*Giants.com's Michael Eisen takes a statistical look at the Eli Manning-Philip Rivers matchup from Week 5: *
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Thirteen years after the trade that sent Eli Manning and Philip Rivers to opposite coasts, the two quarterbacks continue to be linked to each other.
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Manning and Rivers, of course, were traded for each other on April 24, 2004, during the first round of the NFL Draft. Manning, selected first overall by the San Diego Chargers, was sent to the Giants for three draft choices and Rivers, who was chosen fourth in the first round by the Giants.
On Sunday, they shared a field for just the third time in their careers. Rivers' Los Angeles Chargers defeated Manning's Giants, 27-22, in MetLife Stadium.
The game was the first in NFL history in which the opposing starting quarterbacks were from the same draft class and each came into the game with at least 300 career touchdown passes.
The pair's 646 combined touchdown passes entering the game were the second-most by opposing starting quarterbacks from the same draft class, trailing only Pro Football Hall of Famers Dan Marino and John Elway of the 1983 Draft class, who combined for 699 touchdown passes (Marino, 403; Elway, 296) when they faced each other on Dec. 21, 1998.
Manning (two touchdown passes) and Rivers (three) each added to their career totals on Sunday. Their current career totals – 328 for Manning and 323 for Rivers – place them seventh and eighth, respectively, on the NFL's career list.
*Manning leads the NFL with 137 completions. His 202 pass attempts are second, behind Carson Palmer's 227.
*Rivers completed just 47.7% of his passes (21 of 44) on Sunday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the Giants' first loss in a game in which their opponent's completion percentage was 47.7 or less since Dec. 16, 2007, when they lost to a Washington Redskins team that completed 32% (eight-for-25).
*The 0-5 Giants have trailed at halftime in each of their five games this season, their longest such streak since they were behind after two quarters in six consecutive games from Sept. 8-Oct. 10, 2013. The Giants lost all six of those games.
*This season, the Giants and their opponents have each scored 56 second-half points. But the Giants have been outscored in the first half, 66-26.
*The Giants' 152 rushing yards on Sunday was their second-highest total in Ben McAdoo's two seasons as head coach. They ran for 161 yards in the 2016 season finale in Washington.
*The Giants gained those 152 yards on 25 carries, a 6.1-yard average that was their largest with at least that many attempts since Nov. 24, 2013, when they averaged 6.7 rush yards per attempt (30 carries for 202 yards) in a loss to Dallas.
*Orleans Darkwa's 23-yard touchdown run was the Giants' longest score on the ground since Dec. 20, 2015, when Rashad Jennings had a 38-yard touchdown run.
*The Chargers scored a touchdown on a 92-yard drive Sunday, the longest march by a Giants opponent since Nov. 1, 2015, when the New Orleans Saints reached the end zone at the end of a 96-yard drive.
*The Giants have traveled at least 75 yards on five offensive possessions this season and scored touchdowns on each of them. Their longest drive of the season was an 80-yarder vs. the Chargers.
*The Giants have led in the fourth quarter in each of their last three games. They last lost three consecutive games after leading in the fourth quarter from Nov. 12-26, 1978. The second of those contests was the infamous Fumble Game vs. Philadelphia. The last of the three was played in Buffalo, where the Bills scored 27 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win, 41-17.
*Odell Beckham, Jr. scored on a 48-yard touchdown reception on Sunday. It was his NFL-high 12th touchdown reception of 40 or more yards since he joined the Giants in 2014. DeSean Jackson, now with Tampa Bay, has 11.
*Beckham's 97 receiving yards increased his career total to 4,424. That moved him past Bob Tucker (4,376) and into 11th place on the Giants' career list. Victor Cruz is 10th with 4,549.
*Wayne Gallman has 99 rushing yards, the highest total by a Giants running back in his first two NFL games since Ron Dayne had 128 yards in 2000.
*Giants opponents have rushed for more than 100 yards in five consecutive games, the first time that's happened since Dec. 14, 2015 to Sept. 11, 2016.
*The Chargers' Melvin Gordon caught two touchdown passes on Sunday, the first opposing running back to do that against the Giants since Philadelphia's Brian Westbrook on Nov. 16, 2003.
*The Giants just began a five-game stretch in which they will face four first-year head coaches (Anthony Lynn of the Chargers, Vance Joseph of Denver, Sean McVay of the Rams, and Kyle Shanahan of San Francisco). McAdoo is 1-2 vs. rookie head coaches. He was 1-1 against Philadelphia's Doug Pederson in 2016 – when McAdoo was also a first-year head coach.
