The Honeymoon in East Rutheford is Over: McAdoo, Giants Blow Lead - Fall to 2-1
Whelp, it's finally happened - the Giants have blown their first lead of the season and lost to a team they should have buried. After 2 tight victories to open the season, the Giants looked to extend their win streak to 3 against the fledgling Redskins at the Meadowlands on Sunday afternoon. It was a game that they were expected to win - the Redskins were winless and there were reports of the locker room turning on overpaid QB Kirk Cousins, meanwhile the Giants were 2-0 for the first time since 2010 and the revamped defense looked the best it has in years. But, in a tale as old as time, the Giants inexplicably collapsed in the second half to drop their first game of the season. Unfortunately, Giants fans have become all too familiar with late game letdowns, but this season's promising start led us to naively believe that under rookie head coach Bob McAdoo, these meltdowns were a thing of the past.
Things looked promising when the Giants jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter. The score had ballooned to 21-9 in the second before a Shane Vereen fumble set up a 44 yard DeSean Jackson touchdown to close the margin to 21-16 at halftime. Giants fans' spirits were still high heading into the second half, but a big 55 yard Jamison Crowder touchdown reception early in the 3rd quarter to give Washington a 23-21 lead quickly sobered up MetLife Stadium. From there Josh Brown and Dustin Hopkins exchanged 2 field goals each, with Hopkins booting a 37 yarder with 1:51 left in the 4th quarter for the eventual game winner. The excitement of the promising start to the game had been, once again, replaced by anguish and anger.
Eli threw for 350 yards and a touchdown in the loss, but caught the turnover bug and threw 2 interceptions, the last of which ended the game as the Giants were driving to regain the lead with less than a minute remaining in the game. Also unfortunately reminiscent of past Eli were his fumbles, totaling 3 in the game though he only lost 1. Eli's week to week inconsistency and proneness to turning the ball over have plagued him his entire career. He will absolutely need to clean up these mistakes in order for the Giants' offense to play to their full potential going forward.
The defense, which had looked so promising in the first 2 games, took a step back on Sunday. While they held the Redskins' running backs to 90 yards rushing on the day, thanks mainly to Damon 'Snacks' Harrison, they looked shaky in the secondary, allowing an average Kirk Cousins to pass for 296 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Giants showed they are still prone to giving up the big play as Jackson and Crowder's long touchdown receptions brought back ugly nightmares from years past. Through the first 2 games of the season the longest play the Giants had given up was 23 yards, but Cousins was able to surpass that 3 times on Sunday. Another glaring issue with the defense on Sunday, and the entire year so far, has been their inability to create turnovers. Through 3 games they have forced zero interceptions and just 1 fumble recovery. If Eli is going to continue to turn the ball over at his current rate, the defense will need to step up and make some big plays to keep New York's turnover ratio negligible.
Despite blowing a second half lead and losing to a previously 0-2 divisional rival, there were some bright spots for the Giants on Sunday. Rookie wide receiver Sterling Shepard continues to shine on offense as he finished with 5 receptions for 73 yards and Eli's only passing touchdown. Shepard has seamlessly adjusted to the professional game and has emerged as one of the key cogs in the Giants' offense. If he can continue this type of production he will be one of the favorites for NFL Rookie of the Year. 3rd year reserve running back Orleans Darkwa also looked solid filling in for an injured Rashad Jennings. Darkwa finished with 53 yards rushing on 10 carries and a touchdown in his first real regular action in the backfield. With Rashad Jennings questionable for week 4, and Shane Vereen's season over with a triceps injury suffered in the loss, expect Darkwa to get more of the workload this week.
The Giants travel to Minneapolis this weekend for a Monday night showdown with the surging Vikings. Minnesota's defense is one of the best units in the league and Eli will need to be sharp and avoid turnovers to pull out the win. Snacks Harrison and the Giants defense will also need to continue to get pressure on a much improved Sam Bradford as they search for their elusive first interception. The Vikings' offense isn't overly explosive, but neither was the Redskins'. I expect McAdoo to learn from the mistakes made on Sunday and have the troops prepared to rebound in Minnesota.
