Can't blame Beckham: Giants blow lead, lose cool in loss to Redskins

Everyone got caught up in the Josh Norman-Odell Beckham Jr. hype. It created an atmosphere fraught with nerve, but it turned out that the previously winless Washington Redskins were more prepared to handle it than the unbeaten Giants.

In a wild, see-saw affair — which feels like every Redskins game — the Redskins overcame a 14-3 deficit early and held the Giants out of the end zone for the final 34 minutes in a 29-27 win on Sunday.

The Redskins had watched the Pittsburgh Steelers dissect them at home in Week 1 and the Dallas Cowboys make all the big plays close to the end zone in Week 2. Head coach Jay Gruden had called out Kirk Cousins. It felt like a runaway train of a season after a shocking playoff appearance in 2015.

Meanwhile, the Giants had been the poised team of the two coming in. They had made all the big plays late against the Cowboys Week 1 and had gutted out a close, tense Week 2 win against the New Orleans Saints.

Those roles flipped with the Giants and Redskins met at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.

The Giants appeared to force a Redskins punt late in the third quarter, but a brilliant fake punt pass from Tress Way to Quinton Dunbar — first career completion and reception, respectively, by the way — went for 31 yards on fourth-and-12. A huge breakdown by Ben McAdoo’s team. The Redskins took the lead with a field goal, 26-24.

Eli Manning drove the Giants down to the Washington 5, as Beckham (five catches for 77 yards in the fourth quarter) was starting to heat up. But Giants center Weston Richburg, a feisty player, was called for his second unsportsmanlike penalty of the game on the play. Not only did it knock the Giants 15 yards back, but by rule he was ejected. Another serious blow and brain cramp.

Manning was picked a play later — by Dunbar, a cornerback by trade. Beckham was at a rolling boil at this point, as he took his frustrations out on a kicking net on the sideline as Manning tried to calm him down afterward. But that particular lack of poise was not the reason the Giants lost.

The Giants flipped the special-teams script after giving up the fake by blocking Way’s next punt, and it appeared they’d be in great shape to score after an illegal bat out of bounds by the Redskins’ Trent Murphy (not a smart play, Stanford!). But even dumber? Undrafted Giants rookie Andrew Adams getting called for an unnecessary roughness call of his own some 50 yards away from the play. That cost the Giants 30 yards of field position, if not more.

Manning led a nice drive on their next possession but cashed in with only a field goal to take a 27-26 lead. On defense, Giants defensive end Olivier Vernon was called for roughing the passer, so what should have been a third-and-14 for the Redskins at their own 21 turned into new life at the 36-yard line. They would grind out five minutes of crucial clock and take a 29-27 lead.

The Giants once more looked panicked with the game hanging in the balance. After promising start to a two-minute drive to try to win the game, Manning was picked by rookie Su’a Cravens to end it. Manning didn’t need to force the issue. The Giants were at their own 39-yard line with 1:09 left and a timeout left, and kicker Josh Brown has shown range past 50 yards the past few seasons. They really only needed 25-30 yards to get him in position for a game-winning try.

The Beckham-Norman battle was mostly a bust, other than a few fun moments, from a fireworks standpoint. In the first half, Norman bear-hugged Beckham on a red-zone snap, but it was more playful than anything. In the second half, Beckham juked Norman for a big gain as the two battled to a performance that was not marred by 2015’s ugliness in this same stadium.

But that didn’t mean there were some darned good impersonators of them by the Giants. Simply put, they lost their cool and their heads — on a day when Beckham’s temper was not the main storyline.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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