Giants vs. Falcons: Barkley's Touchdown Narrows Gap

Giants vs. Falcons: Barkley’s Touchdown Narrows Gap

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Saquon Barkley’s 2-yardtouchdown run stood up to a replay review, but the Giants failed to executive a 2-point conversion. They now trail, 20-12 with 4:47 remaining.

Marvin Hall of the Atlanta Falcons scored on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan in the second quarter.CreditJohn Amis/Associated Press

First Half

It was a remarkably quiet start to the game, with the teams combining for six punts on their first six drives. In the last six minutes the two offenses suddenly woke up, resulting in the Falcons leading, 10-3, at halftime.

Atlanta got things started with an 86-yard drive in which all but three yards came on two long passes by Matt Ryan. He found his tight end, Austin Hooper, for a 36-yard gain and then threw a bomb to Marvin Hall downfield, hitting the fleet wide receiver in stride in the end zone for a 47-yard score.

Marvin Hall can FLYYYYYYYYYYY @BigPlayHall_A2N pic.twitter.com/ln1GpwvMCI
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) October 23, 2018

The Giants responded by marching down the field with 77 yards on 11 plays, including a 38-yard pass from Eli Manning to Sterling Shepard. But Manning missed an open Odell Beckham Jr. in the end zone on a 2nd-and-6 play from Atlanta’s 9-yard line and then after a sack the Giants had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Aldrick Rosas.

The Falcons, aided by a 38-yard pass interference penalty, nearly got the ball into the end zone a second time on a long drive in the final minute of the first half, but after a few passes into the end zone failed to complete, they sent out Giorgio Tavecchio, their fill-in place-kicker to kick a 40-yard field goal.

The Giants will receive the ball to start the second half.

Giants vs. Falcons: Top Story lines

The Giants have lost three consecutive games, and it is hard not to blame Eli Manning even if poor play by the offensive line has been just as big of an issue. The team has a pair of foundational players in Odell Beckham Jr. and Saquon Barkley, but currently both seem a bit wasted on a team going nowhere.
There was some concern earlier in the week that Calvin Ridley and Mohamed Sanu would be out for tonight’s game, but the Falcons wide receivers are both active. Ridley, who sustained an ankle injury in Atlanta’s loss to Tampa Bay last week returned to practice on Friday and Sanu, who left the same game with a hip injury, returned to practice Saturday.
Even with their star receivers active, the Falcons are still dealing with a host of injuries. Devonta Freeman, their top running back, is on injured reserve as is the linebacker Deion Jones. Even Matt Bryant, Atlanta’s 43-year-old kicker, is out with a hamstring injury. He will be replaced by Giorgio Tavecchio.

Benjamin Hoffman is a senior staff editor and regular contributor to the Keeping Score column in sports. He joined The Times in 2005. @BenHoffmanNYT • Facebook