Aug 302013
 
Eli Manning, New York Giants (August 29, 2013)

Eli Manning – © USA TODAY Sports Images

Andre Brown, Adrien Robinson, and Tyler Sash Injured in Preseason Loss: The New York Giants fell to the New England Patriots 28-20 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on Thursday night. The Giants finished the preseason 1-3, with three straight losses.

However, the truly bad news for the Giants was once again on the injury front. RB Andre Brown broke his left leg, TE Adrien Robinson injured his left foot, and S Tyler Sash suffered a concussion. It remains to be determined how long all three players will be out.

“It’s not that bad of a break,” said Brown after the game. “Just like a little tiny crack in it. We’ve still got to do some more tests on it. Last time when I broke it we knew immediately what the problem was…They’d let me know if it was serious, but it’s not. So definitely spirits are high, positive, and I’m looking forward to coming back this season. No (surgery). Definitely not. We’ve got to go do some more tests, but it’s not as serious as it was last year.”

X-rays on Robinson’s foot were negative, but he was on crutches and in a walking boot after the game and will have to undergo further tests. “I know it is not broken,” said Robinson after the game. “First play of game, kickoff return, somebody stepped on it.”

As for the game, the Patriots decided not to play their offensive and defensive starters. The Giants played their starters for almost all of the first quarter.

The Giants’ first-team offense continued to struggle on their first two possessions of the game, netting only 19 yards and one first down. But on their third and final drive of the evening, the first-team offense drove 91 yards in 10 plays against the Patriots’ second-team defense. The big play on the drive was a 37-yard pass from QB Eli Manning to WR Louis Murphy. RB David Wilson also had a 16-yard run. The drive culminated with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Manning to WR Hakeem Nicks on 3rd-and-goal. Manning finished the game 6-of-9 for 74 yards and one touchdown.

Meanwhile, the first-team defense did give up 50 yards and three first downs to New England’s second stringers, but they did force two punts before leaving the game. The Patriots’ second-team offense did drive 86 yards in 12 plays against a mixed first- and second-team defensive unit to tie the game 7-7 in the second quarter. It appeared CB Prince Amukamara ended that drive with a leaping interception in the end zone, but after the play was reviewed, the officials questionably ruled that Amukamara landed out-of-bounds on the play. On the very next snap, CB Corey Webster batted away an end zone pass on 3rd-and-goal, but was questionably flagged for pass interference. New England scored on the next play.

The Giants went three-and-out on their next possession with Ryan Nassib at quarterback. The Patriots went up 14-7 on their very next offensive snap on a 41-yard touchdown pass against CB Terrell Thomas, who slightly stumbled on the play.

The Giants and Patriots then exchanged punts and turnovers, with QB David Carr fumbling the ball away on one series, and LB Mark Herzlich intercepting a deflected pass on the next series.

The Giants then cut the score to 14-10 late in the second quarter by moving the ball 18 yards in seven plays to set up PK Josh Brown from 35 yards out.

In the second half, the Giants scored on their first two possessions of the third quarter, going up 20-14, after a 9-play, 37-yard drive set up a 48-yard field goal and then a 3-play, 21-yard drive finished with a 6-yard touchdown pass from QB Curtis Painter to RB Da’Rel Scott. That score was set up by a 30-yard punt return by CB Charles James.

However, the backups on offense could not score on their final six possessions of the game, turning the ball over three times on downs and punting it away three other times. The Giants were moving the ball late in the fourth quarter and appeared poised to set up a game-winning field goal, but the officials ignored an obvious defensive pass interference penalty on a deep pass on 3rd-and-5 from Painter to WR Kevin Hardy. On the very next play, Painter was sacked on fourth down, thus ending the Giants’ last real shot to win the game.

Defensively, the Giants kept the Patriots and QB Tim Tebow under wraps for most of the second half except for one play where Tebow hit his receiver over the middle. CB Trumaine McBride was beat and S Cooper Taylor failed to make the tackle in the open field as the receiver sprinted 52 yards for the go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter. The Patriots led 21-20. The score would remain that way until the game was practically over. After the Giants had turned the ball over on downs at their 9-yard line with 10 seconds left, the classless Patriots threw the ball to pad the lead 28-20.

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Eric Kennedy

Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.

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