Eli Manning says Giants’ recent offensive struggles just a “little bump”

The offense has been sputtering for five weeks for the New York Giants but according to quarterback Eli Manning, the team has merely hit “a little bump.” Uh-huh.

Losers of three straight games, the Giants have been struggling on both sides of the ball. But the offense, supposed to be the strength and identity of this team, has been nothing short of embarrassing. Manning has had little time to throw in the pocket, the offensive line is in shambles, the unit has seen their top two running backs the past couple of weeks and star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has had a couple emotional breakdowns on the field.

But besides those little bumps everything is humming along nicely.

“I don’t think it is taking long, we just hit a little bump. I thought that in the first couple games that we did some good things, had some explosive plays, could have scored more points and done better in the red zone areas,” Manning said on Tuesday.

“Had some turnovers that hurt us, but we were moving the ball, had a lot of yards, were running the ball well, had a lot of explosive passing plays, so the last two weeks hasn’t been as good as we want it to, but we are still doing some good things. We hit a couple big plays in the passing game, had a couple more opportunities that we just missed, so we just have to get on the same page, keep working and hit some of the plays that are out there.”

There are a lot of clichés in there to unpack from Manning, but the true issue here is the offensive line. General manager Jerry Reese failed to upgrade the offensive line either in free agency or the NFL Draft and those choices might end up costing his team the playoffs.

The Giants are tied at No. 15 in the league in total offense but they are especially putrid in getting the ball into the endzone. Currently they are No. 27 in the league in points scored with just 17.8 points per game.

All of which makes Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens a must-win for a team that has now lost three straight.

“Well, yeah there has to be a sense of urgency. You just have to understand that we need to get back on track and we need to get a win and play at a high level,” Manning said.

“We have to make improvements, so you have to see that and going against a good team, they play a lot of close games and they could have won every game that they played so far this year and a good defense, offense makes plays, so we need to make sure that we are prepared for all of their looks and play at a high level.