NEW YORK _ Odell Beckham Jr. celebrated his fourth-quarter touchdown catch by performing CPR on the football, pumping back life into the Giants' season. It wasn't long after that, though, that the team flat lined with another Beckham visual.
The star receiver was carted off the field in tears with what later was announced as a fractured left ankle with four minutes left in Sunday's game against the Chargers. As he disappeared into the tunnel at MetLife Stadium, the Giants' hopes for the season went with him.
The Giants announced the severity of the injury after the game and said Beckham may require surgery. He was seen being carted out of the locker room after the game.
The Chargers beat the Giants, 27-22, to saddle the Giants with an 0-5 record in a game that cost them four wide receivers to injuries. Beckham's may prove to be the most costly, as his foot stuck underneath him while taking a hit from Casey Hayward on an incomplete pass. The Giants also lost Sterling Shepard and Brandon Marshall to ankle injuries on the same second-quarter drive, and Dwayne Harris fractured his foot returning the second-half kickoff.
The Giants held a 22-20 lead when Beckham left the field, but on the very next snap Eli Manning was sacked by Melvin Ingram and fumbled. Ingram recovered it at the Giants' 11 and Philip Rivers hit Melvin Gordon for a 10-yard touchdown pass on third down that gave the Chargers a 27-22 lead with 2:58 left.
With most of their passing weapons unavailable, and rookie tight end Evan Engram lined up at wide receiver, the Giants tried to mount a winning drive. They got to midfield, but on fourth-and-10 from the Chargers' 48 Manning's deflected pass was intercepted by Tre Boston with 40 seconds left to seal the misery.
The Chargers (1-4) led 10-9 at halftime and were about to go ahead by more on their first possession of the third quarter, but Darian Thompson stepped in front of a pass in the end zone for the Giants' first interception of the season. That set up an 80-yard drive for the receiver-thin Giants that ended with Manning hitting Roger Lewis on an 18-yard touchdown in the front corner of the end zone for a 16-10 lead.
The Chargers responded with a long drive that included conversions on third-and-9, third-and-15 and third-and-6, and ended with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Rivers to tight end Hunter Henry with 40 seconds left in the third. That gave them a 17-16 lead.
But the Giants had one other receiver option, and Manning found him. Beckham caught a 48-yard touchdown pass with 13:31 left in the fourth to go up 22-17. The Giants took a delay-of-game penalty on the two-point conversion attempt and tried it from the 7, but Manning's pass to Beckham was incomplete.
The Chargers had first-and-goal at the 8 and a chance to re-take the lead with just over five minutes left, but Rivers missed an open Keenan Allen in the end zone, Thompson broke up a pass for Henry, Thompson forced Rivers to throw an incompletion with a blitz up the middle, and the Chargers kicked a field goal to make it 22-20 with 4:50 left.
The Giants scored their first first-quarter points of the season to take a 9-0 lead. A botched snap that was flung out of the end zone by Rivers gave the Giants a safety, and Orleans Darkwa scored on a 23-yard run. The Chargers, though, scored the final 10 points of the first half on a 6-yard pass to Gordon and a 20-yard field goal with six seconds left.
