The New York Giants tentative gameplan and uninspired offense lay an egg against one of the worst defenses in the NFL.
The euphoria of the New York Giants victory over the Houston Texans last week was quickly erased by the New Orleans Saints on Sunday as they defeated the Giants, 33-18.
Many felt this would be the game the Giants would break their streak of failing to score 30 points for 36 consecutive games. After all, the Saints were giving up 34 points per game coming into Sunday. But the Giants offense was conservative and easy for the Saints to defend since Eli Manning did not challenge the Saints secondary down the field.
After driving 75 yards on 10 plays on their opening drive of the game to take a 7-0 lead, the Giants punted, lost a fumble, and went three and out to close out the first half as they trailed 12-7 going into halftime.
P.J. Williams forces a fumble and Lattimore scoops it up for a nice return! #NOvsNYG pic.twitter.com/oegSCzCWHI
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) September 30, 2018
The Giants defense held their own in the first half as the Saints reached the red zone four times, but the Giants held them to four to four field goals.
But spending 16:55 on the field in the first half seemed to wear down the Giants defense as the Saints scored touchdowns on three of their four second-half possessions to break the game open. All three of the Saints touchdowns came from the legs of Alvin Kamara who finished the game with 134 rushing yards on 19 carries. He also caught five passes for 47 yards.
Alvin Kamara scores from 9 yards out and we've put up 19 unanswered points! #NOvsNYG pic.twitter.com/7szRMaLdm8
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) September 30, 2018
While the defense struggled in the second half, when you look at this game, the bulk of the blame has to go to the Giants offense.
The Giants offense was uninspiring, consisting of dink and dunk passes with the occasional run by Saquon Barkley.
Manning finished the game completing 31 out of 41 passes for 255 yards and one touchdown. But most of his completions were short check downs as he never challenged a Saints secondary that’s given up four touchdowns of at least 40 yards this season.
Odell Beckham Jr., the league’s highest-paid wide receiver, caught seven passes on 11 targets for just 60 yards. The Giants leading receiver on Sunday was Sterling Shepard who hauled in all 10 of his targets but had just 77 receiving yards.
After the game head coach Pat Shurmur was asked what the Saints did to take away the big plays from Odell and the passing game.
“They played a lot of soft zone, lot of soft zone. We just had to pick away at them a little bit.”
Shurmur was also asked why the Giants did not get the ball into Barkley’s hands more as he had just 10 carries for 44 yards and a one-yard touchdown in the 4th quarter.
“I think there were times we tried to run the ball. I don’t regret it, he needs to touch the ball. Certainly by the looks of things here, him touching the ball more would be good.”
One way or another it’s time for Shurmur to find solutions to the team’s offensive woes.
The Giants offense was without tight end Evan Engram and receiver Cody Latimer, but that’s no excuse for how the offense is performing
In all three of the Giants loses this season, the offense has been held under 20 points and on Sunday, they had just 299 yards of total offense against one of the worst defenses in the NFL.
Shurmur built a reputation around the league as an offensive guru with the ability to maximize his players’ ability. Well, he’d better start maximizing his players’ ability next Sunday when the Giants travel to take on the (2-1) Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium.
