Eli Manning: Grading the Giants QB's solid performance vs. CowboysQuote
ARLINGTON, Texas -- It has to be troubling to coach Tom Coughlin that quarterback Eli Manning played as well as he did against Dallas, yet the Giants still lost by double digits.
Looking nothing like the shellshocked version of himself that was battered around by the Philadelphia Eagles defense last week, Manning was quick and decisive in the pocket and led some sharp scoring drives, particularly in the first half, that kept the Giants in the game.
In fact, one could argue that the only bad thing that Manning did was hand the ball off, as the sputtering rush offense once again failed to consistently gain yardage, which he acknowledged in his postgame interview.
"You have to give [the Cowboys defense] credit for making some plays," Manning said. "We didn't run the ball very well, besides for one good run on our first touchdown drive by Andre [Williams]."
Giants lack of pass rush key in loss to Cowboys NJ.com Giants beat writers Jordan Raanan and Nick Powell discuss how the Giants defensive line and its lack of a significant pass rush was key to the Dallas Cowboys victory Sunday afternoon in Texas.
The big question for the Giants offense is whether they want to have Manning shoulder a bigger load with the ground game faring poorly in Rashad Jennings' absence. Judging by Sunday's performance, Manning certainly looked capable of doing more than he was asked to do.
Stats: 21-of-33 passing, 248 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions. Also one rush for 11 yards.
Pros: This was Manning's first game without one of his favorite targets in slot receiver Victor Cruz, so it had to be encouraging that Manning kept the passing offense humming without arguably his top playmaker.
"Obviously [Cruz] is a tremendous player and been a great player for us, but I thought the guys did well," Manning said.
Most notably, Manning got the tight ends more involved in the passing attack. After a couple of quiet games from tight end Larry Donnell, Manning targeted him seven times against Dallas, completing all seven. Donnell had a tough game with two fumbles at critical moments, but also made some big plays on third-and-long, which is exactly when Manning should be looking for him. Manning was also helped out on a huge touchdown catch by Daniel Fells, who snagged an off-target pass in a tight window.
Manning also utilized his outside receivers well, throwing to Rueben Randle when he needed to move the sticks, and looking for Beckham when the team needed a big play. Beckham, in particular, seems to be developing a nice chemistry with Manning, hauling in two touchdown catches. There's also a significant difference in the trust between Randle and Manning in recent weeks. He's become his go-to target.
The primary difference between the Manning we saw in Philadelphia and the Manning we saw in Dallas was his decisiveness in getting rid of the ball quickly to compensate for his offensive line's pass protection issues. Rarely did Manning hold onto the ball too long, taking no sacks, and doing everything he could to sustain drives, even scrambling for 11 yards on one play, a rare sight for the cement-footed quarterback. His line also deserves credit for a solid outing.
Cons: We are nitpicking here, since Manning played well, but the Giants continue to have issues on screen passes.
The timing between Manning, his receivers and offensive line is off. The Giants failed to complete at least three screens, even a slip screen to Beckham. That's supposed to be an easy money completion. It was not. Adding the screen pass as a key element to the offense could play a big role in mitigating the offensive line's pass protection struggles if the Giants need to ditch the run, which one could argue they should have done earlier on Sunday.
Another element missing from Manning's game this season is the deep ball. He passed up a couple of opportunities against the Cowboys to hit Beckham on the outside on plays that could have gone for big gains. Beckham is the one true deep threat on the roster, so it behooves Manning to figure out as many ways as possible to get the ball into his hands.
Grade: B+
Manning played a strong game. He should not shoulder much responsibility for the fact that the Giants could not find ways to sustain drives, as he was victimized by some questionable play-calling (before Manning's third touchdown drive, the Giants had a 22/24 pass-run ratio) and some key turnovers by Donnell. So his grade against the Cowboys does not suffer for it. The only thing that kept Manning from an A was going home with another loss against a divisional rival.
http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2014/10/eli_manning_grading_the_giants_qbs_performance_vs_cowboys.html#incart_riverSums it up very well.
Eli was flawless yesterday aside from that one high ball he threw to Randle that went through his hands.
I always expect greatness from Eli so I'm not the least big surprised how well he's playing. It sucks that we keep losing so we can't even take much satisfaction in it.
We're wasting the second half of Eli's career with the way the O-line and defense is playing
... even still Eli can overcome a bad defense but you can't overcome two fumbles, constant penalties, dropped passes on key 3rd downs(Randle) .... it just sucks that we didn't have Jennings/Cruz for these games. And a healthy DRC I think we win against Dallas. He keeps coming out early in the games and going to the locker room.
I think we need to rest Beason until he is 100%. I LOVE McClain... not much of a drop off.