CHARLOTTE — Will Beatty called it “humbling.” David Baas said he was “embarrassed.” Kevin Boothe used the word “unacceptable.”
Words like pitiful and disgraceful would have worked, too. Think of any adjective that equates with “not good at all” and it can be applied to the way the Giants offensive line performed in a 38-0 loss to the Panthers Sunday afternoon.
There are plenty of things the Giants did wrong at Bank of America Stadium in dropping to 0-3 on the season. Crucial penalties and a missed field goal didn’t help. But it was the Giants offensive line that looked amateurish against the Panthers, allowing seven sacks, including four in the first quarter.
The Panthers looked like Carolina coach Ron Rivera’s ’85 Bears as they constantly pressured Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who was lucky to keep his health intact. The running game was horrid, too, earning just 60 yards.
“That is not by any means, New York Giants football. I’m embarrassed,” said Baas, the Giants center. “We take a lot of pride in keeping Eli clean. That was definitely not the case today.”
This was a game in which the Giants were trying to jump-start their season and lift the spirits of head coach Tom Coughlin, whose brother John died from a head injury last week. But they looked unprepared and overmatched against the Panthers, who were also 0-2, and played with more determination.
Manning was under siege from the beginning. Not only was he sacked seven times but was hit “at least 20 times,” by Coughlin’s count.
“It was one-on-one stuff,” Coughlin said. “They were beating us up front.”
The Giants came into the game thinking they could take advantage of the Panthers injury-riddled secondary. But Manning never had time to throw. The Giants offense earned just 18 net yards in the first half when Manning was sacked six times. He would complete 12-of-23 passes for 119 yards, his lowest total since throwing for the same number in a loss to the Vikings in 2008.
“We didn’t do a good job of protecting and giving ourselves a chance to be in a position to take advantage of some of the weaknesses they supposedly have,” Coughlin said.
Rookie tackle Justin Pugh had his tough moments, getting beat by DE Charles Johnson for a third-quarter sack. But the real breakdowns came from Beatty, who was abused by right defensive end Greg Hardy (three sacks).
“It was just one of those days where you just get in the zone,” Hardy said.
In his fifth season, Beatty is supposed to anchor the left side of the line. Instead, he looked more like a rookie than Pugh, getting beat on inside moves and speed rushes on the outside.
“I could have done much better on Hardy,” Beatty said, stating the obvious.
“It’s not what he did. I have to look at what I did. There are a lot plays I left out there that were negative. I have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
The Giants offensive line was supposed to be a strength heading into the season. Beatty, Boothe, Baas and Chris Snee collectively have 32 years of experience. The loss of right tackle David Diehl to thumb surgery during training camp wasn’t expected to be as devastating as it has been. But the Giants haven’t been able to mount a running game (averaging 44.3 yards), and now they’ve forgotten how to pass protect. They’ve converted just 10-of-34 third-down situations this season.
“We have to learn from this as difficult as it might be,” Boothe said. “The NFL season doesn’t wait for anybody. Whatever it is we have to fix it. For some reason we’re not playing at a very high level at all.”
The Giants season still has a pulse. But it goes nowhere unless the offensive line can solve its problems quickly. It’s hard to score points in the NFL when you can’t run the ball or throw it.