SANTA CLARA, Calif. — When we talk about the Giants’ top offensive skill position players and wonder how it’s possible the team’s season has gone so sideways in 2018, two names dominate the conversation.
Odell Beckham Jr. and Saquon Barkley.
Evan Engram must emerge as the third name in a group that should serve as the Giants’ offensive foundation as the franchise moves forward from this miserable season.
Both Beckham and Barkley have been pulling their respective weight despite the Giants’ 1-7 record entering Monday night’s game at Levi’s Stadium. Beckham entered the game with 61 receptions for 785 yards and two TDs and Barkley with 519 rushing yards on 4.7 yards per carry and five TDs, along with 58 catches for 497 yards and another two TDs.
It’s not that Engram, the Giants’ second-year tight end, has been awful this season. He entered the game with a modest 17 receptions for 145 yards and two TDs after missing the first three games with a knee injury.
But if the Giants truly are going to sort out their offensive woes — particularly their red-zone ineptitude — they need Engram to live up to the matchup nightmare he is. Most importantly, they need him to catch the ball more often and reduce his dropped passes.
Engram caught 64 passes for 722 yards and six TDs last season, but he also had 11 drops. That’s too many.
This season, Engram has three drops, the most recent — and most damaging — the short fourth-down pass he allowed to slip through his hands in a 20-13 loss to the Redskins on Oct. 28.
The Giants trailed 10-3 when Olivier Vernon’s 43-yard fumble return gave them possession on the Redskins’ 39-yard line. Facing a fourth-and-3 to keep the drive alive and potentially tie the game, Eli Manning threw Engram a pass that slipped through his hands.
The Redskins took possession and quickly took a 13-3 lead on a field goal en route to a victory that left the Giants searching for answers during their bye week leading into Monday night’s game.
“I’ll be honest — it was definitely tough to get over,’’ Engram said before the game. “But that’s a big part of playing the game — realizing bad plays are going to happen, and it’s important to put it behind you. I was pretty pissed for a couple of days afterwards. It was a big play, but I know I make those in my sleep.
“It was unfortunate that play happened and it’s definitely an important play behind me. Just keep working and staying the course, get back to the basics. But definitely as a competitor you want to be perfect and you want to strive for perfection. A lot of times that doesn’t happen, but it’s definitely something I put behind and keep working.
“I think it’s important to put the bad things behind me.’’
For his part, Giants coach Pat Shurmur said Engram’s struggles are not at all from lack of trying.
“Evan is a pass-catching tight end — that’s just the nature of who he is — and it’s important that we catch the ball consistently,’’ Shurmur said before the game. “The one thing I’ll say about Evan is he works at it harder than any of our guys. He’s had a couple drops … but he works at it, and if you believe in hard work changing the outcome of things, I feel good about him not having that be a problem.
“He’s one of the guys that really works hard at catching the football. He will just continue to do that, put it behind him and move on. That’s really the nature of it. If I had a guy who was dropping balls and didn’t work at it, then the rubber’s going to hit the road on that.
“But with Evan, we have lots of drills that he does, he works hard at trying to catch the ball constantly, and he’s just got to trust and believe himself and go out and do it. As long as he’s a Giant and he’s out there playing, we’re going to do everything we can to help him.’’
Said Manning: “Evan works hard and wants to do everything right. He puts in a lot of work. He’s too good of a player and an athlete to let the little things bother him.”
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