Atlanta- Any hope fans had that the New York Giants would make history and be the first time at 1-5 to make run to make the final playoff had the hopes dashed last night. The Falcons defeated the Giants in crushing fashion 23-20 dropping the Giants down to 1-6 for the 2018 campaign.
The inability of being able to put points on the board has been haunting the Giants all season long and was clear in multiple opportunities against in Atlanta Monday night. Big Blue had their chances this time but bad decision making in the fourth quarter by Head Coach Pat Shurmer to go for two instead of the field goal was the demise this time around.
Eli Manning discussed how important it is to not leave any points off the board during his post game media session. “We just got to find a way to score touchdowns when we get down there in the red zone. Settled for field goals or the one time not getting anything, but that’s just what’s hampering us. It’s been the last couple of games where you get down there, it just changes everything when you get touchdowns. You just put a little pressure on the other team and get a little more momentum and it would’ve tied the game or gave us a lead in a couple of scenarios.”
Manning had another stellar game as he finished 27-38 for 399 yards but only one touchdown pass. The negative part which was pointed out on ESPN multiple times was the struggle with the offensive line as Manning was sacked four time for a loss of 27 yards.
Down 20-6, the Giants scored a touchdown on a two yard run by Saquon Barkley which cut the score to 20-12 with 4:47 left in the fourth. The two point conversion was dropped by Odell Beckham in the end zone which turned out to be crucial as Atlanta added a field goal making it 23-12.
When asked about the two point conversion attempt coach Shurmer added his logic to the decision. “You increase your chances by 50 percent if you go for it and make it there, so that’s what you do because then if we score a touchdown, we just kick the extra point and win. I felt good about the two-point play. You guys saw that – I think we got the ball in there, right, and we just didn’t connect on it. I think it’s an aggressive approach.”
“We discussed internally the math on that,” Shurmur said. “I just felt like we had a good play and I liked our two-point play selections, and we just didn’t quite get it done.
Odell Beckham had a strong performance with eight catches for 143 yards and a touchdown, but had the big drop on the two point conversation that would have cut it to seven in the fourth quarter. “Nobody likes losing, so you got to find ways, which we will down the stretch,” Beckham said. “We have another opportunity Sunday (at home vs. first-place Washington). If it is a close game, we’ve been there now. We’ve been there plenty of times. Got to put the little pieces together and we lost by three points. Lost by a field goal. Lost by (five) points the first game. There’s only been a few games where teams really put it on us, so we are right there. Now we got to put everything together. Everything’s got to come together, we all have to come together. I got to play better, everybody’s got to do better. That’s all I can tell you.”
We will have more on this and a preview of Sunday coming tonight!!
