If you want to know how to stop the best receiving threesome in the NFL, just ask Giants head coach Ben McAdoo. New York’s offensive game plan against Minnesota could be reduced to two elements:
- Have Eli Manning throw the ball into the ground at the first sign of distress, eliminating the possibility of being sacked or intercepted.
- Don’t ask Odell Beckham Jr., Sterling Shepard or Victor Cruz to win you the game. Instead, dink and dunk and don’t attempt any passes over the top until the second half, when Minnesota (like the rest of the viewing public) will have hopefully been lulled to sleep by your offensive scheme.
The first element was largely successful. Manning was not sacked in the team’s 24-10 loss to Minnesota, demonstrating cat-like quickness in throwing the ball into the turf whenever a Viking player came within sniffing range. His only failure came in the second half, when he threw his only interception of the game when he and Beckham miscommunicated on a deep throw.
In implementing the second element, New York was nearly perfect, as well. Beckham, Shepard and Cruz were never a threat to take over the game, combining for 103 yards receiving (or roughly one-third of what Julio Jones dropped on the Panthers). The Giants’ longest completions were to tight end Will Tye (18 yards) and running back Paul Perkins (who turned a dink into a 67-yard scamper).
It’s games like this when I’m glad I merely cover the Giants and don’t actively root for them. If they were my team, I’d probably be looking for a new TV, because my remote would have been thrown through the screen by game’s end.
Penalties, Turnovers, Stupidity: They once again won all three phases. Let’s take a closer look.
Penalties: After earning only seven flags during the team’s first two games (both wins), the Giants have now been flagged 19 times in the last two contests. Ereck Flowers was nailed for a brutal false start on the team’s opening drive against the Vikings, when the team had a third and five and was on the outer edge of field goal range. The team didn’t convert on third and ten and had to punt.
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Turnovers: The Giants forced a three and out on the Vikings’ ensuing possession. But Giants’ returner Dwayne Harris fumbled the punt, and eight plays later Minnesota scored on a one-yard dive by Matt Asiata. Ben McAdoo is constantly talking about the importance of protecting “the duke,” his term for the football. At this point, the team might as well refer to it as “the puke,” because they keep coughing it up.
Stupidity: Oh, look, it’s Odell Beckham losing control of his emotions and earning a costly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Rinse and repeat.
So, yeah, a lame offensive game plan, complemented by winning the worst three phases of the game. The Giants have the fewest sacks in the NFL (four) and they're the only team without an interception. A bend-don’t-break defense that doesn't create turnovers is not going to cut it when your offensive game plan is so uninspired.
But hey, at least Eli didn’t get sacked.
