Tom Coughlin threatened his offense with playing in the fifth preseason game of the summer if they didn’t pick up their game against the Jets and followed through with it on Thursday night against the Patriots.
The Pats threw a crew of backups out on defense against them, but the Giants starters couldn’t take advantage. They played two series, got one first down and punted twice before being pulled out of either injury prevention or exasperation.
Eli Manning was 1-of-4 passing the ball with his one completion going for no gain when tight end Kellen Davis was stoned by Tavon Wilson on a third-and-two in the first quarter. That brings his preseason to a close with 14 completions in 34 tries for 145 yards and a touchdown. The blocking wasn’t great on Thursday night either, so it’s an understatement to say that the passing offense still looks far away from where it needs to be when the games start counting.
If there were a sixth preseason game, Coughlin would surely be threatening them with that as well. There isn’t, of course, and Coughlin’s going to have to play them against the Lions in the opener. That means the only threat right now is one to Coughlin’s ability to avoid turning his skin permanently crimson while watching the unit flail about.