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The New York Giants are 0-4 to start the 2020 season and their hopes for a possible postseason berth are pretty much dead as only one team in NFL history (the 1992 San Diego Chargers) has ever overcome an 0-4 start to qualify for the playoffs.
That does not have them down, however. Their 17-9 loss to the Rams in Los Angeles on Sunday in front of a large television audience was encouraging. They showed fight and did not embarrass themselves.
The defense held the Rams to 240 yards of total offense, 58 on the ground, and appears to be coming together despite missing starting safety Jabrill Peppers.
“I love the way our defense is playing right now,” head coach Joe Judge aid after the game. “Obviously third downs has a big emphasis for us as a team, they improved on that today. You know, they’ve been a good early down defense as well. I like the way our front plays, our backends are improving on a weekly basis. We have good energy. We’re getting great communication across the board thing. I think Pat (Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham) and his staff are doing a great job calling this right here. I’m proud of the way the guys work every week to improve and get better and I like the way they fought today.”
It was the offense, however, that did the Giants in again. They just can’t seem to score. For the second straight week they were held out of the end zone, going 0-4 in the red zone, including a drive-killing interception on the five-yard line with less than a minute to play. They are averaging an NFL-low 11.75 points per game.
“Offensively, I like some of the things you saw down the stretch,” said Judge. “We have to get the ball to the end zone more, but we just have to keep pushing on forward, keep making corrections and adjustments, and getting better as you go down the stretch.”
The Giants came into the game averaging 56.6 yards per game on the ground and rushed for 136 against the Rams, but the passing game was filled with short dump offs and what looked like a truncated route tree. The longest pass play was a 33-yard catch and run by Darius Slayton on a crossing pattern.
But encouraging signs reared their head in this game. The offensive line fought hard and the communication appears to be improving. Center Nick Gates showed leadership and toughness by battling with several Rams defenders, most notably All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
“Just got to keep fighting, keep going, keep protecting for (Daniel) and running the ball, and just keep moving the ball down the field and giving us an opportunity to score,” Gates said after the game. “We shot ourselves in the foot a couple times when we got to the red zone with a couple of penalties, and it kind of hurts you when you’re down there, so we’ve just got to eliminate those and we’ve just got to play better.”
It looks like they might have begun doing that.
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