Giants lose to the Rams 26-25

"The game started out with the Rams offense showing no respect for the Giants. They moved the ball downfield on the opening drive to the Giants 21 yard line. Facing a 4th-and-3, and instead of kicking an easy field goal, they went for it and failed. The Rams did do better on their next drive scoring a touchdown, and they added another before the end of the half. During that time though, safety Dane Belton intercepted one of Matthew Stafford's deepest passes, and on another, cornerback Adoree' Jackson caused Stafford's receiver to fumble the ball, and it was recovered by Belton.
It was the Giants offense that wasn't doing its part. After going three-and-out on their first drive, wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson finished off the next with a 24-yard touchdown run. After the Giants went three-and-out on their next drive, they were gifted the ball by their defensive unit's interception. Four plays later, they turned the ball back to the Rams when Tyrod Taylor fumbled the snapped ball on their fourth-and-1 attempt.
That gave the Giants defense a minute and a half before they were back on the field on their own 46-yard line, which led to the Rams second touchdown. Two plays later, the defense was back again, after Taylor's pass, intended for Darius Slayton, was intercepted. They rose to the challenge, coming up with that fumble recovery on the Rams first play.
It was near the close of the half, and I was hoping the Giants would be able to come up with some points from the Rams 43-yard line. It looked good when they got down to the 27-yard line for a field goal, but it was blocked! Before I could get to feeling too down though, the refs called a penalty on the defense for leaping. The Giants made good on their next try, and somehow with all the craziness, the Rams had just a 14-10 lead.
They extended that lead, scoring a touchdown on their first possession in the third quarter. The Giants sacked Stafford on the Rams next drive, but a real long punt had the Giants starting on their own 9-yard line. Taylor took care of that problem with a deep pass that Darius Slayton caught for an 80-yard touchdown. That was fantastic to see, with the only downside being a failed extra point attempt, so the score was 20-16.
The Giants got another chance a few plays later, when Belton intercepted another pass and took it to the Rams 34 yard line. The offense got past a 4th-and-1, and then down to the Rams 10 yard line, but a holding penalty pushed them back. They subsequently kicked a field goal to trail by one point, 20-19. The Rams came right back at the Giants, aided by two big plays and a defensive holding penalty, and scored a touchdown. They also missed on their extra point.
Taylor completed a few nice passes on the next drive, getting past being sacked once and overcoming a holding penalty, but on a 4th-and-1, his pass to Jalin Hyatt lost a yard. The defense held the Rams to a 3-and-out, but the Giants didn't get far before they had to punt. With less than five minutes left to play, things didn't look good, but another sack on Stafford had the Rams punting the ball back, and I couldn't believe what happened next. It was caught by Gunner Olszewski, who got past everyone for a touchdown.
The Giants had a tie score at hand and were headed into overtime, but they blew that choice and lost the game by going for two to try to take the lead. It looked good at first when Barkley was in the clear, but Taylor tossed the ball too short for him to catch. I didn't think the Giants would get another chance, but the two minute warning, and another sack on Stafford got my hopes up. With just over a minute to play, I saw Barkley drop an easy pass, but then Taylor next scrambled for 31 yards to the Rams 34-yard line.
Taylor wisely spiked the ball to kill the clock. Barkley lost two yards on the next play, and I was surprised that the Rams called a timeout. With only 37 seconds left, that gave the Giants a chance to figure out a good third down play before attempting a field goal to win this game. They didn't as Taylor's pass to Robinson was incomplete, and Crosby's 54-yard field goal was no good. There were a lot of ups and downs in this game, and I was very disappointed thinking about the downs that could have been avoided."

"Tyrod Taylor was the starting quarterback for this game instead of Tommy DeVito, who was benched after the the first half last week against the Eagles. As usual the offensive line provided poor pass protection. In between taking 3 sacks, Taylor scrambled enough to complete 12 of his 16 passes in the first half, though one of them was an interception on a deep pass to Darius Slayton.
You would think they'd want to get the ball in the hands of Saquon Barkley as much as possible, but by the end of the first half Barkley had only 3 carries for 20 yards, and 1 catch for 6 yards
Despite that, the Giants were trailing by just four points thanks to a 24-yard touchdown run on a reverse from wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson, and a 31 yard field goal by Mason Crosby.
By the end of the game Taylor had thrown 41 passes, completing 27 for 319 yards. One was an 80-yard touchdown pass to Slayton. Aside from that, the offense scored on a field goal by Crosby in the fourth quarter. It was Gunner Olszewski who gave the Giants some hope with his breakaway 94 yard punt return for a touchdown. Taylor took three more sacks in this half, and ended up being the leading rusher, with 6 carries for 40 yards. Taylor and Barkley were not on the same page for two sure passes that became incompletions. One of them cost the Giants the two point conversion they needed to take the lead over the Rams, with three and a half minutes left in the game. Barkley finished with 43 catches for 19 yards, and had 12 carries for 39 yards.
The defense held the Rams scoring down to 26 points, aided by safety Dane Belton's two interceptions, and his fumble recovery. Belton doesn't see the field much, but starter Jason Pinnock was out earlier in the game. The defense also had 4 sacks on Matthew Stafford, but there were mistakes.
Cornerback Adoree' Jackson caused the fumble that Belton recovered, but he also made a poor tackle attempt on Puka Nacua near the sidelines, allowing the Rams receiver to run 80 yards down the field to the Giants two yard line. The Rams scored a touchdown on their next play, putting them up by ten points early in the third quarter. The Giants had many opportunities in this game, but poor tackling, penalties and some coaching decisions had them take a 26-25 loss to the Rams. Once again the Giants put up a good fight, but it just wasn't enough. They'll get a chance to show if they can improve on their performance when they host the Eagles in the final game of the season."

[Back to Team 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