The offensive woes continued for the New York Giants, who failed again to move the ball on Thursday night in a 20-10 loss at the Washington Redskins. The Giants offense served up another turkey of a performance, their run game getting stuffed as they got mashed on third downs.
Those are Thanksgiving metaphors, folks.
The Giants had just seven first downs, not exactly a surprise given that they were 2-of-14 on third downs. Quarterback Eli Manning had just 113 passing yards as well as being sacked four times.
What makes matters worse is that the rest of the team showed up and the offense didn’t. A solid showing from the defense has the offense feeling a world of hurt as they again bear the brunt of the blame for another loss in what is now a 2-9 season.
“Yeah, it’s no fun. It’s obviously a team game. All three sides have to do their part to win a football game, but you don’t want to be one of the groups that is contributing to the losses and that’s what the offense is right now. We’re not doing our part. The defense is getting the stops, they’re getting the turnovers, they’re getting the fourth down stops, they’re getting in good field position,” Manning said last week on a Friday conference call following the Giants loss on Thanksgiving. “We got to do our part. We got to stay on the field, we can’t have three and outs and we got to score more points and build them a lead. If we can get a lead, we can do some things to cause the other team to turn the ball over. We got to do our part.”
Manning, usually very diplomatic and upbeat, couldn’t mask the offense’s poor performance in their ninth loss of the year. There is no way to continue putting on a brave face. This loss was bad and the borderline offense is to blame.
It certainly doesn’t fall on Manning though entirely.
The offensive line was poor on Thursday night, something that was a big issue in September and continues to be a major sticking point for this team. The lack of a consistent running attack as well as the loss of star wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Braylon Edwards surely isn’t helping the Giants to move the ball.
Or put up points.
Or be competent.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a frustrating year. We’re not playing great football offensively. The defense is playing well, keeping us in the games and especially some second half of games, we just haven’t been able to move the ball, not been able to get first downs, not being able to get completions and it’s frustrating,” Manning said. “It’s not the style of football that I’m used to playing. Not being able to complete the ball, so yeah it’s frustrating, it is tough. We just got to keep finding ways to be creative to put our guys in great position to make plays and be more efficient offensively.”
