ATLANTA — Twice yesterday the Giants had a fourth-and-1 and failed. Once yesterday they had a fourth-and-2.
And three times they failed to convert for a first down and keep the drive going.
“If you’re fourth-and-short, you should be able to get it,” guard Chris Snee said. “That’s always our mentality.”
That was also part of the Giants’ offensive failure yesterday, as they were shut out in a regular season game for the first time since Dec. 1, 1996 — a span of 256 games. The performance yesterday was putrid — Eli Manning threw two interceptions, running back Kregg Lumpkin lost a fumble and the Giants had the ball for a total of 21 minutes. This came one week after putting up 52 points against the Saints — 45 of them on offense.
“We couldn’t get anything going,” Victor Cruz said.
Actually, the Giants did. They just couldn’t finish a drive. On their second drive of the day, they moved from their own 20-yard line to the Atlanta 12 in nine plays. But then Lawrence Tynes missed a 30-yard field goal.
Then in the second quarter, the Giants moved from their 20 to the Atlanta 32, facing a fourth-and-1. Down 17-0, coach Tom Coughlin elected to go for it instead of trying a 49-yard field goal, but David Wilson was stopped for no gain.
On their next drive, the Giants moved from their 10 to the Atlanta 11, facing a fourth-and-1. This time, Manning threw incomplete to Cruz.
“I felt like, if we would have completed one of those fourth downs early on, we would have gotten the momentum a little bit and would have gotten some things going,” Cruz said. “But we weren’t able to do that.”
In the third quarter, the Giants had a fourth-and-2 at the Atlanta 25, now down 24-0, and Manning’s pass to Lumpkin was deflected. Coughlin explained the decisions to go for it, saying he believed he needed to “lift” the team considering the way the game was going.
The Giants’ offense continues to be streaky. The unit put up just 13 points versus the Steelers, 13 against the Bengals, 16 on the Redskins and now zero to the Falcons. Meanwhile, it put up 38 against the Packers and 45 on the Saints.
Manning last week threw for four touchdowns. But he also threw two interceptions. And yesterday he couldn’t lead the offense to any points, threw two picks and was intercepted on his second play of the game by Asante Samuel.
“He just jumped it,” Manning said. “I’ll have to look at it on film to see exactly how it happened. I thought I had room and threw it, and he did a great job of jumping on the ball.”