Sept 12,
4:25 PM Broncos at Giants
Game 1 | | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final |
Denver | 0 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 27 |
Giants | 0 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 13 |
Giants
lose to the Broncos 27-13 "I
was excited at the start of the game, but then my hopes faded. When Daniel Jones
handed the ball off to Saquon Barkley on the first play of the game, and he gained
5 yards, I thought he was back, but that wasn't the case. Every run after that
in the first half was for less yardage. Devontae Booker didn't do any better,
though he did have a 6 yard catch on the drive that Jones finished off with a
37 yard touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard. That put the Giants up 7-3. Denver
kept moving the ball on the Giants defense, and they got down to the Giants 10-yard
line. Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater completed a pass, but Logan Ryan caused
his receiver to fumble, and Ryan recovered the ball. With four minutes left
in the quarter, I was hoping the Giants could get something going or at least
close out the half with their lead. They went 3-and-out, and the defense let Bridgewater
complete every one of his passes until his touchdown toss put Denver up 10-7. The
Broncos got the ball to start the third quarter, and even though Bridgewater was
sacked once on the drive, on a 4th-and-1 from the Giants 4-yard line, he completed
a touchdown pass. That gave Denver a 10 point lead. The quarter was more that
halfway over before Jones got his hands on the ball. Once again things started
with an encouraging 5 yard run from Barkley. There were two long passes to Shepard,
and soon the Giants had a first down at the Denver 22 yard line. Jones took off
with the ball, ran a few yards, and fumbled it away. When the Broncos added another
field goal to make it 20-7 in the fourth quarter, it forced the Giants to go for
it when they had a 4th-and-Goal from the Denver 6-yard line. Jones pass to Kenny
Golladay was incomplete. The Giants defense let up one first down before Broncos
running back Melvin Gordon broke free with a 70 yard touchdown run. With four
and a half minutes left, no one was thinking the Giants were going to pull this
one out. Once again the Giants had to go for it on a fourth down, and once
again Jones pass to Golladay was incomplete. Denver killed some time on their
next possession before allowing the Giants a so-what touchdown. Jones had a four
yard run into the endzone on the last play of the game. Not many fans saw that,
and it was sad to see them leave early. They hadn't seen the Giants play first
hand in MetLife stadium for over a year, and were expecting so much more."
"Some
will say it looks like the same old Giants, and after this outing it would be
hard to argue that. It seemed clear that Saquon Barkley was not at full strength,
or that the Giants didn't want to put him to the test. Daniel Jones tried everything
he could, throwing passes to eight different receivers in the first half, looking
for a weak spot. That's quite a lot considering he threw only 12 passes during
that time, and he did complete 9, including a 37 yard touchdown to Sterling Shepard. The
Giants defense made some good plays and held the Broncos to just 10 points, but
they couldn't get them off the field. Teddy Bridgewater was highly effective completing
19 of his 22 passes for 171 yards and 1 touchdown. The Broncos ran 34 plays using
up 19 minutes of clock time. All that, and still the score was 10-7 in Denver's
favor at halftime. The Broncos continued to dominate the clock from the start
of the third quarter when their 16 play drive took over eight minutes, and ended
with a touchdown pass. Then when the Giants offense showed some life, Jones killed
their drive when he scrambled up the middle and fumbled the ball. He wasn't supposed
to make those mistakes any more. The Giants had a shot at that point, but that
squashed their chances. The Giants ended up with a 27-13 loss. Denver went
on to score a field goal and a touchdown, and the Giants scored a touchdown on
Jones run into the endzone. That made him the leading rusher for the Giants with
27 yards. Barkley had 10 carries for 26 yards. Devontae Booker carried the ball
4 times for 7 yards, so the team total was 20 carries for 60 yards against a Denver
team that was ranked 25th against the run last year. Obviously better protection
from the offensive line would have helped the running and passing game. Nate Solder
started at right tackle, his first start since 2019, and Will Hernandez started
for the first time in his career at right guard. You also have to remember that
Barkly was working his way back in after a serious injury. Wide receiver Kenny
Golladay, tight end Kyle Rudolph, and rookie Kadarius Toney, all missed time in
training camp due to injuries. Shepard had a good day catching 7 of Jones
9 passes for 113 yards and 1 touchdown. Darius Slayton's 42 yard catch was the
longest of the day, giving him a total of 65 on 3, and Kenny Golladay caught 4
of 6 for 64 yards. This was the first game of the season, and it looks like the
Giants will need a bit more time to make things work. Time is tricky, because
they will be taking a quick trip to Washington for a Thursday night game."
First Quarter
| NONE |
Second Quarter
| BRONCOS
- FIELD GOAL Play:
Brandon McManus 23 Yd Field Goal Drive info: 15 plays, 62 yards, 8:42 Denver
3-0 GIANTS
- TOUCHDOWN Play:
Sterling Shepard 37 Yd pass from Daniel Jones (Graham Gano Kick) Drive info:
7 plays, 75 yards, 4:22 Giants 7-3 BRONCOS
- TOUCHDOWN Play:
Tim Patrick 2 Yd pass from Teddy Bridgewater (Brandon McManus Kick) Drive
info: 7 plays, 57 yards, 2:17 Denver 10-7 |
Third Quarter |
BRONCOS
- TOUCHDOWN Play:
Albert Okwuegbunam 4 Yd pass from Teddy Bridgewater (Brandon McManus Kick)
Drive info: 16 plays, 75 yards, 8:12 Denver 17-7 |
Fourth Quarter
| BRONCOS
- FIELD GOAL Play:
Brandon McManus 36 Yd Field Goal Drive info: 10 plays, 69 yards, 5:03 Denver
20-7 BRONCOS
- TOUCHDOWN Play:
Melvin Gordon III 70 Yd Run (Brandon McManus Kick) Drive info: 4 plays, 94
yards, 1:48 Denver 27-7 GIANTS
- TOUCHDOWN Play:
Daniel Jones 4 Yd Run Drive info: 8 plays, 64 yards, 1:49 Denver 27-13 |
Notes:
Daniel Jones led the Giants with 27
rushing yards, including a 4 yard touchdown run. Sterling
Shepard has caught at least one pass in 55 consecutive games. Sterling
Shepard had his 10th career 100-yard game. Next
Games:
Sept 18 Giants at Washington Sept
26 Atlanta at Giants
Click
on the Team Giants logo to be informed of all Giants game previews, reviews and
off season football news. Stop
in and visit "Mike's Keys to the Internet" at MikesKeys.com | |
| |