CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Eli Manning is starting to get the hang of the New York Giants newly installed up-tempo offense.
It helped that the 11th-year quarterback got a chance to go in for a third series in the Giants’ 17-13 win over the Buffalo Bills in the preseason-opening Hall of Fame Game on Sunday night.
After Manning ended the Giants’ second series by losing a fumble on a sack, he bounced back by methodically engineering a 12-play, 80-yard drive capped by rookie Andre Williams’ 3-yard touchdown run.
“Yeah, it was big for our offense to get something going, get a few first downs, get in a good rhythm,” Manning said. “I’m glad we had that one last opportunity.”
Manning went 6 of 7 for 43 yards passing, with his longest completion for 10 yards. He was complemented by a 1-2 punch of a running game made up of Williams and free-agent addition Rashad Jennings, who took much of the pressure off the passing attack.
The focus on a ground game is part of the new wrinkles being introduced by new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo.
“I thought there were some improvements. It was a good start,” Manning said.
Rookie receiver Corey Washington scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 73-yard pass up the right sideline from backup Ryan Nassib with 13:18 remaining.
Bills backup Jeff Tuel hit Robert Woods for a 2-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal to put Buffalo ahead 10-7 early in the second quarter.