If not for the overwhelmingly dominant performance from the Giants’ defense in last week’s 16-3 victory over the Eagles, the harsh glare of the spotlight might have shined brightly and unfavorably on Eli Manning and his offensive teammates.
After a sluggish and wasteful first half, the Giants’ attack was little more than a dud after halftime, with the team’s one touchdown coming via a defensive fumble return. For the Giants (2-2) to truly prove their resurgence is serious, they need to put together a complete game and are looking to assemble just that Sunday against the desperate Jets (1-3).
“I can play better than I did last week,” said Manning, who since his gaudy first-game showing (in a loss at Dallas) has completed 56 percent of his passes, with three touchdowns and four interceptions. “We have to do some different things a lot better. As long as we are winning games and not hurting the team and not making tons of mistakes, we will be all right.”
The bar has to be set higher than that. The Giants had 10 genuine possessions last week (two others ended with kneel downs) and were unproductive. Their longest drive was 50 yards and resulted in a missed 34-yard field goal. There were three three-and-outs, and one touchdown drive (of 49 yards).
Manning, in his worst moment, from the Eagles’ 15-yard line, fired to Jeremy Shockey, but linebacker Omar Gaither stepped in front for an interception.
“Just a bad throw, just threw it behind him,” Manning said.
In the second half, the Giants got the ball five times looking to add to their lead and punted the ball on four of those possessions.
“There is nobody in that locker room that would tell you things were done the way we planned them to be; the execution wasn’t there for whatever reason,” Tom Coughlin said. “The failure to execute in the green zone, the failure to convert on third down, those things really hurt. Our attempt this week is to gain a level of consistency in those areas.”
The Jets do not appear to be the sort of defense to pose major problems. They do not excel in any area other than rushing yards per attempt against (3.69) and are abysmal as far as pressuring the passer (30th in the 32-team NFL in sacks with three). The Jets are allowing opposing offenses to convert 47.8 percent on third down, which ranks 28th.
The Giants will have a new wrinkle for this game, with Brandon Jacobs returning after missing the past three games (and most of the opener) with a strained right medial collateral knee ligament. In his absence, Derrick Ward had been a revelation (73 attempts, 353 yards, 4.8-yard average), but now the coaching staff will have to deal with a foreign situation the past four years: Splitting the job between two ball-carriers.
Tiki Barber the past three years under Coughlin was the be-all, end-all in the running game, and Jacobs was supposed to carry the load this season. Ward’s play thrust him into the mix.
Jacobs yesterday practiced fully and declared himself completely ready, not only to face the Jets, but also to share the workload, if need be.
“They see D-Ward is very capable of playing, being very productive, and they know I can get out and do the same thing,” Jacobs said. “Why waste the talent we have? I’m sure the coaches are going to have some kind of game plan in line every week where we get our fair amount of time.”
Ward sounds unconcerned how the rushing attempts are divvied up, although he said he believes he’s earned the right to be included.
“What he’s lacking I have, what I’m lacking he has,” Ward said.
Asked what he is lacking, Ward said, “I’m lacking how big he is. Just look at him. He’s just a big boy. It’s not fair. I tell everybody it’s not fair. I call him my little big brother.”