NFL

Eli unable to jump-start offense

The past two weeks, Eli Manning was one of the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL and the Giants were hoping and believing that their $100 million man was on his way to carrying the team down the stretch of the season.

Just think, Manning and the offense last week took the field in overtime and proceeded to march for the game-winning field goal in a 34-31 overtime victory over the Falcons.

“We were hoping we could kind of build on last week and get into a situation where we’re making some plays whether it’s running or throwing, having a good mix,” Manning said.

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There was no mix last night. No passing. No running. No nothing. Manning never got into a rhythm, never got into a flow. He never was aided by a rushing attack and his receivers gave him little open spaces to throw. The result was a 26-6 loss to the Broncos at Invesco Field at Mile High and one of Manning’s most ineffective performances. He was 24 of 40 for 230 yards and one interception as he failed to get the Giants in the end zone.

“We kind of stalled out where we started going backwards and had negative plays and had to settle for field goals,” Manning said. “The first half, a lot of three and outs, we didn’t have many plays, we got into kind of throwing a lot. They made a lot of plays.

“They had safeties down, that’s where you should be able to throw the ball. We tried to stay with the run a little bit. When you get sacks and second and longs and third and longs you’re going to get into situations where you got to throw the ball successfully, especially in the first half we couldn’t get things going.”