So far, Eli Manning is responsible for all nine points on the scoreboard. His ill-advised sprint backward into his own end zone and pass to nowhere while escaping the Falcons’ pass rush opened the scoring, giving the Falcons a 2-0 lead. Then, after grinding out a long drive including a critical make on fourth and inches, Eli found Hakeem Nicks in the end zone for the go-ahead points.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are your offensive highlights for the game so far.
So far, each team has tried to establish an identity on the ground, and both teams have largely failed. The Falcons did get Michael Turner going on one drive to end the first quarter, but that drive stalled on the Giants’ 25 yard line on a highly suspect fourth-and-one decision by Mike Smith (and questionable spot by the officials) that took points off the board.
The Falcons hardly have a monopoly on questionable decision making, though, as the Giants had the ball with under two minutes to go, but failed to realize what down it was on an incompletion on third down. (Perhaps a faulty spot by the officials on a 1st down catch fooled the Giants.) A prime scoring opportunity and a chance to go up 10-2 or even 14-2 was lost.
Not to be outdone, Mike Smith and Matt Ryan completely botched their own two-minute drill, going into the locker room with two timeouts in their hip pocket.
As pointed out by @Aaron_Nagler, the Packers are hardly quaking in their boots while watching this comedy of errors.
