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The New York Giants lost the Los Angeles Chargers, 27-22, Sunday afternoon in the Giants fifth regular-season game. The Giants are 0-5.
Odell Beckham Jr. left the game with 4:00 to go with a fracture in his left ankle. Brandon Marshall, Sterling Shepard and Dwayne Harris (fractured foot) were also injured. The Giants finished the game with only one healthy wide receiver, Roger Lewis Jr.
Orleans Darkwa got his first start at running back, rushing for 69 yards on eight carries, including a 23-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
Eli Manning was 21-of-36 passing for 225 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Where do the Giants go from here?
“You just keep working. You look in the mirror. You learn a lot about yourself in times like these,” said coach Ben McAdoo. “So, you’ve got to work for yourself, work for your teammates. We’re all pros – this is what we get paid to do. We get paid to win, not just compete. So, we’ve got to find a way to win.”
Moments That Mattered
Olivier Vernon was inactive for this game with an ankle injury. He knelt during the National Anthem prior to the game, the third straight week he has done so.
The Giants inserted D.J. Fluker at right guard on their third offensive series, and shouldn’t regret it. He had big blocks on two of Darkwa’s long runs.
The Giants jumped out to an early 9-0 lead. Philip Rivers wasn’t paying attention as the snap hit him in the chest and was batted out of the back of the end zone for a safety. The Giants followed up the safety with a Darkwa 23-yard touchdown run.
Down 10-9 in the third quarter, the Charges had the ball inside the Giants red zone. Rivers was picked off by Big Blue safety Darian Thompson in the end zone. That was the Giants’ first interception of the season.
On the play following the Beckham injury, Eli Manning was sacked. When he rolled over a Chargers defender before hitting the ground the ball popped up and Los Angeles recovered at the Giants’ 11-yard line. Three plays later Rivers hit Melvin Gordon for the game-winning touchdown, a 10-yard catch-and-run.
“Watch the play. Eli goes down, he has the ball secure and he lands on top of the guy. That’s just a freak play,” said Giants offensive lineman Justin Pugh. “The game just went away today. There’s no question that we did some good things, we still lost.”
The Giants had one last gasp, but Manning was intercepted on fourth-and-10 from the Chargers’ 48-yard line with 49 seconds to play.
What’s next?
The Giants will play in their sixth regular season game on Oct. 15, when they will head to Denver to take on the Broncos on Sunday Night Football. The game can be seen on NBC at 8:30 p.m. EST.
NOTE: Be sure to check out Dan Berkman’s post-game Facebook Live session.