Biggest Takeaways from New York Giants' Week 2 Loss

Another week and another loss for the New York Giants, who for the second week in a row, failed to finish a game in which they otherwise held their own.

This latest heartbreaker,, a 24-20 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, saw the Giants once again fail to respond to adversity, this time being the big Eli Manning fumble deep in Atlanta territory that the Falcons recovered and converted into the first of two late-game touchdowns. 

The Giants? The effort was there, but as has been the case so many times it seems, seemed to have the wind taken from their sails when things went wrong, a rather alarming trend that is emerging this early in the regular season.

That’s just one of the things we learned from this week’s loss: The Giants continue to struggle with bouncing back from in-game adversity and in fact end up sabotaging their efforts.

Flip the screens, if you have the stomach to do so, to read about some other things we learned from this latest heartbreaker.

The Giants Missed TE Daniel Fells

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It’s saying a lot when one points to a journeyman tight end’s absence as being felt, but the fact remains that Fells is one of the Giants’ best blockers. His absence on Sunday left Larry Donnell, and Jerome Cunningham to help with the run blocking, and let’s just say the results weren’t very pretty. 

According to the NFL gamebook, the Giants had six runs go for zero or negative yardage. Of those, four went to the right side where Fells’ blocking might very well have made a difference.

If that’s not bad enough, the loss of yardage really put the Giants in tight spots.

For example, a Shane Vereen run on 1st-and-10 to the right end resulted in a loss of six yards, making it 2nd-and-16.

Also, a Rashad Jennings run off the right tackle netted zero yards, thus creating a 3rd-and-long situation.

Right now the Giants can’t afford to be in long-yardage situations on second and third downs, yet their inability to run the ball with any consistency is a big reason why this offense is having some struggles.

WR Preston Parker Needs to Sit

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Everyone has a bad game once in a while—anyone remember how Justin Pugh once gave up multiple sacks to Carolina’s Charles Johnson?

However, when you keep letting your team down, such as what happened this week with receiver Preston Parker who had another key drop late in the game that, had he caught, might have made a difference, it’s time to stop chalking up the past struggles as an anomaly.

This week Parker caught three out of his six pass targets, but his key drop late in the game on fourth down on a pass that, while thrown low, was still catchable, hurt. When a player keeps coming up small in big situations, it’s time to go in another direction.

The Running Game Is Still Struggling

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

Take away the 35-yard run by Andre Williams and not only did the Giants end up rushing for 54 yards on 22 carries (2.4 yards per rush), their leading rusher would have ended up as—wait for it—quarterback Eli Manning, who ran for 23 yards on two scrambles.

The problem with the Giants’ running game, besides the fact that the coaches continue to stick with the one-two punch of Rashad Jennings and Williams instead of the more explosive tandem of Shane Vereen and Orleans Darkwa, is that they can’t run the ball to the right side of the line with any consistency.

When you factor into the mix that left tackle Ereck Flowers is iffy for the next game, thanks to an injury situation, that just doesn’t bode well for a running game that needs to have runners on the field with good vision and the ability to hit the tiniest of creases that are there.

The Play-Calling Was Somewhat Predictable

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

For much of the game, it seemed that every time quarterback Eli Manning lined up directly over center, the play was a run; whereas every time he was in the shotgun, it was a pass.

If the casual observer could pick that up, did the Giants think the Falcons coaches weren’t spotting that?

What’s more if the Falcons knew a run was coming based on where Manning was lining up, that meant they could bring their safeties in closer to help muck up the inside running lanes and force Jennings and Williams, both of whom don’t really have the foot speed of a Shane Vereen, to try to bounce things outside.

What happened was further predictable as the Falcons strung out those outside runs, limiting Jennings and Williams to minimal yardage. 

Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.