For all the flaws behind the
New York Giants' miserable 1-6 start, there's one unmistakable problem they just can't seem to fix no matter how hard they try.
The Giants can't score, the latest offensive debacle coming in Monday night's 23-20 loss to the
Atlanta Falcons.
In a league where seemingly no one can stop the opposition from reaching the end zone, Big Blue finds itself on the opposite end of the spectrum and nothing is changing.
The Giants settled for two field goals and came away empty despite having the ball at the 1-yard line down just one score.
So when the Falcons' Tevin Coleman breaks off a 30-yard touchdown run, it felt like the game was over. But again, as the Giants have done previously this season, they mount a furious comeback, only to come up short.
Down 20-12 after a Saquon Barkley touchdown, Pat Shurmur went with the math of analytic reasoning by going against conventional wisdom and attempting a two-point conversion that failed. The Falcons later hit a 56-yard field goal by Giorgio Tavecchio that put the advantage at 23-12.
The Giants wound up getting a touchdown pass to Beckham and a two-point conversion run from Barkley to pull within 23-20, but they failed to recover an onsides kick with five seconds left.
'What? Throw to Odell!'
The exasperation from Pat Shurmur as Eli Manning's fourth down pass into traffic intended for Scott Simonson told the story.
ESPN cameras caught Shurmur saying, "What? Throw to Odell!" And that came after the Giants ran a play specifically designed to go to Odell Beckham Jr., who spun away from his defender and appeared to get separation along the goal line as Manning rolled out on a bootleg to the same side.
Manning did not go there with the football, however, instead firing a hurried strike into the end zone that Simonson could not corral.
This is not piling on the quarterback. This is analyzing the play for what it is.
The Giants can't score. They design a play to go to their best player, and it works, but Manning doesn't throw the ball right away, then settles for a rushed throw into a crowd. That's where the frustration is offensively, just as when the emotions run high if Manning is decked behind the line of scrimmage when his offensive line gives up protection.
They just can't seem to get anything going.
Meanwhile, Beckham has reached 5,000 career receiving yards in fewer games (54) than any player since the 1970 merger. He passed Julio Jones, who accomplished the feat in 56 games. Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Lance Alworth holds the
NFL record, having done it in 52 games, but he set that mark prior to the merger.