ARLINGTON, Texas — Midway through the second quarter Sunday night, Eli Manning was leading the Giants in rushing. This meant Manning either underwent surgery to replace his 37-year-old legs with those of a much younger man, or else something was dreadfully wrong with the entire offensive operation.
Go with the second theory.
Manning more than 21 minutes into a game he would like to forget had 3 rushing yards, 1 more than Saquon Barkley, 1 more than Jonathan Stewart. Was it any surprise the Giants had exactly zero points?
Pointless is an apt way to describe the Giants offense. Pathetic also qualifies. Things were supposed to be different with coach Pat Shurmur calling the plays and a rebuilt offensive line freeing Manning to find gifted Odell Beckham Jr. and Barkley, the star rookie, in all sorts of creative and productive ways. Well, it was an ugly and dispiriting performance inside AT&T Stadium, a total stinker, as the Giants put all kinds of embarrassing moments together in a desultory and deceptive 20-13 loss — it was not that close — to the rival Cowboys, piling onto a nightmarish start to Shurmur’s head-coaching tenure.
“At some point in time it’s going to get put together,’’ Beckham said. “I just hope it’s way sooner than later.’’
The Giants did not admit to any desperation heading into the game, but here it is, a record of 0-2. Starting 0-2 is bad. Very bad. How bad? Since 1990, 231 teams started out 0-2 and only 28 of them — a less-than-robust 12 percent — went on to make the playoffs.
“You hate to get in a hole 0-2, but that’s our situation and that’s where we’re at,’’ Beckham said. “We got to just fight and work to get out of there.”
It was a poor debut for Shurmur’s offense in last week’s 20-15 loss to the Jaguars. This was poorer. The Giants were inept when they had the ball in their possession. They did not cross midfield in the first half. They managed only 79 yards in the first half. Manning was sacked six times. The Giants trailed 20-3 when Ezekiel Elliott scored on a 6-yard run with 5:45 remaining, and the fact that the Giants scored 10 points in the final 1:27 only served to give the appearance of a competitive game.
“Just not good enough,’’ Manning said. “We just got to find ways to stop going backwards and stop hurting ourselves.’’
What was shocking was how the Giants’ offense deteriorated into a popgun attack, devoid of any big plays. Manning competed 33 passes but for only 279 yards. He clearly was not protected adequately and unloaded dump-offs, mostly to Barkley, who set a Giants franchise record with 14 receptions — for only 80 yards. He averaged only 2.5 yards on his 11 rushing attempts.
“It doesn’t matter to me at all,’’ Barkley said of his reception record. “We didn’t win. It doesn’t matter.’’
It was a strangely quiet night for Beckham, who was targeted four times in the first half and had two receptions for 20 yards. He did not get his third reception until only 4:12 remained in the game and finished with four receptions for 51 yards — not much for the nine times he was targeted. The Cowboys, refusing to get beat deep, played their two safeties somewhere in Fort Worth and dared the Giants to beat them with short and intermediate passes.
“Keep you in front, not let you make any big plays,’’ Beckham said of the Dallas strategy. “Just finding a way to make plays underneath or whatever it is we’re gonna have to do we need to find it soon. I didn’t make enough of the opportunities I had.’’
The Giants on defense hardly dominated, stung early on a 64-yard Dak Prescott-to-Tavon Austin touchdown 94 seconds into the game when cornerback Janoris Jenkins slipped in coverage. Prescott was barely touched as he was allowed to play inside a comfort zone, steering clear of mistakes, content that his defense would continue to dominate the anemic Giants offense.
The Giants got the ball to start the third quarter and gave it away when linebacker Damien Wilson on a blitz raced past rookie left guard Will Hernandez — who did not seem to notice the rush until it was too late — and slammed into Manning, who lost the ball on a fumble recovered by defensive end Taco Charlton.
“They blitzed, they ran stunts, they rushed four, they did a number of things and we didn’t pick up any of it well enough,’’ left tackle Nate Solder said.
“They were twisting up front a little bit, which creates problems at times,’’ Shurmur said. “It shouldn’t, but it did.’’
A 37-yard pass to Cody Latimer got the Giants into Dallas territory for the first time — with 9:12 left in the third quarter. The Giants found a way to screw up a first-and-goal from the 3-yard line when tight end Rhett Ellison was called for a holding penalty. Aldrick Rosas’ 28-yard field goal trimmed the Cowboys lead to 13-3 and meant the Giants would not suffer the indignity of a shutout.
“We didn’t do anything well enough on offense to win this game,’’ Shurmur said in a statement that no one will dispute.