The New York Giants defeated the Chicago Bears, 32-13, on Friday night at MetLife Stadium in a game that was uniquely balanced between superb play and sloppiness worthy of a face-palm.
It was difficult to watch the game back and pinpoint any one player who performed poorly across the board, but relatively easy to pinpoint several small issues for just about everyone.
One of the biggest issues that plagued the Giants in Week 2 of the preseason was their inability to hold onto the ball. In addition to three fumbles, there were three drops, a dropped interception, a muffed punt and a poor center-quarterback exchange — and no, not the Daniel Jones fumble like you’re thinking, but rather, a near snafu between Eli Manning and Jon Halapio.
For a man who endlessly preaches ball protection, Giants head coach Pat Shurmur was more than a little bothered by the football hitting the turf so many times on Friday night.
The Giants haven’t experienced many issues with loose footballs this summer, so it’s entirely possible Friday night’s display was an abnormality — a mere product of rust in early preseason games.
Whatever the case may be, it will be a point of emphasis for Shurmur & Co. as training camp winds down over the next two weeks, and rightfully so. The Giants may have survived the issues against the Bears, but when the games start to count, it will be much more difficult to overcome so many errors on all sides of the ball.
