Giants Hit New Low Against Los Angeles

Another week of “great practices” was not enough for the New York Giants. After the bye week, the Giants were blown out by the Los Angeles Rams 51-17 Sunday in East Rutherford.

New York started off with a glimmer of hope, thanks to a five yard touchdown reception from Tavarres King. That was about it for the Giants, as the Rams took over, and showed no signs of stopping.

The second quarter proved to be all Los Angeles. If one play could sum up an entire performance, it was Rams’ wide receiver Robert Woods’ 52-yard touchdown. Did we mention that it came on a third-and-33 screen pass? Woods moved through the New York defense like a hot knife through butter. That was followed up by a 67-yard touchdown reception to Sammy Watkins, who completely burned Landon Collins in coverage.

Halftime did not help New York, either. Los Angeles would continue it’s onslaught, scoring three touchdowns in the third quarter. Two short yardage touchdowns from running back Todd Gurley and a red-zone reception from Woods would do the Giants in for good.

Not to mention the turnovers, a blocked punt, and missed field goals. That all attributed to the 51 points scored against the Giants, the largest points allowed at home since 1964.  A poor all-around performance has New York at rock bottom, with a 1-7 record to their name.

“Well, when you play a talented football team and you handle the ball the way we handled the ball, you tackle the way you tackled today, we punted,” said head coach Ben McAdoo. “We had a blocked punt and we struggled to cover a punt. Unfortunately, that’s what the scoreboard is going to look like.”

Great Practices Not Equating to Success for Giants

We’ve heard about it all season from McAdoo. “The Giants have had a great week of practices.” What have those eight weeks of “great practices” resulted in? A 1-7 record.

McAdoo has even gone as far as saying that the Giants of this season have been better than the team from last season? Why is that? “Great practices.” A 1-7 team is better than a team who finished with an 11-5 record and made the playoffs due to “great practices.”

This mantra by New York’s head coach has to be put out to pasture, because it is contradictory to the play on the field.

Defense Has Fallen Off a Cliff

The Giants’ defense was once at the top of the NFL. Now, they are in such disarray, that they are a squad that can’t stop anything. Their game against the Rams was proof of that. Surrendering 51 points after the bye week is not a good sign heading into the second half of the season.

“It’s hurtful. Definitely hurtful,” said Collins. “Last time that we gave up 50 was two years ago and we didn’t like it then, so we still don’t like it now.”

Those 51 points came off of 473 total yards allowed, which is a far cry from what the Giants were able to do last season. Sure, a lot can be attributed to Janoris Jenkins being out with a suspension. Not only that, but numerous injuries to players, such as Olivier Vernon, B.J. Goodson, and Jonathan Casillas. Even with the numerous talent on the defensive side of the ball, there’s no doubt that this is all due to exhaustion. Eight games into this season, the Giants defense was on the field longer than the offense. It was only a matter of time before that the prowess would dissipate.

One staggering statistic that stood out, was New York did not hit Rams quarterback Jared Goff once in the game. Which explains why the sophomore signal caller completed 14 of 22 pass attempts for 311 yards, four touchdowns, and zero interceptions.

With the lack of pressure, as well as blown coverage, the Giants can only hope to somehow figure it out with eight games remaining in the season.

“Mistakes cost us the game and we just got to play great football,” said defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. “We ain’t doing it so well right now so we’ll get back to the drawing board.”

Time for QB Change?

It is no surprise that New York’s offense has been anemic. With an offensive line that is already prone to mistakes, losing center Weston Richburg and Justin Pugh for this game proved to be fatal. It makes matters even worse when Aaron Donald is lined up on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

Eli Manning was left like a lame duck, and was forced to throw it away due to the lack of protection. Not to mention getting sacked twice, one of those a forced fumble by Donald.

Manning did, however, complete 20 of 36 pass attempts for 220 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Regardless of those numbers, he was not accurate on deep passes to Sterling Shepard and King. Let’s not forget, the Giants still have one win on the season. With the year all but lost, the once adamant McAdoo has changed his stance, and is considering a quarterback change.

“…you also have to look at getting some players some reps in the game,” said McAdoo. “So, we’ll take a look and see if there’s any players that we can give reps to that have a chance to be a part of our future.”

With McAdoo’s supposed change of heart, Manning will not go down without a fight. The veteran signal caller wants to right the ship, and appears to have no desire to sit on the bench. With many calling for rookie Davis Webb to start for the remainder of the season, the veteran does not appear to keen on the idea.

“Well, they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do,” said Manning. “I want to be out there, I want to keep playing with my teammates and keep working.”

Let’s not forget, long ago, that Giants fans were calling for Kurt Warner to be benched for Manning back in 2004. Now it has come full circle, with the New York faithful pleading for Manning to ride the pine and with Webb to take his place.

What’s Next?

The Giants will have a long week ahead of them, in terms of the scrutiny that will be hurled their way. Until then, they will prepare for another week of “great practices,” with the winless San Francisco 49ers on the docket. It is going to be the epitome of ugly football.

Will New York prevail? Or will the 49ers get their first win of the season at the expense of the Giants?