No “O” or “D” in Giants Loss to Rams

60 Minutes Not Enough for Judge
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon

 

By Andrew Rosario

 

You can point to any number of reasons why the New York (Football) Giants went into the game against the Los Angeles Rams last Sunday at MetLife Stadium with a record of 1-4. The most glaring aspect were the injuries that crippled the offense. It didn’t help when an offsides penalty gave the Washington Football team another shot to kick the game winning field goal. Then, against Atlanta, the one bright part of the team from last year failed them as the defense allowed the Falcons to score 10 points in the last 4 minutes in the 17-14 loss. In losing to Dallas (44-20) the week before, both Saquan Barkley and Daniel Jones were knocked out of the game. Barkley was inactive against the Rams but Jones passed the concussion protocol tests and began under center still without wide receivers Kenny Golladay and Darius Slayton. Still, they had rookie wide receiver Kadarius Toney who set Giants record when he hauled in 10 catches for 189 yards against the Cowboys. Unfortunately, his day would be cut short as he left the game early in the first quarter with an ankle injury.  

 

 

The Rams won the coin toss and elected to defer to the Giants who got on the board first as Jones drove them down 68 yards on 14 plays ending in a Graham Gano 27-yard field goal. 43 of those yards came via the running game. The Giants would get the Rams to punt the next two times they had the ball but could not convert a 4th and 1 giving the ball back to Los Angeles as New York took a 3-0 first quarter lead. It was the only lead they would have for the rest of the game.

 

The Rams wasted no time the first time they got the ball to start the second quarter. Newly acquired quarterback Matthew Stafford (22-28, 251yards, 4 td’s, 1 int.) moves the Rams downfield in 6 plays, 81 yards as he finds wide receiver Robert Woods for the 15-yard touchdown catch giving them a 7-3 lead. The Giants began their next drive on their own 25 when Jones reverted to his turnover ways. From the shotgun, Jones gets sacked by Rams outside linebacker Ogbonnia Okoronkwo causing the fumble. Giants tackle Matt Peart had a chance to fall on the ball but did not come up with it. Rams outside linebacker Floyd Leonard recovers the fumble and 4 plays later, Stafford finds wide receiver Cooper Krupp for the 3-yard touchdown pass giving them a 21-3 lead.

 

Things would only get worse before the half would come to an end. After 5 plays, the Giants would give the ball back to the Rams with 2:14 before intermission. Stafford connects with Kupp for 25 yards and 5 plays after that running back Darrell Henderson, Jr gets behind Giants linebacker Tae Crowder for the 25-yard touchdown reception ballooning the lead to 28-3. The rest of the game was a mere formality as the depleted offense and paper mache defense were totally ineffective.  

 

 

Second year head coach Joe Judge continues to sell the fact that the team prepares and practices well during the week leading up to the games. The results do not translate when the team takes the field. “There’s a lot of things we gotta fix,” he said afterwards. “We gotta do better as a team.” Jones (29-51, 242 yards, 0 td’s, 3 int’s) said his play had nothing to do with the concussion he suffered last week. After the first possession, the offense disappeared. Said Jones,  “we got behind the sticks in a lot of situations and didn’t execute. We had a good plan and we just didn’t execute it. Obviously the turnovers were a big deal and that set us back.”

 

The New York Giants paraded out the 2011 team that won the Super Bowl led by then head coach Tom Coughlin. Former players Eli Manning, Victor Cruz, Justin Tuck, Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw and Mario Manningham took part in the celebration. Said Coughlin of that magical year, “our mantra was finish, finish, finish.”

 

Right now, the current team can’t even get started.

 

The New York Giants stay home when they host the Carolina Panthers who are coming off a loss at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings in overtime. Ex-Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, who was traded after 3 years, will be making his first appearance at MetLife Stadium.