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Giants - Bucs
Mikefan - Gamegirl Reviews

Sept 22, 4:05 PM Giants at Tampa Bay
Game 3
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Giants3715732
Bucs12160331
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Giants win over Tampa Bay 32-31

"All this week I kept reading about how things will change with Daniel Jones running the offense. Well, some things did change. Jones ran for two touchdowns in the game, and I don't think Eli Manning ever did that. Manning did lead the Giants to opening drive touchdowns in their first two games, but while Jones didn't do that, he did engineer a Manning-like fourth quarter comeback. The fireworks started right away in the second half when Jones hit Evan Engram with a pass on the first play of the quarter.
Engram took it 75 yards for a touchdown, and the two point conversion was good. The Giants next drive took a bit longer, but also ended with a touchdown. During it, there was another big pass play, when Jones connected with Darius Slayton for 46 yards. Sterling Shepard finished the drive off with a 7 yard touchdown catch from Jones.
The Giants had been down by 18 points, and now the score was just 28-25 with Tampa Bay still holding a lead. There was no scoring by either team until the Bucs sacked Jones and recovered his fumble. The favorable field position led to a field goal, and put them up by 6 points. When the Giants got the ball back, they went three-and-out.
Then with just about three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Giants knew they needed to score a touchdown on this drive or lose the game. Jones moved the offense down the field, completing long passes to Slayton and Shepard for 21 yards and 36 yards during the process. Then faced with a 4th-and-5 at the Tampa Bay 7, Jones found no better options than to run the ball into the endzone for a touchdown. The Giants were in the lead for the first time in the game, and there was only about a minute left.
Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston had two long passes on this drive. One was a 20 yarder to Chris Godwin, followed up by a 44 yarder to Mike Evans. Evans had been killing the Giants defense, and was responsible for all three touchdowns the Bucs had scored. Tampa Bay had only seconds left when they tried a 34 yard field goal. Luckily, it went wide right, and the Giants had their first win of the season. That's the good news. The bad is that Saquon Barkley was hurt during the game, and was wearing a walking boot at the end. I hope things are not as bad as it looked."

"Eli Manning sat this one out, and Daniel Jones took over as the starting quarterback. The Giants won in the end thanks to the Bucs rookie kicker missing on an easy field goal. Some things to note. The Giants were 5-for-23 on third down in the first two games combined. They were 6-for-13 against the Buccaneers. Somehow they managed this even without Saquon Barkley's help, except for a 3rd-and-4 at the Tampa Bay 26, where Daniel Jones connected with Barkley for a pass that went 19 yards. When Jones tried him again, it was incomplete, and Jones on the next play, ran it in 7 yards for his first touchdown of the day.
Barkley was hurt near the end of the first half after making a 6 yard catch, and he did not return to play in the second. Overall, the Bucs knew how to handle him. Barkley was limited to 10 yards rushing on eight attempts, and he had 4 receptions for 27 yards. There's no way to know if the Giants could have improved the ground game with him in the second half, but it makes you look to the offensive line's level of play.
Jones was hit 11 times and sacked 5 times. His ability to move around in the pocket and extend plays certainly helped the Giants out. His poor pocket awareness led him to hang in and make plays that an experienced quarterback would have bailed on. It's a double edged sword though, as Jones had two fumble turnovers, one of which led to a Tampa Bay touchdown, and another to a field goal.
Except for that, t
here wasn't a lot to complain about the way the offense looked. The defense is another matter. In the first half, they let the Bucs score on all six possessions. Just like last week, they didn't buckle down until the second half. Veteran cornerback Janoris Jenkins had said during the week that the Giants needed to improve up front. They did get four sacks on Jameis Winston, hit him ten times, and held the mobile quarterback to just three yards on four carries.
Jenkins, meanwhile, had his hands full trying to cover Mike Evans, who ended up with 8 catches for 190 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The Giants got lucky in this game, except for the injury to Barkley, and linebacker Alec Ogletree, who was also injured in the second quarter. Ogletree recovered what appeared to be a fumble, but then it was ruled an incomplete pass. Dexter Lawrence had knocked the ball out of Winston's hand and Ogletree recovered it and took off. Ogletree then slowed down at the time Jabrill Peppers was in the process of giving him a helpful shove downfield. Ogletree pulled a hamstring on the play. Next up for the Giants is a visit from the Washington Redskins. They host the Bears tomorrow night."

First Quarter

BUCS - TOUCHDOWN
Play: Mike Evans 21 Yd pass from Jameis Winston (Matt Gay PAT failed)
Drive info: 10 plays, 75 yards, 5:13
Bucs 6-0

GIANTS - FIELD GOAL
Play: Aldrick Rosas 36 Yd Field Goal
Drive info: 11 plays, 57 yards, 5:40
Bucs 6-3

BUCS - TOUCHDOWN
Play: Mike Evans 3 Yd pass from Jameis Winston (Matt Gay PAT blocked)
Drive info: 9 plays, 75 yards, 3:46
Bucs 12-3

Second Quarter

GIANTS - TOUCHDOWN
Play: Daniel Jones 7 Yd Run (Aldrick Rosas Kick)
Drive info: 12 plays, 75 yards, 5:23
Bucs 12-10

BUCS - FIELD GOAL
Play: Matt Gay 47 Yd Field Goal
Drive info: 5 plays, 46 yards, 2:23
Bucs 15-10

BUCS - FIELD GOAL
Play: Matt Gay 27 Yd Field Goal
Drive info: 6 plays, 62 yards, 1:55
Bucs 18-10

BUCS - TOUCHDOWN
Play: Mike Evans 20 Yd pass from Jameis Winston (Matt Gay Kick)
Drive info: 3 plays, 41 yards, 0:49
Bills 25-10
BUCS - FIELD GOAL
Play: Matt Gay 52 Yd Field Goal
Drive info: 6 plays, 46 yards, 0:36
Bucs 28-10

Third Quarter

GIANTS - TOUCHDOWN
Play: Evan Engram 75 Yd pass from Daniel Jones (Jones Pass to Sterling Shepard for 2-Point Conv.)
Drive info: 1 play, 75 yards, 0:12
Bucs 28-18

GIANTS - TOUCHDOWN
Play: Sterling Shepard 7 Yd pass from Daniel Jones (Aldrick Rosas Kick)
Drive info: 8 plays, 80 yards, 3:57
Bucs 28-25

Fourth Quarter

BUCS - FIELD GOAL
Play: Matt Gay 23 Yd Field Goal
Drive info: 8 plays, 37 yards, 4:27
Bucs 31-25

GIANTS - TOUCHDOWN
Play: Daniel Jones 7 Yd Run (Aldrick Rosas Kick)
Drive info: 8 plays, 75 yards, 2:00
Giants 32-31


Notes:

Giants had lost 23 consecutive regular-season games when they trailed after three quarters.

Giants Evan Engram's 75-yard touchdown reception was the longest ever by a Giants tight end.

Giants rookie linebacker Ryan Connelly had the first interception of the year for the Giants.

Giants Daniel Jones became the second player since the 1970 merger to throw at least two touchdown passes and run for two in his first NFL start.

Giants Daniel Jones became the first NFL rookie quarterback with at least 300 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and two rushing touchdowns in a single game since 1970.
Next Games:
Sept 29 Redskins at Giants.
Giants Tickets  -  Buy or Sell

Oct 6 Vikings at Giants.
Giants Tickets  -  Buy or Sell


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