Giants must do things differently after a disappointing loss

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – The roadblock finally erupted against the New York Giants in the middle of the third quarter of their 33-18 loss to the New Orleans Saints and, if so, the season itself may have been buried .

The Giants have bet on their present and, more poignantly, on their past, this off season. They escaped the quarterback rookie class, sided with Eli Manning, 37, did some repair work on the offensive line, then blocked their choice of first electric trick. The result was thriving on Sunday in a sleepy race that revealed the Giants' painful reality: even with a greatly improved defense, the future of the Giants is not just cloudy. The present is ugly too.

At 1-3 and assaulted by an attack that had only 10 points against the league's worst defense while the match was still at hand, the Giants were a bit reckless (the otherwise affable coach Pat Paturour ) and a little morose (Eli Manning). The defense kept Drew Brees out of the end zone for four rounds in the 20-yard line in the first period before allowing a touchdown in the middle of the third quarter to announce the Giants' fate. This first half was all that a team could hope for against one of the top five offensives. But the Giants failed to score even 20 points in three of their four games, which brings us back to the offensive incapacity that cost Ben McAdoo his job and put the Giants in a supposed reconfiguration. dramatic.

Instead, this iteration of the giants resembles the one they hoped to have left behind. Blocking the heat was catastrophic – Saquon Barkley had a 28-yard pass and nine more innings for a total of 16 yards. In the second quarter, which ended with a breakaway by Wayne Gallman, Barkley was not even on the field. Odell Beckham Jr. scored seven receptions for 60 yards, but 16 of those yards reached the final when the Giants lost 15 points and the game was almost over. The Saints being determined to avoid deep games, the Giants still could not put the ball in the hands of one of the most dangerous players in the league to let him create a game, especially early in the game, when Beckham had two receptions for – 4 meters With three shots of New Orleans' 14-yard line in the third quarter, Manning never went to Beckham once, which was apparently a decoy. The practice ended with a goal in the field instead of a touchdown.

"I do not have a Richter scale to say how frustrating it is," Beckham said about the current state of the Giants. "It's really frustrating. It looks like it should not be that difficult, but it is. We need to be as energetic as we did last week. It must be everyone.

Beckham admitted that the Giants' first training, in which they gained 60 yards (not including a 15-yard penalty on the Saints) and scored a touchdown, made him think the match was going to be good. And then the Giants won just 37 yards more the rest of the first half.

Shurmur had no answer. He said Barkley would touch the ball more "it would be nice," but added that the Giants also wanted to make sure Gallman was involved. The soft zone that the Saints played meant that the Giants had to escape but he could not explain why there were no more passes below for Beckham.

Shurmur was the victim of an error when he was asked if he needed to make massive changes.

"No, we have to get better," he began. "What does it mean, massive changes? We need to improve."

Shurmur later admitted that the giants might have to do things differently. The hard truth is that there are no massive changes to make. At 37, Manning can still complete the passes when he has the time and the offensive is punctuated because he was early in the game and late, while the Saints were protecting their lead. But he also passes a few passes and sometimes holds the ball too long. The Giants saw the flashes of his former self last season as a sign that, with the good talent around him, he could still be the kind of quarterback that brought them to two Super Bowls. But his struggles are more of a rule than an aberration, and the offensive line is just not good enough to give him the time he now needs to excel and bring the ball to Beckham. Nor is it enough to give Barkley the space to make himself known. This means that two of the most dynamic playmakers in the NFL are rendered irrelevant.

There is a lot of criticism to be made. Manning should take his place, but Shurmur too, who has to find a way to put the ball in the hands of his best players and, of course, at the front-office that apparently miscalculated his record. At 1-3, the season is not over, not in a division where the leader (Washington) is 2-1. But the Giants have little to do, three quarters of the season remaining to be done. They feel more like a retired team, like one who has not been able to slow down the skid that started last season.

"You just keep on working and you get the hang of it and you train to get out," Shurmur said.

It may be all that the Giants can do, until the time is up, at a time when the Giants were so sure it was worth it to interest them.

Follow Judy Battista on Twitter @JudyBattista.