Back to Reality for Giants; Fall to 1-6

The New York Giants were flying high after earning their first win of the season last weekend. Now, they have fallen back to reality. New York fell at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks 24-7 at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, who now have a 1-6 record on the season.

The Giants started off hot, as rookie defensive end Avery Moss forced Seahawks running back Thomas Rawls to fumble the ball in the second quarter. Safety Landon Collins would recover, and return the ball for 31 yards, setting New York up in the red zone. A few plays later, quarterback Eli Manning would throw a five-yard touchdown pass to tight end Evan Engram, giving them a 7-0 lead.

However, that was where the honeymoon ended for the Giants at the start of the second half. The Seahawks dominated time of possession, and feasted on an exhausted New York defense. Despite having a weak offensive line that caused receiver Doug Baldwin to shove o-line coach Tom Cable on the sidelines, Seattle’s offense was alive. The Seahawks would score their first touchdown of the game, as Baldwin would find a huge opening at center field and take the ball uncontested for a 22-yard touchdown catch.

The game then took a controversial turn in the fourth quarter, as we suffered from flashbacks of the “Fail Mary” game from 2012 between Seattle and the Green Bay Packers. Seattle would perform a mirror image of that. Wilson would throw a deep pass after a flea flicker to receiver Paul Richardson on the left side of the end zone. The fourth-year receiver would leap over Collins for the catch. However, Richardson would lose the ball, which would fall onto the safety’s chest. Then, Richardson would pull the ball in, with Collins’ hands still on the ball, right before he would fall out of bounds. With this being a simultaneous catch, by rule, the catch goes to the offensive player, so it was a touchdown for Seattle, now earning a 17-7 lead.

The Giants would not recover, as the offense could not get anything going after Engram’s second quarter touchdown. Seattle would then score a garbage time touchdown off a one-yard reception from tight end Jimmy Graham, sealing the Seahawks’ 24-7 victory.

“I thought we played hard,” said Giants head coach Ben McAdoo. “We had a lot of fight in us today. Obviously, we came up short. I’ll have to go back and take a look at the tape.”

 Fail Mary Part 2

As mentioned above, Seattle scored their second touchdown of the game on a close and controversial call. However, the rules are the rules, and if the ball is simultaneously caught by the receiver and defender in the end zone, it is automatically a touchdown.

“They said they thought he clearly had possession of the ball,” said McAdoo. “He lost possession, and clearly had possession of the ball before he went out of bounds and had his foot on the white. That’s why they gave him the touchdown.”

Collins, on the other hand, did not agree with the call. The Pro Bowl safety felt that since he had possession of the ball, it should have been ruled an interception.

“…I came down with the ball on my chest,” said Collins. “Once I rolled over, he was trying to fight back into possession for it. Once that happened he had no possession of the ball anymore. It’s crazy…It was an interception.”

This will surely be talked about throughout the week. Will there be a rule change? Unlikely, but it does stir the pot if there are enough complaints in the league. However, this is only the second time this has happened in recent memory, so a rule change is highly doubtful.

Rancid Offense Not Doing Giants Favors

It seemed as though that giving the play calling duties to Mike Sullivan would be a long-term solution for the Giants offense. Well, it turned into a short-term answer, as New York would only produce 177 yards of total offense.

Manning would only complete 19 out of 39 pass attempts for just 134 yards, one touchdown, and one lost fumble. A lot can be attributed to the unproven receiving corps. Sterling Shepard was originally believed to play against Seattle. However, McAdoo and the training staff thought it would be best for Shepard to sit out this week and return after the bye week.  Here is a crucial statistic. New York’s receivers were targeted 15 times, but only hauled in five receptions. That will not earn any victories.

“…I thought they had a couple opportunities, I’ve got to do a better job hitting them with some things,” said Manning on the receivers. “So, that just comes with keep practicing and the games. Practice is one thing, games are always going to be different, different timing. I thought there were a couple of good things, but obviously we need to improve.”

Run Game Back Six Feet Under

After a glimpse of hope for the running game in Denver last week, here we are again. The catalyst for the offense being lackluster was that the run game was completely stifled at the hands of Seattle’s defense.

Orleans Darkwa could not build off his 112 yard performance against the Broncos, as he took nine carries for only 35 yards on Sunday. Wayne Gallman was the change of pace back, but he could only muster 15 yards on five carries. Without a quality performance from the running backs, the offense had to rely heavily on the young receivers, which is a lot of pressure to put on them.

The unsuccessful attempts by the New York rushers can be attributed to right tackle Justin Pugh leaving the game with a back injury. As a result, the offensive line struggled and in turn, the running game suffered. The Giants offense can not find success without a consistent running game.

“…[Seattle’s] a great defense overall,” said Darkwa. “…we just didn’t have those big shot runs like we did last week. So I guess they were ready for it, but at the same time, we just got to do better as an offense.”

Good Defensive Effort Stopped by Exhaustion

The Giants defense played a great game. Yet, the defense can only do so much, especially when spending a majority of their time on the field. The defense spent 35:26 on the field, and you can tell that the exhaustion was there. Especially when the defense held the Seahawks to just three points in the first half.

Moss stood out in particular, as the rookie forced a fumble early on in the game, which would set up the only Giants’ score of the game. Not only that, but he recorded three total tackles (two solo, one assisted). With Olivier Vernon still out with an ankle injury, Moss saw an uptick in snaps. With this performance, the rookie could see an even greater increase in playing time.

“I think he did a good job [Sunday],” said McAdoo. “He caused a fumble, went down and played hard on special teams on a few snaps. His role is increasing, he has to keep growing and maturing for a young player.”

As stated above, the offense could not get anything going throughout the game, so the defense just had limited time of rest on the sidelines. The second half proved just that.

“…anytime you hold the offense to three points at half, something like that, you always feel good about what you’re doing,” said defensive tackle Damon Harrison. “But in the second half, we just didn’t execute.”

Secondary Struggles as Well

The secondary also took some hits, as cornerback Eli Apple continued to get targeted by the opposing quarterback. The second-year corner continued to get beaten by the opposing receiver, or would get called for a penalty (holding or pass interference).

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie would make his return to the field, although it did take him a while. The Giants would use all of their defensive backs in the game, and the veteran corner would not take the field until later on in the game. Rodgers-Cromartie believed that this could be related to his one-week suspension that he served last week.

“That’s how it is, man,” said Rodgers-Cromartie. “You go away from a team, you have to come back and earn it back. All I can do is keep fighting to earn it back.”

McAdoo was later asked about this, but he denied that the move was a continued form of disciple. Rather, he wanted to utilize all of his defensive backs.

What’s Next?

The Giants now go enter a bye week with a 1-6 record. With the week off, New York will try and find some answers to their various struggles on the field. Will the Giants find a way to improve in the second half of the season? Or will the various problems that the team is withstanding continue after a week off?