The last time Eli Manning did not start a game under center for the New York Giants, Kurt Warner fell to the Arizona Cardinals 17-14 in Week 10 of the 2004 season.
Fast forward 210 games and 13 years later, Geno Smith — who had the unfortunate responsibility of being the first quarterback not named Manning to start since then — and the Giants dropped a 24-17 decision to the Oakland Raiders on Sunday evening.
Smith’s debut as Giants starter was not a smooth one, which will only further inflame the ill feelings around the organization since the unceremonious benching of Manning on Tuesday.
The former Jets passer completed 21-of-34 passes for 212 yards, one touchdown and two fumbles lost.
Had the Raiders (6-6) offense been clicking at a level it was at last year, the scoreboard would have been so kind to New York.
The Giants (2-10) offense looked exactly how you would expect it to without Manning. On their first three possessions, the Giants went three-and-out three times.
In the meantime, the Raiders smacked the Giants to start as Marshawn Lynch broke open a 51-yard touchdown run on Oakland’s opening drive to put the hosts in front.
Lynch would go for 101 yards on the day on just 17 carries.
Rather inexplicably, the Giants managed to answer as an Orleans Darkwa one-yard touchdown capped off an 11-play, 74-yard drive at the end of the first.
In his first 15 minutes as New York’s starter, Smith completed 6-of-10 passes for 63 yards.
But those good times ended rather quickly as he fumbled the ball away twice in Oakland territory to stomp out any hope of the Giants adding points.
The second giveaway came with 42 seconds left in the half on Oakland’s four-yard-line when he was sacked and stripped by Khalil Mack that preserved a Raiders 10-7 lead going into halftime.
It was Smith’s 19th lost fumble in 31 career starts.
With any sort of momentum eliminated by Smith’s fumbles, the Giants offense descended back into ineptitude. Oakland’s offense, however, couldn’t get a thing going themselves as neither team could score a single point in the third quarter.
The Raiders finally found their footing in the fourth when DeAndre Washington punched in an eight-yard score to establish some breathing room with 10:18 to go.
It was much needed considering Smith came alive on the ensuing drive, going 88 yards in nine plays to hit rookie tight end Evan Engram for a 10-yard score to make it a three-point game again with 5:22 to go.
But the Raiders re-opened the 10-point advantage 1:59 later when quarterback David Carr hit Johnny Holton for a nine-yard touchdown pass to put the game away.
