Giants vs. Chargers final score: New York falls, 37-21, to Los Angeles

In their first meeting in four years, the New York Giants fell, 37-21, to the Los Angeles Chargers (7-5) on Sunday afternoon at SoFi Stadium.

New York dropped to 4-9 on the season. Los Angeles dominated the game in all aspects to improve to 8-5 on the season. The loss guarantees a fifth-straight losing season for the Giants.

The Chargers opened the scoring when running back Austin Ekeler rushed for a 1-yard touchdown run at 4:48 in the first quarter to complete a nine-play, 60-yard scoring drive and take a 7-0 lead.

The Giants responded with their strongest drive of the game. Daniel Jones missed his second-straight game with a neck injury, giving backup QB Mike Glennon his second start of the season. Glennon connected with Kyle Rudolph for a 60-yard catch (the longest of his career) to set New York up on the Chargers’ five-yard line. Glennon threw a three-yard touchdown pass to fullback Eli Penny at the top right corner of the end zone at 1:35 in the first quarter to tie the score at seven.

The scoring drive was seven plays for 75 yards and took 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Penny’s TD score was the first Giants touchdown by a running back or wide receiver since Week 7 vs. the Carolina Panthers. Their six touchdowns over the last five games were scored by Evan Engram (2), Kyle Rudolph, Chris Myarick, Andrew Thomas and Xavier McKinney.

The Chargers scored on six of their next eight possessions, including three touchdowns and three field goals.

Los Angeles dominated the third quarter, extending its lead to 30-7 with two field goals. Entering the fourth quarter, Los Angeles had scored 23 unanswered points.

Herbert connected with tight end Jared Cook for a short three-yard touchdown pass at 9:33 in the fourth quarter to make it 37-7.

For the first time since the end of the first quarter, the Giants found the endzone when Glennon threw an 18-yard pass to Barkley with 4:38 left in the game. The two-point conversion failed and the Giants trailed, 37-13. The touchdown was Barkley’s first since Week 4.

Glennon tacked on a TD when he rushed for a 7-yard touchdown with 1:27 left in the game to make the final score 37-21.

Halftime score and stats

The Giants trailed at the half, 24-7. Glennon was 9 of 19 for 112 yards and one touchdown.

The Giants had six first downs and the Chargers had 18. New York recorded 145 yards in the half while Los Angeles recorded 289 yards.

The Chargers controlled the time of possession battle as they held the ball for 18:14 while the Giants had possession for 11:46.

Other first-half takeaways

On the Giants’ opening possession, Saquon Barkley and Devontae Booker set up a fourth-and-two at the 50-yard line. Joe Judge elected not to go for it and punt the ball, but Riley Dixon’s punt bounced inside the end zone. Judge consistently demonstrates his desire to play the field position game but the punts themselves have not helped the Giants gain an advantage in the field position game.

At the end of the first half though, Judge got the type of punt he was looking for earlier in the game. Dixon kicked a 63-yard punt to pin the Chargers’ to within their own 5-yard line with 2:15 left in the first half.

On third-and-6 on the Giants’ second possession, Glennon threw a perfectly placed pass to Darius Slayton, but Slayton dropped the ball. Entering Sunday’s game, Slayton had a 16 percent drop rate, which was second-highest in the league. Prior to Sunday’s matchup, Slayton had caught only 21 of 44 targets for 47.7 percent. The season has been a serious drop-off for Slayton, a 2019 fifth-round draft pick who averaged 49 catches and 745.5 yards in his first two seasons.

Rudolph’s 60-yard catch on the Giants’ scoring drive made up almost half of the entire team’s offense through the first half as New York recorded 145 first-half offensive yards.

The Giants got the ball back with 1:40 left to play in the first half. They managed to put together only a 48-second drive before giving the Chargers back the ball.

On third-and-11, Hebert threw a deep pass over the middle to Jalen Guyton for a 59-yard touchdown score with 25 seconds left in the half that was the highlight of the game. The Giants have now been outscored 59-0 in the first half this season.

Stats

• Mike Glennon was 17 of 36 for 191 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
• Saquon Barkley had 16 rushing attempts for 64 yards. The game was Barkley’s first with 60+ rushing yards since Week 17 of the 2019 season.
• Kyle Rudolph had two receptions for 66 yards.
• Rookie Aaron Robinson led the team with nine tackles, including seven solo.

Injury news

Defensive end Leonard Williams suffered an elbow injury at the beginning of the second quarter and missed the remainder of the game.

Giants inactives

QB Daniel Jones
WR Kadarius Toney
CB Adoree’ Jackson
WR Collin Johnson
OLB Oshane Ximines

What’s next?

The Giants will return home to MetLife Stadium to host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, Dec. 12 at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FOX.