PHILADELPHIA — Full disclosure: Entering the game, I was actually mildly interested in seeing Jake Fromm play quarterback Sunday.
What else — with this miserable, forgettable season grinding toward its merciful end — was there to keep anyone’s interest in the Giants in their game against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field?
How did it go?
“I don’t think it gets much worse than that,’’ Fromm said of his first NFL start.
Sadly, that postgame assessment was the most accurate pass Fromm made all day.
Fromm completed 6 of 17 passes for 25 yards and an interception through 2 ¹/₂ quarters of the Giants’ dispiriting 34-10 loss.
Twenty-five yards passing in 2 ¹/₂ quarters is difficult to do unless you’re the Patriots throwing the ball only four times all game in gale winds in Buffalo.
“I was juiced up,’’ Fromm said. “I was ready to go, I was excited. The goal I had in mind was to start fast. We didn’t do that.’’
Fromm and the Giants didn’t start fast or end fast. As a result, a game that was tied 3-3 at the half didn’t end well.
Why?
Because offensively the Giants played the game without a proper NFL quarterback. They could have put receiver Kadarius Toney or safety Logan Ryan (both former high school quarterbacks) behind center against the Eagles and it couldn’t have looked worse.
Jake Fromm played like “Jake from State Farm.”
“I wish I would have played better,’’ Fromm said. “I wish the ball would have been exactly where I wanted it to be, but I was amped up and ready to go. I guess maybe the first couple got away from me.”
Fromm’s first few passes were basically uncatchable, too high, too hard, too quick.
“It’s not the way I wanted to represent myself, my family or, of course, this organization,’’ Fromm said.
It got no better when Fromm — in a mercy move by the coaching staff — was benched with 7:48 remaining in the third quarter and replaced by veteran journeyman Mike Glennon.
The good news for Glennon, who has a 7-26 record as an NFL starter (including nine straight losses), is that he didn’t start this game so it doesn’t add to the demerits on his career won-loss record.
Glennon entered the game with the Giants trailing 13-3, a deficit that at the time felt a lot more like 33-3. He finished 17 of 27 for 93 yards with a garbage-time TD pass and a pick-six gift to Philadelphia linebacker Alex Singleton that gave the Eagles a 34-3 lead with 10:19 still remaining in the game.
“Obviously, not how we envisioned it going,’’ Glennon said of the day.
“Obviously, not what I wanted,’’ Glennon said about not starting the game. “Disappointed. But I prepared all week and was ready to go mentally.’’
He didn’t look very ready. Nor did the offensive line, running backs, receivers or anyone else on offense.
To Glennon’s credit, he did what he could to boost Fromm’s confidence before the game.
“I reminded him before the game that he belongs here,’’ Glennon said. “He’s had a lot of success leading up to this point. There’s a reason why he was such a decorated player coming out of Georgia and all the wins he had there. I just told him he’s here for a reason, that he belongs, and he should go out and have fun.
“Obviously, it didn’t go as planned.”
Obviously.
“First start, it’s not an easy job playing in the NFL … unfortunately, it didn’t go as he wanted,” Glennon said.
“He’s a young guy, he went out there and he had his shot, but everything doesn’t go your way,’’ said Giants linebacker Lorenzo Carter, a former teammate of Fromm’s at Georgia. “I told him he’s just got to keep his head up, keep working.’’
Fromm, of course, had no complaints about being yanked in the third quarter. He, in fact, sounded like he’d have probably benched himself if he was in charge.
“I wish nobody — any of the coaches — would have been put in that situation,’’ he said. “I wish I would have gone out and handled my business, led us to victory, and we’d be having a nice ride home.”
There will be no nice rides home for the Giants. Not at 4-11. Not having scored a league-low 22 offensive touchdowns in 15 games this season.
Fromm or Glennon starting the next game, the day after New Year’s in Chicago?
“We’ll decide based on how they practice,’’ Giants coach Joe Judge said. “We’ll see how these guys do.”
I think we’ve seen enough. I know I have.
