On four occasions in the first half, the New York Giants’ offense got inside the Indianapolis 20-yard line. Not once were they able to come away with a touchdown. Instead, they kicked field goals on three of the four trips and came away with nine points. It should have been 28.
“It’s something we’ve got to get better at,” quarterback Eli Manning said following the Giants’ 20-12 loss to the Colts. “We had a couple opportunities to score touchdowns and we didn’t. … We just have to be more consistent.”
The red-zone struggles are nothing new for the G-Men. Last season, they were ranked 24th in the NFL, scoring a touchdown on just 44.7 percent of their visits into the red zone — or rather, the “green” zone as Giants’ coaches have attempted to cleverly nickname it. That number was nearly eight percentage points fewer than the league average, according to The New York Times.
The Giants’ numbers improved late in the season from blowout victories over the Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles; but that didn’t change the fact that New York needed to improve in the red zone.
“We were down in scoring territory a bunch of times and didn’t come away with touchdowns,” head coach Tom Coughlin said during his post-game press conference. “That continues to be a concern for us.”
In two games, the Giants have made six trips to the red zone with not a single touchdown to show for it. Fortunately, kicker Josh Brown has been automatic from close range, connecting on all five field goal attempts inside the red zone.
It’s real tough to win football games without scoring touchdowns, regardless of how well the defense may play. It’s preseason so not time to panic quite yet. However, this is a pre-existing issue that the team would prefer to solve before the regular season gets underway.
“Execution,” Coughlin said in his conference call with the media on Monday morning (via Giants.com). “That’s the common denominator. Execute. There have been some opportunities to hit some open receivers, which we haven’t done. Make a play. Somebody, let’s make a play.”
Louis Musto is a reporter and sports talk host for the Sports Journey Broadcast Network. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. All quotes were acquired firsthand unless otherwise noted. You can follow him on Twitter @LouisMusto.