards on 7.8 yards per play. Jared Goff completed 14-of-22 pass attempts for 311 yards and fourth touchdowns. Todd Gurley rushed 16 times for 59 yards and two touchdowns.
It was the most points scored by an opponent on New York’s home turf since the Cleveland Browns dropped 52 in 1964 at Yankee Stadium.
“No, the team didn’t quit today. They were playing hard,” McAdoo said. “Keep looking, keep fighting. That’s what I ask of the players, that’s what I ask of the coaches and that’s what I’m going to do myself.”
Eli Manning became the seventh quarterback in NFL history to eclipse 50,000 career passing yards, joining Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Dan Marino and John Elway.
But that milestone was merely a nostalgia trip as far as the 36-year-old quarterback’s performance Sunday. Manning passed for 220 yards and two touchdowns. He also lost a fumble, threw an interception at the Giants’ 30-yard line and was off the mark on potential touchdown throws to Sterling Shepard and Tavarres King.
“I’ve got to hit Shep on the post,” Manning said. “We’ve got 1-on-1 in a post route. We’ve got to hit those. I’ve got to make better throws.”
With 2:53 remaining, backup Geno Smith subbed in for his first game action of the season. Rookie Davis Webb, a third-round draft pick out of Cal, remained inactive for the eighth straight game.
McAdoo was noncommittal about the potential of evaluating Webb in game action during the second half of a season that many fans are clamoring to be about the future of the franchise.
“You really can’t look from my chair too far ahead, but you also have to look at getting some players some reps in the game,” McAdoo said. “So we’ll a look and see if there’s any players that we can give reps to that have a chance to be a part of our future.”