CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Giants finally scored 30 points. Yet they lost, again.
Will they ever win another game?
A season that has been bad turned cruel on Sunday, as Eli Manning turned back the clock and led a vintage touchdown drive, culminated by Saquon Barkley’s long-jump into the right corner of the end zone with 1:08 remaining. It was 31-30 Giants, and this was going to be a day to remember for the visitors.
It turned into one they will never forget, no matter how long they try.
With one second remaining, Graham Gano hit a 63-yard field goal, and the Panthers secured a 33-31 victory at Bank of America Stadium that contained a little bit of everything and ended with the Giants achieving nothing, as they fell to 1-4 with the most heartbreaking of defeats.
The Giants could not get the one defensive stop they needed, as the Panthers drove it 30 yards in eight plays before Gano set a Carolina franchise record with the game-winner, the longest field goal in Panthers history.
The Giants trailed 27-16 early in the fourth quarter and appeared for all the world headed for another loss and a 1-4 record. They got a touchdown pass from Manning to Odell Beckham Jr. to get things cooking and then sat back and watched a vintage late-game drive engineered by Manning, one pulled out of the archives. But, incredibly, in the end it was not enough.
With no timeouts to work with, Manning took over with 2:16 remaining and proceeded to hit four consecutive passes. He found Russell Shepard for 40 yards to the Carolina 15-yard line and on the very next play, Manning flipped the ball to Barkley and that was that — until it was not.
This was a breathless seesaw of swings and emotions for the Giants, who trailed 20-10 at halftime and 27-16 early in the fourth quarter. Manning threw two fourth-quarter interceptions and everything was in turmoil, until it was not. Manning found Beckham for a 33-yard touchdown hookup with 8:08 left. The two-point conversion pass to Rhett Ellison pulled the Giants within 27-24. It was the first touchdown reception of the season for Beckham, who in the second quarter notched his first touchdown pass of his NFL career.
The Giants had a chance. The Panthers had a fourth-and-1 on the Giants 44-yard line and converted when Cam Newton rolled out and hit Jarius Wright for 27 yards. Gano booted a 39-yard field goal with 2:16 remaining and the Giants were down by seven.
Beckham was at the center of everything. He lit a fire the Giants need to douse when he expressed all sorts of dismay to ESPN in an interview aired Sunday morning, unhappy with Pat Shurmur’s offense, seemingly unhappy with Manning and not too keen on the cold weather in New Jersey. Once the game started, it was the good, the bad and the ugly for Beckham.
His muffed punt handed the Panthers a touchdown. He threw his first NFL touchdown pass. He had two hands on what would have been his first touchdown reception of the season, midway through the third quarter, but as he came down for his leap with the ball, cornerback James Bradberry knocked it out of Beckham’s grasp and he fell into the end zone, flat on his back, in frustration.
Shurmur was “absolutely livid’’ with Beckham’s comments, according to Fox Sports, and forced the star receiver to “make it right’’ with his teammates. It was under this chaotic backdrop the Giants took the field on a sun-splashed 80-degree afternoon, facing a rugged and rested Panthers outfit coming off its bye week. Thus, it came as little surprise the Giants were dominated through much of a first half that ended with them down 20-10, with their lone touchdown a 57-yard pass from Beckham — yes, Odell — to Barkley that covered 57 yards. So, in 20 quarters, the longest pass play of the season for the Giants was tossed not by Manning but by Beckham. You cannot make it up.
Manning was not exactly on fire. He threw a bit wide of Russell Shepard in the first quarter and the deflection was almost intercepted by Eric Reid. Manning, on fourth down from the Carolina 39-yard line, fired just wide to Beckham, who got his hands on the ball but could not bring it in On the next series, Manning’s third-down pass sailed far out of the reach of Ellison.
Amid all the craziness, the Giants were within 20-16 and driving after a Curtis Riley interception of Newton. Manning hit Sterling Shepard for 28 yards and then for 26 to the Carolina 25-yard line. Was Eli heating up? Well, no. His next pass was terrible, late and soft to Beckham over the middle, never seeing safety Mike Adams, standing right there, It was a simple interception for Adams and complicated matters very badly for the Giants.
The Giants were wildly erratic. Cornerback B.W. Webb was called for defensive holding and got a 15-yard penalty tacked on for mouthing off to the official. Safety Michael Thomas was hit with a 15-yard penalty for making contact with a defenseless player after Landon Collins successfully broke up the pass to Devin Funchess. It was a rough call for the Giants and hugely costly. Instead of punting the ball away, the Panthers kept it and completed a 68-yard drive with Newton’s 18-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Christian McCaffrey to inflate the Giants; deficit to 27-16 with 11:21 remaining.
The football turned to folly early in the second quarter. Clearly desperate, Shurmur put Beckham back to field punts and his first one was a nice 15-yard return. His second was a complete disaster. Michael Palardy’s 51-yard kick sailed to the sideline, clearly out of Beckham’s range. He should have let it go. Instead, he ran to his right — a cardinal sin for a returner — and the ball bounced and glanced off his leg at the 3-yard line. What followed will be seen on Giants lowlight films for years to come.
Janoris Jenkins was in perfect position to save the play, but as he scooped the ball up, he had it stripped away from him by Curtis Samuel. The loose football was kicked inadvertently by Eli Apple, who gave chase and tried to pounce on it in the end zone but was beaten to the ball by safety Colin Jones for the most gift touchdown to put the stumbling, bumbling Giants in a 14-3 hole.
It was 17-3 when Shurmur dialed up a gadget play and made quite a connection, Manning tossed to his left, behind the line of scrimmage, to Beckham, as Barkley ran a wheel route on the other side of the field. Beckham stopped, gathered himself and, with Bradberry in his face, lofted something between a spiral and a wobbler clear across the field, where Barkley was alone near the right sideline. He caught it at the Carolina 32-yard line and had no trouble outrunning linebacker Jermaine Carter Jr. into the end zone.
Source: Read Full Article