New York Giants: Justin Tuck's Return Won't Cure the Anemic Offense

Rex Grossman made the Giants look bad. 

Hold on for a second and let that sink in. 

It would be easy to come up with the excuse that the Giants' All-Pro tandem on the ends was in street clothes; the secondary was decimated by injuries; Grossman called up the aliens from Space Jam and stole Peyton Manning's powers (seriously though, I think I might be on to something).

But if these are the excuses after the first week, it's going to be a long season. So, rather than make the aforementioned excuses for the team that did not seem to have any idea what was going on in the second half, I'm going to take it upon myself to assign blame.

No need to thank me. 

The area of the team I take issue with for this loss is the one who is tasked with moving the ball down the field, not preventing the opponent from doing so. Offensively, the Giants would have been better off not even taking to the field in the second half. Eli Manning was atrocious, highlighting a lackluster performance with a pick-six to rookie Ryan Kerrigan. This was "not his fault," although that excuse is getting old for all of you announcers and analysts.

In truth, this loss wasn't all on Manning, as he was constantly scrambling without even the luxury of a blitz leaving someone open for a potential big gain. The Tom Brady's of the world never seem to need that excuse though; I wonder why that is.

Hakeem Nicks had one nice play, a 68-yard grab that set up a rare Manning run into the endzone, but past that he was largely ineffective.

One of the lone bright spots in the game was the strip sack by Jason Pierre-Paul that seemingly set up the Giants to tie the game and swing momentum. The defense, as depleted as it was, tried to put the offense on its shoulders and will them back. Manning and Co. promptly responded with a three-and-out, and the Lawrence Tynes field goal attempt was blocked.

It is easy to say when the defense is put back together as much as it can be, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Prince Amukamara could buoy the defense quite a bit. Unfortunately, this is not a legendary defense that can win games in spite of the offense.

This is the easy part of the schedule for the G-Men, and past the Eagles two weeks, there is no reason the Giants should have another defeat until they take on the Patriots in Week 9. From that point on, the schedule is downright scary—see for yourself.

If Manning cannot make this offense into something serviceable, and do it fast, this Giants team could very well be taking one of the best players in the 2012 draft.