Giants quarterback Eli Manning is off to his most efficient start to a season in his 15-year NFL career, yet the Giants' offense is fifth from the bottom of the league in scoring amid an uninspiring 1-3 start.

While Manning has completed an eye-popping 74.2 percent of his passes, he ranks No. 21 in the league with an average of just 6.99 yards per attempt.

Even Manning doesn't have the answer for why his high completion percentage hasn't translated to a higher yards per attempt or more than 18.3 points per game.

"I haven't specifically looked at that," Manning said, when asked by NJ Advance Media why his completion percentage isn't translating to more productive pass plays. "Obviously, there's a couple of games where we're down in the fourth quarter and they're playing you real soft, so we're taking check-downs and things underneath. So, I think we just have to do a good job getting the ball out, getting completions, and see if we can hit some shots as well."

By comparison, quarterbacks have traditionally had some of the highest completion percentages of their careers under Giants head coach Pat Shurmur, but they've also been productive moving the ball.

Last season, Case Keenum posted career highs in both completion percentage and yards per attempt with 67.6 and 7.4, respectively. Keenum ranked 11th in the NFL in yards per attempt.

Likewise, in 2016, Sam Bradford posted the second-highest completion percentage in league history with 71.6 while averaging 7.0 yards per attempt.

Despite what appears to be improved play from the Giants' offensive line the past two weeks, Shurmur believes the line is doing Manning no favors.

"The quarterback can't complete passes when he's laying on his back," Shurmur said, on a conference call with Carolina Panthers' reporters.

Pat Shurmur on improving Giants' pass protection woes: "The quarterback can't complete passes when he's laying on his back." — Joe Person (@josephperson) October 3, 2018

One of the talking points both from Manning and Shurmur this week has been finding a balance between being aggressive and reckless, which has helped both boost Manning's completion percentage and limit him to only one interception so far.

However, at some point, this offense and this quarterback need to start dictating what the offense is trying to do rather than just accept what the defense is giving. So far, those moments have been few and far between.

"If you think you can complete the pass, you throw it," Manning said. "If you don't, if it's a risk of a turnover or throwing it into double-coverage, that's not what it's about.

"You try to put your playmakers in a position to get open. That's what we're doing. Sometimes they take away certain things, you have to check it down, live with it and try to get a first down, move the chains, and live for another down or opportunity coming up."

Even New Orleans Saints defenders told NJ Advance Media that Manning left deep-ball opportunities on the field in Sunday's 33-18 Giants' loss.

"I feel like the guys up front put a scare in the quarterback, rushing him the way they rushed," Saints cornerback Ken Crawley said. "I know there were some shots there downfield, but he didn't take them."

In the Giants' lone victory of the season against the Houston Texans in Week 3, it seemed as though Shurmur saw plenty of success rolling Manning out, which helped the 37-year-old quarterback complete 25-of-29 attempts for 297 yards and two touchdowns.

"That's always part of what we do," Shurmur said, when asked by NJ Advance Media if there were less roll outs called against the Saints. "We get to it more or less, depending on who we're playing.

"We actually had more, believe it or not, hard-action in the pocket down the field throws called, than movement. That's not what the narrative has been."

Matt Lombardo may be reached at MLombardo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardoNFL