Pat Shurmur isn't about to express sympathy for the Atlanta Falcons'

ever-growing list of key players on injured reserve.The New York Giants' coach has his own problems.The Giants (1-5) will try to end their three-game losing streak when they face the Falcons (2-4) in Monday night's matchup of last-place teams. Atlanta snapped its own three-game skid with last week's win over Tampa Bay .The Falcons will lean on Tevin Coleman as their new starting running back after placing Devonta Freeman on I R this week with a groin injury. Freeman already missed three games with a bruised knee and last week's game with the groin injury B.J. Hill Jersey , so it was easy for Shurmur to study Falcons film with Coleman and rookie Ito Smith sharing all the snaps at running back."I've always been impressed with the way they move the ball and the way they score points," Shurmur said. "They find a way to score points no matter who is running the ball."The Giants' offensive woes continued in a 34-13 loss to the Eagles to extend their losing streak.Freeman joins offensive guard Andy Levitre as offensive starters on IR. Overall, the Falcons have lost five starters to IR, including safeties Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen and linebacker Deion Jones. Also, top defensive tackle Grady Jarrett has missed two straight games with an ankle injury.The Falcons hope Freeman and Allen can return this season, but each must miss at least eight games. Freeman wouldn't be eligible to return until the next-to-last game of the regular season."It's heartbreaking to see my guy go down," said Coleman of Freeman.Coleman said he has to fill the void so defenses can't focus on Matt Ryan and Atlanta's passing game."We definitely need to stay with the run just to open up the pass and keep defenses honest," he said.Here are some things to know about the Giants-Falcons matchup of last-place teams:BARKLEY ROLLINGGiants rookie halfback Saquon Barkley had a career-high 229 yards from scrimmage (130 rushing, 99 receiving) last week. He has at least 100 yards from scrimmage in each of his first six career games, one off the rookie record set by Kareem Hunt of Kansas City last season. The record for most consecutive games with 100 yards from scrimmage by a rookie during any point in the season is 10, set by Eric Dickerson of the Los Angeles Rams in 1983.NEW KICKERGiorgio Tavecchio was signed by Atlanta to fill in for at least one week for kicker Matt Bryant, who strained his right hamstring making a 57-yard field goal last week.Tavecchio, a native of Milan, Italy, made 16 of 21 field goal attempts with Oakland last season and spent time with the Falcons in the preseason.SCORING LETDOWNGiants quarterback Eli Manning has passed for more than 300 yards in three road games, and Barkley is sixth in the league with 437 yards rushing. Still Authentic Saquon Barkley Jersey , New York is scoring only 19.5 points per game to rank 27th."You've got to figure out what it is to score, and figure out what the problem is and fix it fast," said wide receiver Sterling Shepard. "I think the coaches did a great job putting together a game plan for this week and we've just got to go out there and execute it."BREAKOUT TIGHT ENDFalcons tight end Austin Hooper has suddenly emerged as a top target for Ryan with nine catches in each of his last two games. Hooper, in his third season, says all his practice with Ryan is paying off. "You add a couple thousand reps in the offseason and after a while it just becomes like playing catch," he said.MIFFED MARAGiants co-owner John Mara criticized his team earlier in the week , saying he was disappointed by the second consecutive 1-5 start. He was particularly angry with Odell Beckham Jr. The NFL's highest-paid receiver was critical of Manning and questioned the heart of the team two weeks ago in a televised interviewed. Mara said he wished Beckham would start making his news on the field.It will be interesting to see how Beckham and the team respond on Monday night.Giants at Panthers: 6 things to watch in Sunday’s game Can the underdog New York Giants pull off an upset of the Carolina Panthers on Sunday? Here are six things to watch as the 1-3 Giants try to get their season turned around.Barkley’s touchesComing off a game in which Saquon Barkley ran the ball a season-low 10 times we can likely expect to see a heavy dose of Eli Manning handing the ball to the rookie running back on Sunday. Provided, of course, that the Giants are close enough on the scoreboard for the running game to matter.Barkley is averaging 14 rushing attempts per game, tied for ninth in the league in rushing attempts. In two games, though (Dallas, 11 and New Orleans, 10) the Giants have seemed to get away from the running game too quickly.After coach Pat Shurmur admitted during the week that Barkley should have gotten more carries vs. the Saints, don’t expect the same mistake vs. Carolina. The Giants need more big plays, and handing the ball to Barkley is one way to try and get them. Doing so might also help open up some avenues in the passing game.Big plays in the passing gameThrow ‘em short. Throw ‘em long. Throw ‘em somewhere in between. Doesn’t matter — at least according to coach Pat Shurmur and quarterback Eli Manning. Hit it right and you can generate big plays. Unfortunately for the Giants, they haven’t generated enough thus far. The Giants are 23rd in the league in passing plays of 20 yards or more http://www.newyorkgiantsteamonline.com/saquon-barkley-jersey , with just nine through four games. They are one of only three teams without a passing play of 40 yards or more. Superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., the game’s highest paid wide receiver doesn’t have a touchdown and is averaging a career-worst 10.7 yards per catch. Thus far, Beckham has been a highly-paid possession receiver. Or even worse, a decoy.The Giants can talk about picking away at opposing defenses, staying ahead of the chains or on schedule on offense, but this is a team with two of the game’s great play-makers in Beckham and Barkley along with some quality ancillary options. They need to begin to find ways to get those explosive plays in the passing game.Defending the zone read Blake Bortles: 4 carries, 42 yards (a long run of 41 yards)Dak Prescott: 7 carries, 45 yards (a long run of 15 yards)Deshaun Watson: 5 carries, 36 yards (a long run of 10 yards)Taysom Hill: 4 carries, 28 yards (a long run of 19 yards)That’s 20 carries for 151 yards, an average of 7.55 yards per pop, by quarterbacks running against the Giants this season.Sunday, the Giants face Cam Newton, who could end his career as the most prolific rushing quarterback of all time. Newton needs 27 yards rushing to surpass Randall Cunningham (4,482) for most rushing yards by a quarterback with a single team. Only Michael Vick (6,109) and Cunningham (4 http://www.newyorkgiantsteamonline.com/patrick-omameh-jersey ,928) have more rushing yards than Newton (4,456) among quarterbacks.You can bet that the Panthers will use a heavy dose of the zone read, which has bedeviled the Giants all season, and other designed quarterback runs until — and unless — the Giants finally show they can handle it.Defensive coordinator James Bettcher knows what’s coming.“He [Newton] is a very physical, big guy who at times in the zone option scheme, will take the matchup. You will be in the right spot, you’ll have the guy that’s supposed to be on the quarterback on the quarterback, and he will take the matchup at times whether that’s just pulling the ball, or maybe that’s giving the ball and taking the matchup,” Bettcher said. “He’s really smart with those kinds of things and they do a nice job putting him in some of those kinds of situations.”The Giants really haven’t successfully defended the zone read yet. Can they figure out a way to do it against perhaps the best quarterback who has ever run it? That’s not fun to think about.Here is part of what Chris wrote about the Carolina offense earlier in the week:Which brings us to McCaffrey Back to more of what Chris wrote earlier in the week:After Newton, the second-year back is clearly Carolina’s most important offensive player. “One thing about him, when I turn the tape on, I see an explosive guy who’s not afraid. He’s shifty, he can do all those things in space, but he’s not afraid to put his foot down, lower his pads http://www.newyorkgiantsteamonline.com/kareem-martin-jersey , and he’s going to try and run someone over,” Bettcher said. “Those are the kinds of backs that as a defensive coach you have a lot of respect for, that when it’s time to put your pads down and get those tough two yards, this is a guy who’s going to put his pads down and get the tough two yards.”Can Olivier Vernon make an impact?Vernon, who had 6.5 sacks a season ago and has 44 in six NFL seasons, could make his season debut Sunday. The Giants, 30th in the league in sack percentage at 3.65 and facing a prolific running quarterback like Newton, could use Vernon’s help.Vernon said this week he wants to be certain he can move well enough not to be a liability. Vernon is the team’s most talented EDGE player. His presence vs. the Panthers would be a huge plus.Oh, those negative playsManning, Shurmur and offensive coordinator Mike Shula all talked during the week about the need for the Giants to eliminate negative plays. That seems obvious, of course. Just how many negative plays have the Giants had on offense? Here’s how many:15 sacks (fourth-most in the league)14 runs for negative yardage (fifth-most)Four passes for negative yardage (that’s unofficial, by my count having gone through every play)Sixteen accepted offensive penaltiesThat is 49 negative plays in 279 potential offensive snaps, including the 16 plays that didn’t count because of penalties. That means that 17.5 percent of the time the Giants have gone backwards. You just can’t overcome that high volume of bad plays, especially when you are running an offense that is trying to minimize risk.