ELI’S MISTAKE-FREE PERFORMANCE BOOSTS UNDERMANNED GIANTS
The Denver Post There were no pyrotechnics. No surprise there, since passes downfield have become all but extinct in the New York Giants’ offense. But that didn’t matter a lick to quarterback Eli Manning.
His mission Sunday night was to dink, dunk and confound the Broncos’ defense when he could. If any quarterback was going to blow this game, it was going to be Denver’s erratic Trevor Siemian, not Manning.
Manning’s one, only and ultimate goal was to lead the Giants to their first victory of the season and avoid their first 0-6 start since 2013.
The scoreboard confirmed Manning’s workmanlike performance: Giants 23, Broncos 10.
He passed for just 128 yards, completing 11-of-19 passes, but his 95.9 passer rating was a makeno-mistakes kind of number. Siemian, on the other hand had a passer rating of 71.8, compounded by a 43-yard, pick-six interception by Janoris Jenkins in the second quarter that put New York ahead 17-3.
“It was a special win for us. We had a lot of injuries, losing all of those receivers last week,” Manning said. “A lot of people counted us out, but I was proud of how we pulled together.”
Added Giants coach Ben McAdoo: “(Manning) played the way we asked him to play, and he gave us a chance to win the game.”
Manning was playing at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, where his older brother, Peyton, had led the Broncos to two Super Bowl seasons, one of them ending in a championship. Eli Manning stepped onto the field Sunday night painfully aware that he was without three of his top receivers — Odell Beckham Jr., Dwayne Harris and Brandon Marshall. Manning was also handicapped by a sore neck and the NFL’s 30th-ranked rushing attack.
He had also been forced into using a small-ball attack, so his average gain per completion was just 9.7 yards coming into Sunday’s game. Only Joe Flacco, Mike Glennon and Jay Cutler had been worse.
But none of that fazed the 36year-old, two-time Super Bowl champion.
On the Giants’ first possession, he led them on a 13-play, 69-yard drive that finally stalled at the Denver 7-yard line and ended with a field goal. There was nothing spectacular about the drive, but Manning’s execution was sharp. He completed 4-of-6 passes, including a 13-yard shovel pass to Orleans Darkwa and a dump-off to tight end Evan Engram that turned into a 26-yard gain.
The Giants extended their lead to 10-0 early in the second quarter on a seven-play, 75-yard drive. The bust-out play was a 47-yard run up the gut by Darkwa. The touchdown was a modest swing pass to Engram, who rumbled in from the 5-yard line.
Engram was Manning’s go-to guy, catching five passes for 82 yards. The tight end was able to find cracks in the Denver defense and make just enough plays to keep New York’s low-key, lowoctane offense moving.
Darkwa busted the Broncos’ supposedly impenetrable run defense for 117 yards on 21 carries, taking the load off Manning’s shoulders.