The Giants went to Detroit to play a sub-.500 team on a three-game losing streak. It should have been just the kind of gridiron tonic Big Blue needed, to get fat on some cats in freefall.
Instead, the Giants lost to the Lions, 31-26, in a game they trailed all afternoon. The score was not entirely emblematic of the game, as a late touchdown covered the spread but failed to save their season. The Giants entered Detroit with a bad streak of their own, and now head home losers of four straight games. They now have a 2-6 record and disapproval, if not disgust, from fans all around.
So what does this say about the G-Men? That they can't hang with wholly average clubs? That you can throw the ball all over the yard on them - including flea-flickers that rarely work outside the cinema? That they lack an identity in a sport that demands one? That they are what their record says they are?
The Giants seem to start games down two touchdowns before they get involved. On Sunday, they were trailing 14-0 in the first quarter, just as they were losing 17-0 to the Cardinals the week before. Whether it's indifference or incompetence, the Giants aren't talented enough to plunge into these craters and then scramble to catch up the rest of the game. That speaks to motivation, which comes from coaches, which points to Pat Shurmur, who always seems to be fired up at the media but never fires up his players.
Despite this apparent apathy in the first quarter, the Giants had more first downs, ran more plays and even had fewer penalties and turnovers than the Lions. They still lost. They even found a new way to let the enemy score, when a screen pass sailed backward and the Giants watched Lions scoop up the ball and run it into the end zone.
Matt Stafford - whom veteran Detroit sportswriter Rob Parker refers to as "Stat Padford" - tossed three touchdown passes (including that emasculating flea-flicker), while completing 25 of 32 passes for 342 yards. In case that trick play felt familiar, Lions offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell called the same play in Seattle two years ago, with the same RB (J.D. McKissic), against the same team (Giants), with the same result (TD).
If you embrace the fact that the Giants only allowed 59 rushing yards, consider that Kerryon Johnson, the Lions' starting halfback, missed the game with a knee injury. Detroit's leading rusher was Tra Carson (34 yards), who's on his third team in two years, and is so new to the Lions that his profile picture still features him in a Packers jersey.
There are two consolation prizes for the Giants. Other than that ugly lateral to Saquon Barkley, Daniel Jones played like a high-end quarterback. The rookie QB completed 28 of 41 passes, for 322 yards and four touchdowns. Jones played with passion, purpose, and precision. After Barkley, who is one of the three best halfbacks in the NFL, Jones is quickly cementing his place as the next-best player on the team.
The only other prize is that the Giants aren't the Jets. Big Blue (2-6) is a half-game better than Gang Green (1-6). Their quarterback isn't gawking at ghosts on the gridiron. And the Giants are at least competitive.
But while Shurmur assures us that losing close games isn't good enough, there's some kind of fissure between his assertions and his results. Shurmur also continues to make questionable in-game moves, such as chasing points in the third quarter when the Giants scored to inch within five points.
Instead of kicking the ball to make the score 24-20, he went for two points, and failed. It was a desperate move with too much time left in the game and is part of a curious continuum in which the head coach looks more like a coordinator. If we believe the patron saint of the Meadowlands, Bill Parcells, when he said you are what your record says you are, then there is a haunting statement about Shurmur, who is 17-40 as an NFL head coach.
Millions of Americans will spend this week wrapped in costumes for Halloween, pretending they are heroes or villains, deities or devils. Maybe for their next game, at Dallas, the Giants can dress, and play, like a team that can win a football game.
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