Big Blue hosts Bucs, aim for first 2-game winning streak since ’16
EAST RUTHERFORD >> Part one of Odell Beckham Jr.’s master plan came to fruition last Monday night in San Francisco.
The Giants won a football game. Now they just need to win seven more to finish 9-7, potentially sneak into the playoffs and make Beckham a prophet.
“I don’t know what would make me not believe it,” the star receiver said in the Giants’ locker room Thursday. “That’s just the goal. Same thing I said before the season: The goal is to win a Super Bowl. It’s always going to be to win a Super Bowl. If you’re just here to have fun or whatever else, I don’t think you should be here.”
No NFL team has ever started a season 1-7 and ultimately made the playoffs. Slivers of hope for the Giants lie in the reality that four of their final seven games are against teams with losing records, and three other teams in the NFC East are currently sub-.500.
The overall body of work suggests a second-half surge remains unlikely. A good start for the Giants (2-7) would be winning their first home game Sunday against the Buccaneers (3-6). The franchise has not won two games in a row since Week 15 in 2016.
Offensive consistency from week to week has eluded New York, but there are no excuses this time. Tampa Bay’s defense is allowing a league-worst 32.3 points per game. It has the second-fewest takeaways (six). And the unit is severely banged up. None of the Bucs’ starting linebackers will be available. Defensive end Vinny Curry and safety Justin Evans also will not play.
In their 27-23 win against the 49ers, the Giants allowed a season-low one sack and Eli Manning had three touchdowns passes for the first time since Week 15 of last season.
“I think the bye helped us just kind of catch our breath, go back and take a look at the things we were doing,” offensive coordinator Mike Shula said. “Guys just kind of maybe have spent a little more time watching ourselves or each guy watching himself technique wise and how to do things better and I think because of that, everybody played better, including Eli.”
Specifically, the team’s fourth different offensive line combination played its best game. Right guard Jamon Brown, 6-foot-4, 340-pounder recently acquired off waivers, held firm inside. He provided a key block on a 49ers stunt to buy Manning more time on his first touchdown pass.
As a whole, the offense mixed in more up-tempo, deployed more max protection and had balanced play-calling. Saquon Barkley had a career-high 20 carries. But despite a long of 18 yards, he finished with only 67.
The rookie running back admitted to still being a work in progress as far as reading holes, but also thinks he played his best game in pass protection as a pro.
“You go back and you watch film of, ‘If my shoulders were a little this way, I probably make this cut. If they were this way, I probably make that cut,’” Barkley said. “I want to be perfect. I want to be exact on every play, but that’s not going to happen. There’s no running back or any other player in this league who’s perfect every single play. That’s what it is to be an athlete. You’ve got to learn from it and you’ve got to work on it and continue to get better.”
The Giants’ offense has yet to score 20 points in four home games, and it’s likely the unit will need to top that mark in order to keep pace with Tampa Bay’s prolific attack.
With quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick currently starting over Jameis Winston, the Bucs are averaging a league-best 452.8 total yards per game. Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson, O.J. Howard and Chris Godwin all have at least 480 receiving yards on the year. But they’re coming off a 16-3 loss to Washington largely because of four turnovers.
Giveaways have been the Bycs’ weakness. The Giants’ defense has forced only nine turnovers in eight games. Linebacker B.J. Goodson had two interceptions last week.
“They’ve got a lot of playmakers so it’s hard to overload and double on somebody when the other guy can beat you oneon-one as well,” head coach Pat Shurmur said. “That’s where the challenge of playing team defense is going to come in. Everybody’s got to make sure they get good pressure on the passer and the guys in coverage got to do a good job of staying tight.”