Giants' shortcomings are too much for Odell Beckham Jr. to overcome

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — With the ball in his hands, Odell Beckham Jr. had 23 yards to traverse in order to reach the line to gain, a pack of Lions between him and a first-down marker. Cutting over the middle and catching a quick slant, a route Beckham on which has burned defenses with his acceleration and breakaway speed, the Giants receiver turned up field.

But for all the escapability and propensity for creating the big play Beckham has, the task at hand was too much. He was tackled after a gain of six yards, 17 shy of what his team needed on third down for its drive to continue.

"Mentally I felt like I could do anything," a frustrated Beckham said after the Giants fell to 0-2 Monday.

The mind can be a funny thing, though.

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Beckham returned for the Giants on Monday after being held out Week 1 with a sprained ankle. The Giants offense in his absence scored three points against the Cowboys in a game it looked allergic to fluidity.

This week, the Giants got the star on its Christmas tree back but was still suffering from a wilting stump. Manning was sacked fives times and under duress on a number of other occasions. Though the Giants were hopeful Beckham's inclusion in the lineup would be the tonic to fixing a disoriented offense, the Giants lost to Detroit, 24-10, and are still searching for answers on a young, winless season, especially on offense.

"We’re only going to go where we take it," Beckham said. "It's in our hands."

Beckham's return was constricted in many regards: Though he showed some the elusiveness in his route-running, breaking away from defenders with quick cuts and bursts of speed, Manning rarely had enough time to deliver him the ball. While Beckham showed no physical signs of the ankle injury that kept him out Week 1, the Giants had him on a clear snap count, limiting him to 34 of 55 total offensive plays.

"We deemed him fit enough to play in a limited role," Giants coach Ben McAdoo said. "We just wanted to pick our spots, get him back in the mix, get him back in the fold, and wanted to be smart with him. It was his first game back; he hadn’t played football in a while."

So while Beckham was on the field for a limited time, his involvement was also confined to the plays in which the Giants offensive line afforded Manning enough time to throw, which were few and far between.

Even if he felt invincible, mentally.

"Physically, I don’t know how much that really mattered," Beckham said. "I got my 20, 30 plays or whatever it was, and just tried to make the most of them."

In many regards, Beckham is the queen on the Giants chess board. He has the ability to move in any direction, cutting through New York's opposition, covering greater distances than the other pieces on the board.

But if the Giants pawns do nothing to protect its king (Manning), it will be check and mate each time the New York offense takes the field.

"Right now not much is going right," said Justin Pugh, normally a guard for the Giants line who was shifted to right tackle after Bobby Hart was lost in the first quarter due to a right ankle injury. "We’re not running the ball well, we’re not protecting the quarterback well … we’re not good overall."

So while the Giants sent reinforcements to Pugh's side, trying to patch up a paper mache line that was already struggling to begin with, the Lions ran right past the Giants' left, through tackle Ereck Flowers.

Taken ninth by the Giants in the 2015 draft, Flowers was uprooted by Ezekiel Ansah on multiple occasion Monday; Ansah accounted for three of Detroit's sacks.

"We tried to give (Flowers) some help as the game went on," McAdoo said. "It’s more than one player."

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Prior to that six-yard reception by Beckham, the explosive Giants wide receiver ran two downfield routes in which he created separation and an open target for his quarterback. But on each play, Manning found himself on the turf, Ansah standing over him on one, with Manning unable to go through his progressions, or really do anything besides brace himself for a hit.

When the offensive line held sturdy, the Giants offense flowed. New York put together an eight-play, 75-yard drive in the first quarter that culminated in a touchdown and a tie game.

"We took care of the ball and were blocking them pretty well," McAdoo said of that series. "We were just moving the chains and staying ahead of the chains."

But as to why the Giants couldn't maintain that kind of play all night — "Good question," he said.

Manning has the best complement of pass-catching weapons he's had in his career. In a passing league, the Giants have the personnel for a high-flying aerial attack. It was grounded on Monday for the most part, once again, because of a porous offensive line.

"You can’t just go out and win on paper," Pugh said. "We're not comparing teams in fantasy football."

On a night the Giants honored the 10-year anniversary of their 2007 Super Bowl team, one that lionized the wide receiver position after a miraculous, once-in-a-lifetime catch, the Giants wide receivers were largely caged animals Monday, with Manning's gatekeepers leaving too wide of a gap between the bars.

Eli Manning gets hit by Cornelius Washington in the fourth quarter of Monday night's game. (Getty Images)

If one player stood out, it was Flowers, whose mistakes were most glaring with Ansah praying on him, and pedaling past the tackle with ease all night.

"The NFL is tough to play tackle, I can tell you that first hand," Pugh said. "Everyone wants to come and take shots at Ereck and that's kicking somebody while they're down. He knows he didn’t do what he's supposed to do tonight. He's 23 years old and going out there trying to do everything he can. It hurts me to see one of my teammates and someone I try to help out, to see him get beat up like that."

The Giants are 0-2 and have one offensive touchdown to their name this season. With Beckham back, not only are there still issues, but ones that he clearly cannot fix on his own.

"We have to analyze everything we’re doing," McAdoo said. "We can’t pull points out of a hat. We have to block better, we have to move the ball better, and we can’t turn the ball over."

Emphasis on, "we have to block better."

"When the quarterback is under duress, things change," McAdoo said.

Or, as Chinua Achebe once wrote, things fall apart.