http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/sports/football/green-bay-packers-send-ny-giants-to-third-loss.html 2016-10-10 07:22:55 Unexceptional Packers Offense Is Good Enough to Beat Giants Aaron Rodgers threw for two touchdowns, and Green Bay kept the Giants out of the end zone until an Odell Beckham Jr. score late in the game, as the Packers won their second straight. === GREEN BAY, Wis. — For what it is worth to the Giants, With both teams missing critical players in the defensive secondary, Rodgers and Manning seemed likely to amass big passing statistics on Sunday night at Lambeau Field. That is not how things played out. An unexceptional Rodgers threw for two touchdowns and two interceptions in the Packers’ 23-16 victory. Manning struggled for the second consecutive week as the Giants scored just one touchdown and lost their third straight game. Odell Beckham Jr., the Giants’ lightning-rod wide receiver, avoided penalties and controversy, catching five passes for 56 yards, a slight improvement over last week’s career-low 23 yards on three catches. And the Giants’ defense nabbed its first takeaways of the season: two interceptions by Janoris Jenkins in the first half. But Manning could have expected to exploit a Green Bay secondary that was missing the starting cornerbacks Sam Shields and Damarious Randall. (Shields had a concussion, and Randall had a groin injury.) Filling in: the second-year pros Quinten Rollins, who made four starts last year, and LaDarius Gunter, an undrafted free agent. But the Giants fell behind before Manning ever touched the ball. Manning completed 18 of 35 passes for 199 yards and one touchdown, and the only Giants’ points came on three Josh Brown field goals and Beckham’s first touchdown of the season, on a 8-yard catch late in the game. Rodgers started the game by taking more than eight minutes off the clock on a touchdown drive. Mixing runs and rollout passes, Rodgers took the Packers 75 yards in 16 plays, finding a diving Jordy Nelson in the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown. Nelson stumbled before making the catch parallel to the ground. The Giants failed to move the ball on their opening drive, and Green Bay appeared to go up by 14-0 when Rodgers threw 21 yards to Randall Cobb in the end zone on a quick post pattern, but offsetting penalties negated the play. Rodgers then threw again to Nelson over the middle. The ball bounced off Nelson’s hands right to Jenkins. Brown kicked a 47-yard field goal in the second quarter for the Giants’ first points. But Green Bay continued to move the ball at will, especially on the ground. Lacy’s 31-yard burst through the left side brought the Packers from their 20-yard line to the Giants’ 49. Four plays later, Rodgers lofted a pass over cornerback Michael Hunter to Davante Adams. Hunter tried to shove Adams out of bounds, but Adams switched the ball to his left hand and slipped it around the pylon for a 29-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead. Jenkins’s second interception gave the Giants the ball at the Packers’ 40. Manning threw behind Sterling Shepard on third down, the ball hitting Packers safety Micah Hyde in the shoulder, and Brown connected again from 41 yards. Late in the half Manning could not connect with tight end Will Tye, who was wide open over the middle, and the ball glanced high off Tye’s fingers. Then Manning fumbled while being sacked by Kyler Fackrell, with Kenny Clark recovering the ball for Green Bay on the Giants’ 31 with 1:15 left. There, the Giants caught a break: an offensive pass interference penalty on Adams for grabbing Trevin Wade’s jersey as they jostled on the route. Instead of a possible touchdown, Green Bay took Mason Crosby’s 44-yard field goal to go up by 17-6 at the half. McAdoo worked in Green Bay for McCarthy from 2006 to 2013. He coached tight ends for six seasons and quarterbacks for two, then joined Tom Coughlin as the Giants’ offensive coordinator. Last week McAdoo said he had no special feelings about coaching against his former boss in one of the N.F.L.’s most storied stadiums. How, he asked, could he expect his players to be disciplined and poised if he could not be that way himself?