Giants Finish Preseason 1-3: The Giants lost their third preseason game in a row, falling to the New England Patriots 38-27 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts on Thursday night. The Giants finished the preseason with a 1-3 record.
Playing against backups for New England, the Giants’ starters looked good early, as should be expected, and had a 21-0 advantage after the first quarter.
The Giants received the ball to start the game and drove 73 yards in five plays to take a 7-0 lead on QB Eli Manning’s 23-yard touchdown pass to WR Sinorice Moss. Other than the touchdown, the big play on the drive was a 44-yard pass from Manning to TE Kevin Boss.
“I thought we did well,” Manning said. “They told me I was only going to have one series, so I wanted to make the most of it. We did what we wanted to do in getting off to a great start. We hit Boss down the middle for a big gain, then hit him with another pass and then the touchdown to Sinorice. We were efficient and effective as a first unit. That’s what you want to see in the fourth preseason game. As an offense, we wanted to come out, be efficient, move the ball and get into the end zone. We did a good job of that tonight.”
The Giants’ defense forced a three-and-out, highlighted by a 5-yard sack by CB Terrell Thomas. With Manning now out of the game, the Giants drove 57 yards in four plays to take a 14-0 advantage. QB David Carr first hit WR Domenik Hixon for 38 yards. Three plays later, Carr found Moss from 12 yards out and Moss’ second touchdown of the game.
Again the Giants’ defense forced a three-and-out with DE Justin Tuck sacking the backup New England quarterback on 3rd-and-4. Carr and the Giants struck quickly. Carr hit WR Mario Manningham for 16 yards and then two plays later found WR Hakeem Nicks for a 64-yard touchdown catch and run. Giants 21 – New England 0.
“The first team defense did well,” said LB Antonio Pierce. “We had six plays, two three-and-outs, negative yardage and two sacks. That’s a great way to go into the regular season. We need to get all our guys back healthy and get ready to go for a great regular season.”
“We wanted to get off to a fast start offensively and we did that with the first drive,” said OC Shaun O’Hara. “The one thing we talked about all week was getting the big plays. We got a few of those tonight with the receivers doing a good job. We had good tempo coming out, and we were aggressive. We’ve also been talking a lot about taking care of the football and not having any turnovers, and the first and second unit did a nice job of that tonight.”
The Giants’ defense forced their third three-and-out of the game as New England failed to pick up a first down in the first quarter. The Giants accrued two first downs on their fourth drive, but were forced to punt near midfield. New England then picked up a couple of first downs of their own and then punted.
The ugly preseason for Andre’ Woodson, the Giants’ third-string quarterback, continued on the Giants’ fifth drive as Woodson’s third pass was intercepted and returned 27 yards for a touchdown. After the score, Woodson did hit Manningham for a 35-yard gain on 3rd-and-11, but the drive stalled near midfield when Woodson was sacked on 3rd-and-5.
The Giants’ defense forced another three-and-out. The Giants’ offense then moved the ball 22 yards in six plays to set up a successful 46-yard field goal by PK Lawrence Tynes. Giants 24 – Patriots 7.
At this point in the game, with less than two minutes in the first half, the game dramatically shifted in New England’s favor as Giants’ third- and fourth-teamers looked largely helpless against the Patriots’ backups.
After Tynes’ field goal, New England returned the ensuing kickoff 49 yards and Tynes was also flagged for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on the play. Four plays and 33 yards later, New England scored to cut the Giants’ lead to 24-14 at the half.
In the second half, it was all Patriots as New England put up 10 points in the third quarter and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Giants only managed one field goal, from 25 yards out. The New England scoring drives went for 79 yards in 12 plays (touchdown), 58 yards in 9 plays (field goal), 80 yards in 10 plays (touchdown), and 64 yards in 6 plays (touchdown).
Final score…New England 38 – Giants 27.
Highlights of the game are available at NFL.com.
Injury Report: CB Terrell Thomas left the game with a neck injury but x-rays were negative. WR Hakeem Nicks (hip flexor), OC Adam Koets (ankle), DT Jeremy Clark (ankle), and S Sha’reff Rashad (leg) left the game with injures as well.
Post-Game Notes: The Giants’ game captains were QB David Carr, LS Zak DeOssie, LB Jonathan Goff, OC Adam Koets, and DE Dave Tollefson.
Not playing against the Patriots were HB Danny Ware (ribs), WR David Tyree (hamstring), LT David Diehl (knee), OT Guy Whimper (hip flexor), DT Jay Alford (knee), DT/DE Chris Canty (hamstring), LB Michael Boley (hip), CB Aaron Ross (hamstring), S Kenny Phillips (knee).
MLB Antonio Pierce (foot) played after missing the previous two preseason games. Rookie William Beatty started at left tackle for Diehl. Kevin Dockery and Terrell Thomas started at cornerback. C.C. Brown started at strong safety for Phillips. Chase Blackburn started at weakside linebacker.