INDIANAPOLIS — Victor Cruz described it as “fun’’ late Saturday night watching the Giants’ backups overcome a 26-0 fourth quarter deficit to overtake and beat the Colts 27-26 in a wild preseason game at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“I had a blast watching them at the end,’’ Cruz said of seeing the youngsters stage the comeback.
No one involved with the Giants had any fun or “a blast’’ watching what transpired earlier in the evening, when Cruz, Eli Manning and the starting offense continued to make the task of completing a forward pass far more difficult than it ought to be.
In 23 days, the Giants play a game that counts, and their getting-worse-instead-of-better offense looks light years away from being ready for anything resembling competency.
The players who matter most on offense again got almost nothing accomplished, as Manning produced no points in four series of work. He completed only one of his seven passes, for 6 yards to Jerrel Jernigan. Perhaps the Giants should have stopped the game and retrieved the ball for Eli after that one. It was dismal and worrisome, and although these games don’t count a lick, there have to be serious questions how this new West Coast offense installed by new coordinator Ben McAdoo is going to function.
Coach Tom Coughlin said he challenged his team, trailing 20-0 at halftime, to “Come out in the second half and see who loved football.’’ He saw Ryan Nassib, relegated to the No. 3 quarterback spot, get on a roll, finally hitting (who else?) rookie Corey Washington for the game-winning touchdown with 55 seconds remaining — the third game-winning scoring catch in three games for Washington.
Of course, Nassib and Washington aren’t likely to figure prominently in the season-opener in Detroit. Coughlin stated “We are realists’’ and acknowledged “a very poor performance by the [starters].’’ He described the way the offense operated as “dismal-looking,’’ said it “wasn’t impressive at all’’ and added, “Whatever words you use to describe it, there’s no production and that’s disappointing.’’
Manning was coming off a strange 0-for-2 passing showing against the Steelers — the first time in his NFL career he left a game without completing a pass. Manning wouldn’t hit the panic button if it were the only button left to push, and he insisted there were some signs of progress.
“Last week we had a lot of missed checks and changing plays that some people got, some people didn’t,’’ Manning said. “I don’t think we had as much of that today.’’
Clearly, the new offense is taking more time than expected to sink in.
“I didn’t know the new offense, how long it takes to get a great feel for it or how long it takes to grasp it all,’’ Manning said. “I think we were just a few plays away from being OK tonight.’’
All involved figured there would be growing pains, but can anyone rightly say McAdoo’s offense is getting better? Manning and Co. stayed on the field for four offensive series and produced 38 total yards.
Making things just a little (or a lot) more uncomfortable for the Giants was a player they gave up on, Hakeem Nicks, tearing them apart on the other end of so many pinpoint Andrew Luck passes. In barely more than a quarter, Nicks caught five passes for 53 yards. That did not include a vintage Nicks breakaway for 51 yards that was called back because Nicks was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting, waving his finger at the cornerback he just beat, Trumaine McBride, right in front of the Giants sideline.
The first two offensive series for the Giants were three-and-outs, the second lowlighted by a third-down sack of Manning by linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, who came on a blitz and beat right tackle Justin Pugh to the inside. The best drive for Manning and the starters came late in the first quarter and it included two turnovers — a Manning interception canceled out by a Colts penalty and a fumble by Cruz after a 51-yard catch-and-run that was wiped out by an illegal contact penalty on cornerback Greg Toler for bumping Cruz.
“Obviously it’s a little different from the norm around here,’’ said Cruz, who remains reception-less in the preseason. “I’m not concerned. There were definitely some openings, there were definitely some positive things out there, just a matter of us hitting it.’’