The Giants at the moment are a terrible team.
They play terribly. Either they are coached terribly or else they do not take to their coaching. Their franchise quarterback, Eli Manning, too often has been closer to terrible than great. Their superstar receiver, Odell Beckham Jr., sometimes comports himself terribly. When they need to be good, they are terrible.
What has been simmering for several weeks boiled over Thursday night in — you guessed it — a terrible performance in a game they knew could change the course of their season. An NFC East matchup against the struggling and battered Eagles offered an opportunity at rainy MetLife Stadium to surge back into contention in the division and show their last-second loss last week to the Panthers was a sign they are getting closer.
No, it was not a sign of anything, other than how terrible they are.
“We lost,’’ coach Pat Shurmur said of the 34-13 defeat. “We lost last week, too, right? We lost last week, and it doesn’t really matter — when you lose, you lose.’’
It is pretty much all the Giants do. It was ugly from start to finish as they were outclassed by the Eagles. The Giants fell to 1-5 and are now 4-19 in their last 23 games, results that signify they should be viewed as a terrible team.
“We got beat by a good team and we didn’t play well enough,’’ Shurmur said. “I don’t think we need to overthink that.’’
That might be true. There might not be much to over-think. The Eagles are good, the Giants are not.
“Just not good ball,’’ safety Landon Collins said. “Not good ball at all. We didn’t play good ball in all three phases of the game.’’
Manning (24-of-43, 281 yards) looked rigid in the pocket and looked every bit his 37 years of age, often helpless to escape pressure. His second pass of the evening was intercepted. Beckham was a non-factor with six receptions for a mere 44 yards. Carson Wentz had, by far, his best game of the season, passing for three touchdowns. The Eagles came in at 2-3 and on a two-game losing streak. They flew home to Philly looking like world-beaters after easily disposing of the Giants.
“I’m not happy about it,’’ said Manning, who was sacked four times and hit 13 times. “I am frustrated like everyone.’’
Asked where his confidence level is, Manning said, “My confidence in myself is good. I know I can play. I just have to figure out how to be more consistent and be better on offense.’’
The 33-31 loss to the Panthers convinced the Giants they were on the cusp of breaking out. Instead, they broke down.
“We’re not gonna backtrack from that feeling from last week,’’ said Beckham, who for the second time this season left the sideline before halftime to go into the locker room to get an IV for dehydration. “This [the Eagles] is a very good team, despite their record. They can play. They came out and beat us. They beat us on every play, and we beat ourselves.’’
Ben McAdoo was run out of town before the end of last season’s 3-13 disaster and nothing looks any better, and might look worse, under Shurmur. The Giants lost five of their first six games for the second consecutive season.
The brilliance of rookie running back Saquon Barkley was the only redeeming feature. At least Barkley, the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, is the real deal. He had a 46-yard run, a 50-yard run for a touchdown and he took a screen pass 55 yards. Barkley finished with 130 rushing yards and nine receptions for 99 yards.
“Doesn’t matter to me … we didn’t get the win,’’ Barkley said.
Getting jeered in their own home is nothing new for the Giants and they got verbally thrashed on back-to-back plays in the second quarter after Manning on consecutive plays dumped the ball off to Cody Latimer and then Barkley, leaving the Giants far short of a first down. On the sideline, it looked as if Shurmur mouthed “throw the ball’’ as Manning checked down and the Giants had to punt.
This was truly offensive offense. When Manning threw too high to Jawill Davis, it made the Giants 0-for-8 on third-down conversion attempts. Last week, they were 0-for-7 in the loss to the Panthers. So, in six quarters the Giants were 0-for-15 on third down. That is almost hard to do. They finally converted their first third down on a Manning pass to Beckham and on the next play, Barkley took it 50 yards for a touchdown. All that did was bring the Giants within 31-13.
The Eagles came into the game having scored only seven first-quarter points in their first five games and had a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.
“You just got to keep digging, put your head down and keep digging away,’’ Beckham said. “That’s really all you can do. You either keep digging, you work harder or you give up and I don’t think anybody in here is giving up.’’