Giants practically beg to clean house in unimaginable collapse
These are the sort of games — non-competitive and flat-out embarrassing — that get people fired.
These are the sights — rows and rows of empty gray seats — that get people fired.
These are the sounds — boos, jeers, followed by ominous silence — that trigger regime changes.
After days like this, it is incomprehensible to think that if this continues, Giants ownership will come to any conclusion other than blowing up its entire football operation. Losing is one thing — the Giants are remarkably proficient in the art of losing. Public humiliation in your building, in front of your loyal fans and paying customers, well, that is something else.
“Embarrassing isn’t a word I would use,’’ Ben McAdoo said, straight-faced. “We’re disappointed.’’
Disappointed is when the pizza you ordered arrives cold. What the Giants experienced on a dreary Sunday afternoon was, if not embarrassing, then humiliating. They played as if they wanted to be anywhere other than MetLife Stadium. They played as if they want their head coach and his entire staff fired. They played as if they want general manager Jerry Reese gone. They played as if they did not care, and they played as if they did not have the wherewithal to compete at a respectable level. They played as if they had no regard for those who decided to actually attend a game that pitted a team on the rise against a team in disarray.
In one of the worst displays in franchise history, the Giants were beaten by the Rams 51-17, and it was even sadder than that. The Giants, well-rested coming off their bye week, might as well have stayed away and taken a forfeit. It would have been less painful. In the closing minutes, the announced crowd of 76,877 had long-since cleared out, leaving Rams fans and a few diehards to jeer as Eli Manning was mercifully lifted and replaced by Geno Smith.
“It’s embarrassing, especially on our home field like that,’’ running back Orleans Darkwa said. “We don’t want to perform like that.’’
This was not as bad as it gets, but it was close. The 34-point loss was the worst for the Giants since a 38-0 thrashing in Carolina in 2013. It was the most one-sided home loss in 19 years, since a 37-3 beatdown by the Packers in 1998.
The last time the Giants allowed more points in a home game was 53 years ago in a 52-20 loss to the Browns back on Dec. 12, 1964.
“It’s terrible,’’ Jason Pierre-Paul said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had 51 points put on me ever in my career.’’
The Giants are 1-7 overall and 0-4 at home and, in the ultimate indignity, they allowed one of the most remarkable touchdowns you will ever see. Heck, the Rams weren’t even trying to score when on third-and-33 — yes, you read that right — from the Rams’ 48-yard line, Jared Goff looked to get a few yards with a screen pass. Robert Woods caught the quick pass 2 yards off the line of scrimmage and the Giants acted as if he had the plague. No one wanted to get near him. Landon Collins took a bad angle and rookie linebacker Calvin Munson overran the play, and just like that, Woods was sprinting 52 yards for a touchdown to put the Rams ahead 17-7 in the second quarter.
“It was third-and-long, third-and-forever, pretty much,’’ Woods said.
“Third-and-long, you’re in a defense that calls for you to protect that and he just busts it wide open? Man, that’s frustrating,’’ Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said. “Devastating, really. That hurts. That’s tough. That’s crazy.’’
Goff, the second-year quarterback, brutalized the ridiculously porous Giants defense, throwing for a career-high four touchdowns and a career-high 311 yards. And he needed only 22 passing attempts. He also had a 67-yard scoring pass to an incredibly open Sammy Watkins in the second quarter, with Collins trailing so badly that afterward he and Eli Apple engaged in a conversation that probably went something like this: “I thought you had him.’’
Manning committed two of the Giants’ three first-half turnovers. Getting sacked by the great Aaron Donald is one thing, but Manning continues to lose his grip on contact and the first offensive series ended with a fumble. Four plays later, Tyler Higbee became the eighth different tight end this season to score a touchdown on the Giants.
Manning threw a touchdown pass to Tavarres King to make it 7-7. By the time Manning connected with rookie tight end Evan Engram on a fourth-quarter scoring pass, all it did was cut the deficit to 48-17.
The Giants played without suspended cornerback Janoris Jenkins and injured starters Olivier Vernon, Jonathan Casillas and B.J. Goodson.
“We lost some guys,’’ Collins said, “but I didn’t think it was gonna be this bad, though.’’
No one did.
“I don’t think guys laid down,’’ Rodgers-Cromartie said. “It just went bad. Like quicksand, man, you go out here, you keep trying to fight but you keep sinking.’’