david dieHl - New York Giants

Ravens’ looks leave Giants’ offense looking bad
By Jorge Castillo
The Star-Ledger
Dec. 23, 2012
BALTIMORE — The pass wasn’t the prettiest. The ball wobbled 43 yards in the air, underthrown
to its intended target. But Rueben Randle made the necessary adjustment on Eli Manning’s
throw. The Giants' rookie wide receiver came back for the ball and made the leaping catch for
43 yards on the first play of the Giants' third drive against the Ravens Sunday.
Already down 14-0 after two three-and-outs to begin the game, it was the type of play that has
sparked the Giants offense in the past — big pass plays leading to quick scores. It appeared to
be the case again; four plays later, David Wilson was backflipping after a 14-yard touchdown to
cut the Ravens’ lead to a score.
"We thought that was something that would get us going a little bit and right after David Wilson
scored and we thought we were going to get the ball rolling," wide receiver Victor Cruz said.
But they didn't. Unlike last season, when Victor Cruz's 99-yard touchdown ignited a Christmas
Eve comeback win over the Jets that coach Tom Coughlin credits for turning around the Giants'
season on the way to winning another Super Bowl, the Giants couldn't sustain the production.
The 43-yard play ended up accounting for nearly one-third of Manning's 150 passing yards as
the Giants offense sputtered again in another blowout loss, this one to a reeling Baltimore team,
33-14. It was just the Giants' 23rd pass play for 30 or more yards this season. Three have gone
for touchdowns.
"Today we couldn’t get anything going," said Manning, who finished 14-of-28 with a
meaningless touchdown in the fourth quarter. "The Ravens did a very good job on defense. They
put a lot of pressure on me, and they gave us a lot of different looks. They made it hard for us.
It’s one thing to lose. Sometimes you lose at the end of the game, but we didn’t even give
ourselves a chance today. We had no momentum, no spark."
Manning was under duress for much of the game. The Giants entered yesterday having allowed
an NFL-low 16 sacks on the season, but Manning was sacked three times for a loss of 31 yards
and hit six other times.
The pressure was the product of the Giants’ inability to move the ball on first and second down,
forcing obvious passing situations on third-and-long. The Giants finished 2-for-10 on third down.
"The different looks they were throwing at us was a problem," said running back Ahmad
Bradshaw, who allowed rookie Omar Brown go untouched on a blitz for a 9-yard sack.
Unable to find a rhythm, Manning threw much of his passes after eluding pressure and was
rarely given enough time to throw comfortably to the two targets that have so often produced
the key big plays.