GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The plays were there to be made early in Sunday's 38-13 loss to Green Bay. The New York Giants’ playmakers just didn’t make them, especially in the first quarter. You can't waste those kind of opportunities when playing against quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who finished with four touchdown passes and no interceptions.
Ultimately, a Giants offense that never put it together for a full game (they failed to score 30 points in any of their 17 contests) bit them in the playoffs. It was inevitable. It didn’t matter how well the defense was playing; the unit was going to need some help along the way. Nothing we had seen in the regular season said the Giants were capable of getting it done against a good team on the road in the postseason.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Giants didn’t reach 20 points in any of their final six games. That just wasn’t going to cut it on the road, in the playoffs against quality competition -- and especially not when the Giants were victimized by a fluky Hail Mary at the end of the first half.
The Giants needed better from their offense, beginning with quarterback Eli Manning and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who had a pair of key early drops. One would have been for a touchdown and given the Giants an early cushion.
Instead, they settled for a field goal. Manning finished 23-of-44 passing for 299 yards with one touchdown and a fumble.
It was the same old, same old from this Giants offense, which didn’t get in the end zone until late in the third quarter when an unsuspecting Tavarres King scored his first career touchdown. His 41-yard strike put the Giants back in the game, but it wasn't anywhere near enough. Once Rodgers got going, Manning and the Giants couldn't match.
They never ran the ball well enough. They rarely protected Manning enough. Their quarterback failed to make enough plays, and even Beckham (for all his brilliance) had too many lapses of concentration and episodes that proved to be distractions. His first playoff game wasn't his finest moment.
Beckham had seven drops in the regular season and at least two (maybe more depending on who is counting) on Sunday. He had four the previous season, when the Giants offense performed at a much higher level. It was undoubtedly their Achilles' heel this season and again in Green Bay.
"Yeah, we just didn't score enough," Manning said. "Teams were doubling Odell, wasn't surprising, we kind of knew that and tried to create ways to get him the ball."
The party boat in Miami early last week will undoubtedly be brought into question given Beckham's subpar performance. Rightly so; the Giants receivers put themselves in that position.
Beckham was limited to 28 yards on four catches despite 11 targets in his first playoff game. It tied for the second-lowest output of his career.
But really, this is who everybody thought the Giants were for the entirety of the 2016 season: a team relying too much on its defense. That was almost always apparent, and especially when facing a quality opponent on the road.
The Giants were a mistake-plagued group that just wasn’t good enough to compete for a Super Bowl. They ranked 25th at 19.4 points per game.
Only San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, the Jets, Cleveland and the Rams were worse. None of those teams are competing for a Super Bowl.
As it turned out, the Giants weren’t, either, with their underachieving offense.