The New York Giants offense has picked up right where they left off from last season, and not in a good way, either.
Once again, Big Blue’s offense was brutal on Sunday night in a 20-13 Week 2 defeat against the Dallas Cowboys, dropping the team to 0-2 on the season.
And it all boils down to the faulty offensive line once again.
Eli Manning was constantly under siege against a very strong Cowboys defense, which made mincemeat of the Giants’ protection with the simplest blitzes and stunts. New York’s quarterback was sacked six times on the night and pressured countless other times.
It forced him to live off dink-and-dump passes, mostly screens to rookie running back Saquon Barkley. While Manning connected on 33-of-44 passes, he averaged just 6.3 yards per completion. Barkley reeled in 14 of those receptions, three more catches than he had carries on the night.
With all eyes on the talented rookie in his first primetime game, Barkley was given no space to work with on the ground as he accrued just 28 yards on 11 rushing attempts for a measly 2.5-yard average. Still, he exhibited an impressive knack of breaking tackles as waves of Dallas defenders came crashing down on him.
Yes, that goes back to the offensive line once again.
New general manager Dave Gettleman attempted to rebuild one of the worst lines in the league during the offseason, acquiring Nate Solder, Patrick Omameh and drafting Will Hernandez. But it’s become abundantly clear after just two games that the moves haven’t done enough as a harassed Eli Manning still can’t get any time to get the offense going.
To make matters worse, it looks as though New York is slated to lose its starting center John Halapio for an extended period of time after he was carted off the field with an air cast on his right leg.
Sunday night was the 10th time in the Giants’ last 12 games that the team has scored fewer than 20 points. They haven’t scored 30 or more points since Week 17 of the 2015 season.
It doesn’t matter what kind of talent you have under center, in the backfield or on the outside. If the quarterback has no time to throw and the running game has no space to move, the Giants are going to have another 3-13 season.
