No one expected the Eli Manning-Ben McAdoo-Tom Coughlin operation to remind anyone of the Joe Montana-Mike Holmgren-Bill Walsh West Coast offense, not in preseason, undoubtedly never.
What we have here is your proverbial work in progress.
Except Coughlin, a 20-16 winner thanks to Curtis Painter-to-Corey Washington, will need to look long and hard for any signs of progress Saturday night against the Steelers.
No one shows their hand in preseason, but the Giants wasted one of their five chances to sharpen up the passing arm of their new offense.
As of this moment, this is more of a Jest Coast offense.
Air McAdoo will now need to be in hurry-up mode because at the moment, you begin to question whether five preseason games will be enough for Manning to roar (bring on Megatron and the Lions!) when the regular season begins in Detroit. And remember, he won’t play much in the preseason finale.
Manning: 0-for-2, for zero yards. A 39.6 QB rating.
But hey, no picks!
Asked if he ever thought he would play a game in which he didn’t complete a pass, Manning said, “Well, preseason game, I’m not totally shocked.
Obviously it’s not the ideal situation, but when you only have two attempts, there’s that possibility.”
You can call it a West Coast offense, only if you allow for the fact that running back Rashad Jennings played in Oakland last season.
Jennings, who displayed his receiving skills out of the backfield in the Hall of Fame game, unleashed a 73-yard TD romp through a huge hole up the middle to make it 7-3.
Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-at’s all, folks.
“We want to be great,” Jennings said.
Great to hear.
“We’re not happy as an offense because we expect more out of ourselves,” Jennings said.
Victor Cruz? Remember him? His preseason stat line after seven series: 0-0, on zero targets.
Not to worry, No. 1 draft WR Odell Beckham Jr. and his sore hamstring will be riding to the rescue any day now.
There’s a modicum of good news for anyone related to Larry Donnell, who appears to be the No. 1 tight end. But two catches for 13 yards on four targets won’t be causing defensive coordinators sleepless nights.
“[We] try to learn from it, and just understand that yeah, it’s preseason, not everything’s going to be perfect, but we definitely have some stuff to look at and get better on a few things,” Manning said.
Manning’s first pass, out of a three-receiver look on first down, was a back-shoulder incompletion behind Jerrel Jernigan. Manning rolled right on third-and -2, saw Cruz doubled downfield, and threw the ball away out of bounds.
Left tackle, a source of great consternation, sabotaged Manning’s third drive as Charles Brown — holding the fort until Will Beatty makes it all the way back from the broken leg, if he ever makes it back — was beaten for an 8-yard sack on first down by outside linebacker Jarvis Jones.
As much as the Giants don’t want to do it, moving right tackle Justin Pugh to left tackle might yet become a necessity.
The fourth drive was wrecked by a flurry of penalties, beginning with a holding call against Brandon Mosley, followed by another one against Geoff Schwartz that nullified a 17-yard Andre Williams run, that soon resulted in a lovely third-and-28.
“We got to get rid of those penalties,” Manning said.
Manning and his receivers need success in game action to feel the kind of swag an offense needs.
“It’s like building a house,” Jennings said. “First you get the blueprint … you go get the wood … start hammering away … you start looking around for paint, furniture … then eventually you get to the details of everything. And that’s where we are. So we’re right on track where we need to be.”
Again, it’s August. It’s the second preseason game. Vanilla is the best flavor. Far too early to panic. All that.
“I feel confident in the offense, feel confident in our ability,” Manning said. “It is preseason, we’re not putting everything out there. But I think over these next weeks, we’ll be a little bit more aggressive, and see if we can make some plays.”