The New York Giants fell to 2-11 on the season with a 23-17 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football, but despite the defeat, there were several reasons for optimism.

Chief among them was the play of rookie wide receiver Darius Slayton, who hauled in five receptions for 154 yards and two touchdowns. That performance earned him a 90.3 overall grade.

Pro Football Focus provided a little additional context in their ReFocused segment.

Wide receiver Darius Slayton had two long touchdowns on deep balls from Manning, but he too fell off in the second half. He had just two targets and zero catches in the final two quarters of play.

On the defensive side of the ball, rookie cornerback DeAndre Baker had another high quality game, allowing just one reception for seven yards in his rotation with Sam Beal, who did not fare nearly as well.

Veteran safety Antoine Bethea also drew a little praise for his work against the run, while several others defenders earned some kudos in the ReFocused segment.

Rookie Oshane Ximines got a second-quarter sack of Wentz after he slid inside of Jason Peters, the sack occurred in the red zone and forced a field goal. Ximines picked up a second sack in the fourth quarter after beating back-up left tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai inside. Markus Golden had an unblocked sack to end the Eagles’ opening drive of the game. Golden picked up a hit of Wentz on the very next drive.

With all the praise being slung around, someone had to catch blame for the loss. And who else but veteran quarterback Eli Manning, who hadn’t played in 10 weeks and tossed two touchdowns and over 200 yards to his zero turnovers?

Yeah, makes sense.

Eli Manning started hot in his spot start for injured rookie Daniel Jones but faded in the second half as he struggled to move the ball. His drop-off in play ultimately resulted in another loss for the Giants.

Read that again — the Giants lost because of Manning’s drop-off in play during the second half when the Giants defense couldn’t stop anything, the offensive line couldn’t block anything, the receivers couldn’t catch anything and zero adjustments were made by head coach Pat Shurmur and defensive coordinator James Bettcher.

As many things change, so many stay the same.