Postgame notes and stats from the Giants' 25=23 loss to the Buccaneers
TAMPA – Notes and statistics from the Giants' 25-23 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
*The Giants fell to 0-4, their worst start since they were 0-6 in 2013, and their first four-game losing streak since they lost seven games in a row from Oct. 12-Nov. 30, 2014.
*The Buccaneers scored the winning points when Nick Folk kicked a 34-yard field goal as time expired. It was the second week in a row the opposition scored the game-winning points on the final play. Last week in Philadelphia, rookie Jake Elliott kicked a 61-yard field goal on the game's last play to give the Eagles a 27-24 victory.
*This is the first time the Giants have lost two consecutive games by a total of no more than five points since Sept. 13 and 20, 2015, when they were defeated by Dallas (27-26) and Atlanta (24-20).
*Prior to Folk's deciding, come-from-behind field goal, each of the last five field goals kicked against the Giants as time expired broke a tie. The last time the Giants owned a lead when their opponents kicked a go-ahead field goal on the final play was on Dec. 28, 2009, when Minnesota's Ryan Longwell kicked a 50-yard field goal to defeat the Giants, 20-19.
*The Giants held fourth-quarter leads of 17-16 and 23-22. Last week against the Eagles, they led 21-14 and 24-21 in the final quarter. This is the first time they held fourth-quarter leads and lost in back-to-back games since Sept. 13 and 20, 2015 against Dallas and Atlanta. In each of those games, their late lead was 10 points.
*The Giants trailed, 13-0, one week after they fell behind in Philadelphia, 14-0. It's the first time they trailed by at least 13 points before scoring in consecutive games since Dec. 1-15, 2013, when the opponents were Washington, San Diego, and Seattle. The Giants won the first of those games.
*The Giants did not have an accepted penalty for the first time since Sept. 22, 1974, in a loss to New England.
*The Giants' 24 first downs was their highest total since they had 24 at Philadelphia on Dec. 22, 2016.
*The Giants rushed for a season-high 91 yards.
*The Giants did not allow a sack, nor did they commit a turnover. They had won their previous seven games when they achieved that statistical double. Their previous loss in a no-sack, no turnover game was to Philadelphia on Dec. 7, 2009.
*The Giants had won their previous six games in which their offense did not turn over the ball. Their last such defeat was on Sept. 13, 2015, a 27-26 loss in Dallas. The Giants' previous no-turnover game was on Jan. 1, 2017 in a 19-10 victory in Washington.
*The Giants did not have a takeaway for the second time this season. They did not force a turnover at Dallas on Sept. 10.
*This was the first Giants game in which neither team committed a turnover since Dec. 23, 2012 at Baltimore.
*Eli Manning threw a season-high 49 passes, completing 30 for 288 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. The touchdowns were a four-yarder to Wayne Gallman, and two-yarder to Rhett Ellison.
*Manning's 288 passing yards increased his career total to 49,327. That moved him past Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Moon (49,325) and into seventh place on the NFL's career list.
*Manning scored the Giants' first touchdown on a 14-yard run with 3:17 remaining in the second quarter. It was a) his sixth career rushing touchdown, b) his first since Sept. 24, 2014 at Washington, and c) the longest of his career. His previous long touchdown run was a 10-yarder against the Miami Dolphins in London on Oct. 28, 2007. Five of Manning's six rushing touchdown have been in road games. The Giants are 4-2 when Manning rushes for a touchdown.
*Manning and Paul Perkins each had team-long 14-yard runs. It was the first time Manning had the Giants' longest rush since Nov. 2, 2014, when he had an 18-yard run vs. Indianapolis.
*Gallman, the Giants' fourth-round draft choice this year, made his NFL debut with team-high totals of 11 carries for 42 yards, and two receptions for eight yards, including his first professional touchdown in the third quarter. He was inactive in each of the first three games.
*Perkins started and ran for 13 yards on nine carries and caught a six-yard pass before leaving with a rib injury.
*Odell Beckham, Jr. led the Giants with seven receptions for 90 yards, including a 42-yarder.
*Ellison scored his first touchdown since Nov 15, 2015 for Minnesota at Oakland on an 11-yard reception.
*Safety Landon Collins led the Giants with seven tackles (five solo), and had two passes defensed.
*Middle linebacker B.J. Goodson started after missing the previous two games with a shin injury and had six tackles (five solo).
*Defensive end Olivier Vernon aggravated the ankle injury he suffered last week and did not play in the second half. Kerry Wynn and Romeo Okwara replaced him.
*Jason Pierre-Paul and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie shared the Giants' only sack, a nine-yard takedown of Jameis Winston. The half-sack increased Pierre-Paul's career total to 51.5, and DRC's to 2.5. He had full sacks with Philadelphia in 2011, and at Washington for the Giants in the 2016 season finale.
*Aldrick Rosas kicked a 30-yard field goal, but he also had his first career miss, a 43-yard attempt he pushed wide right on the second play of the fourth quarter.
*The Giants opened the game with two tight ends and two wide receivers, neither of them Sterling Shepard. It was the first time in his two-year career that Shepard did not start. He started all 17 games last year and the first three this season.
*Eli Apple did not start for the first time this season, as Rodgers-Cromartie opened the game at left cornerback.
*Rookie free agent Chad Wheeler made a one-play NFL debut at right tackle after Justin Pugh left the field with an injury with 8:35 remaining in the second quarter. Wheeler was in uniform, but did not play, for each of the first three games. Pugh returned at the beginning of the Giants' next offensive series.
*Defensive end Cap Capi, signed off the practice squad last week, had a special teams tackle in his NFL debut.
*Defensive end Kerry Wynn lined up at fullback for one play in the second half.
*The Giants' inactive players were running back Orleans Darkwa, tackle Bobby Hart, tight end Matt LaCosse, cornerback Michael Hunter, defensive end Avery Moss, linebacker Deontae Skinner, and quarterback Davis Webb.
With Hart inactive, Pugh started his second game in a row at right tackle. D.J. Fluker started next to him at right guard, where he started 28 games for the San Diego Chargers in 2015-16. He played on special teams the previous two weeks after being inactive in Week 1.
John Jerry, who started the previous 26 games at right guard, including one in the postseason, started at left guard for the first time since Nov. 15, 2015 vs. New England. Brett Jones played there in Philadelphia, but was limited in practice last week with a hip injury.
Jones played center when Weston Richburg left the game in the second half to be evaluated for a concussion.
*The Giants' game captains were Pugh, Pierre-Paul, and Wynn.
*Ben McAdoo lost his first replay challenge of the season with 11:17 remaining in the fourth quarter. Winston threw a pass to Mike Evans, who had it in his hands, turned and was hit by Janoris Jenkins, who knocked the ball to the ground, where the Giants secured it. But the pass was ruled incomplete. McAdoo challenged the call, claiming it should be a completed pass, a fumble, and the Giants' ball. After a review, referee Craig Wrolstad announced that the call on the field was confirmed. McAdoo is 1-3 in challenges in his two seasons as head coach.
*The Giants' five-game winning streak in the series with Tampa Bay, including one postseason game, was broken. They lead the regular-season series with the Bucs, 13-7. This was the Giants' first loss to Tampa Bay since Nov. 24, 2013, when they dropped a 19-13 decision on a Monday night. The Giants had won their previous three games in Tampa.
*Both teams missed two-point conversion attempts. Winston threw an incomplete pass to DeSean Jackson, keeping the Bucs' lead at 22-17 with 7:44 remaining. The Giants took a 23-22 lead on Manning's pass to Ellison on the Giants' ensuing possession. But Manning's throw to Beckham was incomplete, keeping the lead at one point – a crucial difference that enabled Folk to win the game minutes later.
