Giants Squander 21
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Giants' season may already have been lost, but they were forced to endure another indignity Sunday.
They blew a three-touchdown lead and fell to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 25-24, on a 43-yard field goal by Josh Scobee with 28 seconds to play. Fittingly, the Giants' loss - their seventh straight - was sealed by a sack of Eli Manning, who fumbled and allowed the Jaguars to celebrate only their second victory of the season.
For the Giants (3-9), who needed only to coast through the second half at EverBank Field, the game featured a shocking reversal of momentum. Jacksonville stormed back with two defensive touchdowns and a Blake Bortles scoring pass.
'I'm not saying we gave up,' left tackle Will Beatty said. 'We've just got to find ways to finish these close games. You would have thought it was the second team that came out there in the second half.'
The Giants appeared to be saved by a 33-yard Josh Brown field goal with 3 minutes 26 seconds to play. But Bortles led the Jaguars into field-goal range with a 21-yard scramble to the Giants' 25-yard line, and Scobee delivered the winning kick.
The Jaguars had rallied to take a 22-21 lead with 12:56 remaining. On the Giants' second offensive play of the third quarter, Manning was drilled at the 8-yard line by linebacker Geno Hayes, and the ball bounced backward toward the goal line. J. T. Thomas outmaneuvered two Giants to recover the fumble in the end zone and cut the Jaguars' deficit to 21-10.
Bortles provided more hope with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Marqise Lee, whose route involved simply sprinting past cornerback Zack Bowman, and the Jaguars seized the lead early in the fourth quarter on an Aaron Colvin fumble return. Larry Donnell, upended by Johnathan Cyprien, had lost the ball as he flipped, landing on his head and giving Jacksonville an opportunity to score a second defensive touchdown in a game for the first time in franchise history.
The Giants seemed to have cured most of their ailments in the first half. After punting on their first possession, the Giants looked nearly flawless while scoring touchdowns on their next three.
The first of those drives was the team's longest of the season, a 19-play, 91-yard masterpiece that took 9:51 and ended on the first play of the second quarter as Rashad Jennings scored on a 2-yard run.
The Giants converted on third down on four occasions on that possession and were so confident in running the ball that Jennings carried 12 times, including the last five plays.
Manning spurred the next drive with a 32-yard pass to Donnell that put the Giants at the 2-yard line. A false start penalty pushed them back, but Manning connected with Preston Parker for a 3-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
The Giants kept clicking, and Jennings scored again, ripping off a 17-yard run after Manning turned and casually flipped the ball back to him.
Defensively, things looked just as effortless. The Jaguars had only one possession and ran only three offensive plays, for 9 yards, in the first quarter. The Jaguars did not record a first down until there was 5:37 left in the second quarter, and the crowd let out a loud, sarcastic cheer to celebrate the moment.
Manning was rarely under duress, completing 15 of 19 passes for 177 yards and compiling a passer rating of 123 in the first half. Jennings had 65 yards on 19 carries, and an offensive line plagued by injuries held together even after right tackle Geoff Schwartz was lost early, having hurt his ankle.
But this has been a tough season for the Giants, and the Jaguars apparently believed they could win no matter how badly the game, and their season, had turned against them.
They were right.
Post a Comment for "Giants Squander 21"