Giants Offense Stutters in Monday Night Snooze Fest
The New York Giants had a chance to improve to 4-2 and take a solid lead in the volatile NFC East on Monday Night against the Philadelphia Eagles. Instead they laid an egg on national television and it was the Eagles, now 3-3, who are the temporary kings of the dirt mountain that is their division.
Things began swimmingly for the Giants, moving the ball at will against the Philly defense with darting runs and conservative but efficient throws from Eli Manning.
A textbook inside slant to Odell Beckham Jr. opened the scoring and after a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it three-and-out from Chip Kelly’s maligned offense, the early drives had all the makings of a drubbing.
But the next set of possessions for each team would prove to be a microcosm of the whole night. Now up 7-0, New York again moved the chains and was taking advantage of some untimely Philly penalties.
Deep in Eagles territory, Manning threw what he thought was a ball that only his man could get, but tight end Larry Donnell lost his grip and DeMeco Ryans snared the interception before the pair would go to ground.
Donnell would again be the subject of blame when he dropped a catchable ball on 2nd-and-one, leading to the Giants getting stuffed on third and forth down.
After the pick, it was Sam Bradford’s turn to score without breaking a sweat. All tied up on the next possession, Manning locked onto his man and threw an awful pick six. At 14-7, the game might as well have been over.
There might not be such a thing as a good interception, but there is such thing as a very bad one, and that was the order of the day from both quarterbacks. Manning and Bradford threw a total of five picks between them, with most of them landing nowhere near a receiver.
The difference, ultimately, was the Eagles’ ability to hold down the ship on defense. Partly because their front seven played extremely well and partly because, well, the Giants were just terrible. Poor blocking, fumbles, QB hits and intentional grounding calls made Tom Coughlin’s night a very long one.
With many Cowboys starters still out of action, the Giants will desperately need to split the season series against Dallas next week, or else risk losing their already-loose grip on a home playoff game.
