Brandon Marshall: ‘Just not playing well right now’
Giants wide receiver Brandon Marshall loses the football after getting hit by Buccaneers cornerback Brent Grimes and safety Justin Evans on Oct. 1, 2017, in Tampa, Fla. Credit: AP / Phelan Ebenhack
Brandon Marshall figured he’d be a significant addition to a Giants’ offense that needed a playmaker on the outside.
But four games into the season, Marshall simply hasn’t been the receiver the Giants envisioned.
“Just not playing well right now,” Marshall said after the loss to the Buccaneers Sunday. “I haven’t played a solid game since I’ve been here.”
Marshall had some promising moments in the 25-23 loss to the Bucs, including a key third-down catch that gave the Giants a first-and-goal at the Buccaneers’ 4-yard line in the third quarter. Eli Manning hit rookie running back Wayne Gallman Jr. on the next play for a touchdown to give the Giants their first lead at 17-16.
But he also had three key drops in addition to his six catches for 46 yards. For the season, Marshall has 16 catches for 139 yards and no touchdowns.
“It’s not going good,” he said. “I’ve got to put a complete game together. All I can do is find a way to get better.”
It seems odd for a player of Marshall’s stature and resume to be struggling with the basics of his profession.
“I think catching is confidence, confidence is catching,” Ben McAdoo said on his conference call Monday regarding Marshall’s play. “He seems to be double-catching a little bit and we just need to get through a clean game with him. He’s been catching it well in practice, we need to carry it over to game day. And that’s a part of the game for receivers.”
Marshall spoke openly about his concerns with learning the offense this summer, but a quarter of the way through the regular season should be long enough for him to have settled in with that process.
“He’s still doing a lot of learning,” McAdoo said. “Playing with a different quarterback. He hasn’t caught the ball cleanly in games.”
All of them, it should be noted, were losses.
Marshall said he’s disappointed by the Giants’ 0-4 start, although not necessarily shocked.
“I’ve been in this situation before,” he said. “It’s just football, you know? It’s extremely hard to win a game. Obviously, we have high expectations, and we’re not getting it done. It’s definitely not the position we want to be in. It’s definitely a tough position to start 0-4.”
How do you fix it?
“All you can do is go back to work and work hard,” he said. “Try to get better and find ways to get better.”
Like catching the football.
Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”
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