Giants Q&A: Rueben Randle steals some of Odell Beckham Jr.'s thunder
New York Giants wide receiver Rueben Randle, left, dives into the end zone past St. Louis Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson after catching a 7-yard pass for a touchdown during the second half of an NFL game Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014, in St. Louis. Credit: AP / Charlie Riedel
How'd the other Giants wide receiver from LSU do?
You mean Rueben Randle, who has struggled in recent weeks and twice was disciplined in the last four games for violating team rules? He did great. Randle caught six passes for 132 yards and a touchdown in what would have been a standout performance were it not for the more famous wide receiver from LSU, Odell Beckham Jr., who caught eight passes for 148 yards and two TDs.
In the previous four games, Randle caught nine passes for 127 yards. Sunday's touchdown -- which gave the Giants a 27-13 lead in the third quarter -- was his first since Week 5.
Weren't the Rams supposed to have a great defense?
Well, they had gone 12 quarters without allowing an offensive touchdown before the Giants put it to them with 514 yards of total offense and three players with more than 100 yards each. The Giants also did a great job of protecting Eli Manning, who was sacked only once (although Will Beatty was flagged for four holding penalties to help in that protection).
"Not many teams have been scoring many points on them and no touchdowns for a while,'' Manning said, "and it was nice to go out there and play well and have a good feel for what they were doing."
And Manning? How did he do?
It was his best performance of the year, with a near-perfect passer rating of 148.8. He completed 25 of 32 passes for an absurd 78.1 percent and threw for a season-high 391 yards. It was his second straight game with three touchdown passes and no picks.
Was there anything Kerry Wynn didn't do in the game?
The rookie defensive end had an interception, a sack and a fumble recovery, completing the rare trifecta for defensive linemen. But he still took grief from one of his teammates for coming up short. "Scoop and score, Kerry!" said fellow defensive lineman Markus Kuhn, who scored a touchdown in such a way two weeks ago. "It takes a German," Kuhn added.
What upset Andre Williams?
Nothing that the Rams did. He answered their physicality with a monster hit on Rodney McCloud and enjoyed when their defensive backs wound up injured after other collisions with him. But in the first half, he looked at an inside zone run on one of the coaching tablets on the sideline and saw that he missed a cutback opportunity.
"I saw it and I was disgusted," he said. "I didn't want to miss it again." So in the third quarter, Williams -- who rushed for 110 yards -- reeled off a 45-yard run on a similar play. "The opportunity came, it showed itself again, and I had the wherewithal to hit it," he said.
Who is Orleans Darkwa?
He's a rookie running back who was added to the Giants' roster at midseason because of injuries, and he scored his first career TD on a 12-yard run. He also forced a fumble on a kickoff return. The Giants like his speed and ability to catch the ball. He could become a nice complement to Williams.
Anything Tom Coughlin didn't like about the game?
Apparently the questions after it, because he left his postgame news conference in a snit after taking one too many questions about the ancillary aspects of the afternoon. "Does anybody want to talk about the game?" he said. "We have to talk about all of this stuff? What else do you want to ask me about? . . . Happy holidays."
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
