CLEVELAND — In the second quarter of Monday night’s offensively inept 10-6 preseason loss to the Browns, receiver Sterling Shepard caught a pass for no gain and as he tried to turn and run up-field, he lost the ball on a fumble.
“When they took the ball from him?’’ Ben McAdoo said afterward. “Hold the ball.’’
Yes, things are getting a bit tense around the Giants when it comes to their struggling summertime offense. True enough, Shepard did not simply drop the ball, he had it ripped out of his grasp by safety Jason McCourty.
Still, Eli Manning and the starters were on the field for five series and scored three points. The running game “produced’’ 29 yards in the first half and more than half of them came on a 16-yard gain by Perkins. The other nine runs picked up 13 yards. That is nearly running in reverse. Despite the 16-yard run, Perkins managed 10 yards on his six rushing attempts for his second poor outing in as many preseason games.
“I don’t know how much longer I can say, ‘It’s preseason,’ but it is preseason,’’ guard Justin Pugh said. “But I still expect us to be better than we were.’’
Ereck Flowers at left tackle held his own against Myles Garrett, the No. 1 pick in the draft, although at least twice Flowers nearly strangled the ultra-strong rookie defensive end. Garrett maneuvered past Flowers on a sack of Geno Smith late in the second quarter, but it was more the byproduct of Smith stepping up into the pressure than Flowers getting run over.
The Giants got the ball first, but gave it back without going anywhere other than backwards. They went three-and-out and lost 7 yards on the brief series. On third down, linebacker Joe Schobert came free up the middle and dropped Manning for a 9-yard sack.
On a second down, needing 3 yards for a first down, the Giants loaded up on the left side, putting tight end Rhett Ellison on the line alongside Flowers and then putting fullback Shane Smith in motion flowing to the left. The help provided no help, as Perkins ran to that side and was dropped for a 1-yard loss. On another failed running play, Orleans Darkwa appeared to have some room to maneuver but ran directly into the back of rookie tight end Evan Engram.
On a rushing attempt that lost 4 yards, right tackle Bobby Hart did nothing to hold off defensive end Carl Nassib, who tackled Perkins in the backfield.
Manning finished up 10-of-14 for 80 yards.
“We could have played better,’’ Manning said. “Just didn’t connect on a few plays that would have been helpful moving the chains.’’