The first game of the season for the Giants didn’t go as planned, to say the least. New York who have been battling many questions throughout the preseason lost to the the Detroit Lions 35-14 on Monday Night in Detroit. The game was not looking good from the beginning.
All week the Giants talked about Detroit Lions wide receiver, Calvin Johnson, and how many weapons the Lions have. So you would think they would at least limit “Megatron” to the best of their abilities. On one of the first plays of the game Stevie Brown and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie ran into each other leaving Johnson wide open for the catch downfield and the 60 plus yard touchdown. Already Detriot fans and fantasy fans alike rejoiced and Giants fans could only hope that it wouldn’t get worse.
But unfortunately it did. Later in the first Stafford threw yet another touchdown to the back of the end zone to the Lions outstretched star receiver putting Detroit up 14-0.
To add to the bad start for New York. Jason Pierre-Paul came out the the game with an apparent injury just five minutes into the game, but did return later on in the game. Eyes are already on Pierre-Paul this year as the Gmen need him to step up with the loss in Justin Tuck.
The Giants went into the half down 14-7 after Larry Donnell grabbed a 1 yard pass from Eli Manning in the second, but it didn’t mean much. Coming out of the half the Giants threw an interception to DeAndre Levy which turned into a field goal. Then Stafford took advantage of more defensive breakdown for the Giants which led to another field goal and a touchdown. One 44 yard pass to Golden Tate and a rushing touchdown for Stafford was enough to cap the game of for the Lions at home.
Manning was 18 of 33 for 163 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions for the Giants, who started 0-6 last season and never led in their 2014 opener. But was also “under pressure for most of the night”, said Coughlin. The Giants offensive line definitely had a tough time against the tough Detroit defensive front in protecting the pass and in the run game.
The Giants had 55 total yards on the ground not helping Eli out like they had hoped. The simple fact is the offensive line must improve or the team is going to continue to struggle. The sad thing for Giants fans was that there wasn’t any positives to take out of this and coach Coughlin agreed.
“No excuses. We played very poorly,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “We don’t have a lot to be proud of here. It was a nightmare performance.”
The Giants take on the Arizona Cardinal who are coming off a comeback win at home next week at MetLife. The Giants will spend the rest of this week trying to review how they can wake up from this ongoing “nightmare.”
Bobby O’Hara:PureSportsNY