NFL

No offense, but Giants have reasons to worry

The numbers are a bit damning — even if they don’t really count for anything.

The Giants offense has sputtered mightily in three preseason games entering tonight’s final tune-up against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

Eli Manning and the starting offense have produced only two touchdowns in three games. They are 0-for-8 in the red zone, are converting just 24.7 percent on third downs and have done virtually nothing with great field position given to them by the defense.

Complicating matters further is the fact the Giants offense has not really had any sustained drives. The two touchdowns they have scored have come on big plays — a 57-yard Manning pass to Victor Cruz against the Colts and running back David Wilson’s 84-yard run against the Jets.

The overall body of work has not looked good, and with Giants coach Tom Coughlin planning to play the starters just 12 to 15 plays against the Patriots, time is rapidly running out to iron out the issues.

But is there cause for concern?

Based on the proven talent, beginning with Manning and including his potent big-play receivers, Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks, there shouldn’t be much alarm. Based, too, on the fact the Giants have not had their full cast on offense together because of injuries on the offensive line (center David Baas, left tackle David Diehl), at fullback (Henry Hynoski) and to Cruz, their inconsistency can be somewhat excused.

However, opinions on that vary within the Giants locker room.

“It’s definitely an alarm,’’ Wilson said. “It’s kind of scary, because we’ve been in good field position and to come away with field goals in some of those situations it makes you a little bit frustrated and a little bit nervous going into the season knowing time is ticking down and we’ve only scored two TDs in this preseason. It is scary, but it’s preseason and none of it counts. We know our goals and what we can accomplish.

“I don’t have any doubt when we go down to Dallas [for the regular-season opener on Sept. 8] that we’ll be able to get the ball in the end zone.’’

Coughlin didn’t sound so sure as he seethed following Saturday’s loss to the Jets when he said, “The one thing that’s really disappointing to me is where we are offensively. No consistency whatsoever. Whatever is going on, we’ve got to solve it and we’ve got to solve it fast. We don’t have much time.”

For those who are too casual to pass off the Giants offensive struggles, one of the most common “coach speak’’ phrases in the game is: “You play the way you practice.’’ And to date, the practice games have not exactly elicited confidence for Dallas.

“[Preseason] is usually your dress rehearsal, and obviously we haven’t played as well as we could have,’’ Giants guard Kevin Boothe said. “You can look at it a couple of ways. You can look at it in a positive way — that it is preseason — or that we have struggled.’’

Boothe credited the Jets for giving the Giants offense fits.

“The fact is the Jets do such a great job of helping you prepare for the season because of their [defensive] personnel and their schemes and coaches,’’ Boothe said. “They did a great job. They’re a good team. We had our hands full with their defense. Let’s not fool ourselves, the Jets are not a bad team, so it was a good test for us.

“That game showed us where we need to improve and that’s what we plan to do. We need to execute better. We know that and we plan on doing that in the next week here before Dallas. We have a lot of talent and we know what we’re capable accomplishing.’’

In the meantime, these are the baby steps Coughlin wants to accomplish tonight: “I’d like to see us do well on third down, I’d like to see our passing game with our protection look like some type of an efficient operation. I’d like to see progress.’’