G-Men come up empty in offensive shootout with Eagles
EAST RUTHERFORD » Uplifting moments are never for long with the Giants. Not in one of the worst seasons in franchise history, where futility is relative and complementary football is elusive.
A fast start fizzled. A dubious points streak continued. And a series of chants from visiting Eagles fans characterized the demoralizing state of MetLife Stadium, where the Giants suffered a new low with a 34-29 loss Sunday afternoon to Philadelphia.
The Eagles (12-2) clinched a first-round bye in the NFC playoffs. The Giants (2-12), meanwhile, are only one loss away from finalizing the worst 16game season in team history.
“I do believe that the fight in this football team was reflective out on the field,” interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo said. “My comment to them was that if that is the best team in the NFC, which it might very well be, that we went out there and exchanged punches with the best and almost came away with a win, but we didn’t.”
Even on a day when the Giants scored on their opening drive for the first time all season, led 20-7 in the second quarter and Eli Manning produced his ninth-career 400-yard passing game, the end result was the same as it has been in all five of New York’s NFC East contests: a crushing defeat.
Down five with 3:51 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Giants had a chance to win a game against a marquee opponent. But when it came down to a fourth-and-goal at the Eagles’ 11-yard line, all that materalized was a heave from Manning that sailed over tight end Evan Engram in the back of the end zone.
Wide receivers Sterling Shepard and Roger Lewis lobbied to the officials for a flag, but to no avail. Eagles fans, who cheered and chanted “DEFENSE” during the 13-play drive, erupted as Philadelphia took over on downs with less than a minute left.
Combine that with a blocked field goal, a blocked extra point and a failed two-point conversion, and the Giants finished cruelly short of breaking their streak of 30 consecutive games of scoring fewer than 30 points dating back to the 2015 season.
“I was pretty upset about that one. I kind of let my emotions get the best of me on that,” Shepard said of the fourth-down play. “It was just such a critical play for the game. I just didn’t like how it all played out. But I’ve got to be smarter. You can’t tell me that’s not a pass interference. I mean, my guy couldn’t even lift up his left arm.”
The Giants compiled a season-high 504 yards and committed only five penalties, but a costly one limited their options in the red zone. Before Manning’s incompletion to Engram, right tackle Bobby Hart was whistled for a false start.
Manning said center Brett Jones could not hear him call the cadence of the snap because of how loud Eagles fans were.
“You don’t think that would happen at home, but I guess when you’ve only won two games, you’ve got a lot of Eagles fans,” Manning said. “I don’t blame our fans, it just bothers me in the sense that that’s the way this season’s turned out. We didn’t do our part to be playing late in the year and where you’re not playing for a spot in the playoffs.”
It was a dreary climax to a performance in which Manning totaled 434 yards on 57 pass attempts, Shepard had another brilliant outing against the Eagles with 11 catches for 139 yards and journeyman Tavarres King stepped up with two touchdown receptions.
Carrying over their success against the Eagles from the fourth quarter of Week 3, the Giants combated an elite defensive front with an up-tempo aerial assault.
New York converted its first five third downs, including a 67-yard touchdown by Shepard that gave New York a 20-7 lead with 13:44 left in the first quarter.
On third-and-2, Shepard beat Eagles cornerback Patrick Robinson on a crossing pattern, caught a short pass and raced down the sideline. Rookie running back Wayne Gallman had a critical block downfield to help spring Shepard loose.
“Everybody was just on point with the tempo and the way we were going to attack the game plan,” Shepard said. “Tempo was huge. It’s always a huge deal for us, but it looked like we were moving a little bit faster.”
Despite in-game injuries to strong safety Landon Collins and middle linebacker B.J. Goodson, the Giants’ defense stepped up early against the Eagles’ offense now led by veteran quarterback Nick Foles in the wake of Carson Wentz’s season-ending ACL injury.
Midway through the second quarter, safety Andrew Adams and defensive Jason Pierre-Paul combined to snuff out a fourthand-1 run up the gut by LeGarrette Blount, forcing a turnover on downs at the Giants’ 44. It was the Eagles’ first time failing to convert on fourth down in 13 tries this season.
But minutes later, Eagles cornerback Ronald Darby intercepted Manning on a short throw over the middle to Lewis. Darby, who was injured for the teams’ first matchup, returned the takeaway 37 yards to the Giants’ 20.
In less than four minutes, the Eagles scored a touchdown, blocked a punt and scored another touchdown to seize a 2120 lead.
Aldrick Rosas kicked a 28yard field goal to give the Giants a 23-21 halftime lead, but the Eagles responded with a 64yard field goal drive to open the third quarter and never relinquished the lead. Foles finished with four touchdown passes to four different receivers. The Giants’ defense did not hold up for 60 minutes, and the offense failed to finish at the end.
The Giants have now been swept by the Eagles and Cowboys for the first time since 2003.
“I thought we let them back in it by mistakes that we made, and to their credit, they kept playing and battled their way back,” Spagnuolo said. “The margin for error is very small for us right now with all the injuries and what we’re going through, and to be making it easy for an opponent, that hurts.”