­The Giants.com crew reacts to Sunday's 38-11 loss to the Los Angeles Rams:

John Schmeelk: For the first 15 minutes of the game on Sunday, things looked promising. The Giants started the game by driving 73 plays on 14 plays for a field goal. The red zone failure was disappointing, but it was still a good start against one of the better teams in the NFL. The Giants even gained two first downs on their next drive but failed to convert a 4th-and-1, which proved to be a turning point for the offense – it gained one first down the rest of the half.

The Giants' defense looked like last year's unit in the first quarter. Despite allowing a 30-yard catch by Cooper Kupp on its second play from scrimmage, the defense forced Los Angeles into a 3rd-and-10 before a sack by Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence ended the drive. On the Rams' next drive, Williams sacked Stafford on a 3rd-and-4 to force a punt.

The two stops were a combination of good coverage in the secondary that force the quarterback to hold the ball, with pressure up the middle from the talented defensive line. It is exactly how the defense was designed to function, and it worked on the first two drives. The Giants led, 3-0, and had the ball to start the second quarter.

Then everything fell apart. The Rams scored touchdowns on four of their next five drives, including two on short fields after Giants turnovers deep in their own territory. The Giants have not been able to extend their short periods of strong play this year nor dam the water once it starts flowing.

Dan Salomone: "Unacceptable" was a word assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Patrick Graham used earlier in the week about their performance in Dallas. The same word came out of the mouth of defensive co-captain Logan Ryan, standing at the podium still in his full uniform, after the latest loss to the Rams. There are many reasons to explain why the Giants have been outscored, 82-31, over the past two games (177-114 on the season), but there's only one way to describe it.

"I'm extremely disappointed," Ryan said. "It's not acceptable. I mean, honestly, it's not acceptable and that's just it. I think we had to go out there the second half and fight the best we could and try to earn some respect back, but it just hasn't been acceptable—the results, so it's not good. It's not good for the fans, it's not good for anybody outside the building, it is not good inside the building. It just hasn't been acceptable and I'm going to do everything I can to try to change that and make that better one step at a time."

Lance Medow: If there's one thing plaguing the Giants through the first six games of the season, it's the lack of complementary football. There have been games where the offense has produced and the defense struggled and vice-versa, but very rarely have we seen both facets deliver results simultaneously - Sunday's loss to the Rams was no different. On each of Los Angeles' first two drives, the Giants' defense forced the Rams to punt but New York's offense couldn't capitalize by finishing drives. On the very first possession of the game, the Giants marched to the 11 and settled for a field goal; and on their next possession, they turned it over on downs by failing to convert on a 4th-and-1 at their own 41. They produced 104 total yards of offense in their first two drives but only had three points to show for it. When you go up against a team averaging 28 points per game, those results won't cut it.

On the Giants' next six possessions through halftime, they managed just 12 total yards with three turnovers and three punts. The Rams had takeaways at the New York 12 and 14 and scored two touchdowns.

Los Angeles' offense scored 28 points in the second quarter alone and the Giants couldn't keep pace. During one stretch between the second and fourth quarters, the Giants committed at least one negative play (penalty, sack, negative run, turnover) on six of their seven possessions.

And by day's end, the Rams had scored 21 points off four takeaways.