Giant Football Blog

Get ready for apologies part deux

First, it was the playoffs that were no longer guaranteed. Then, it was a few key jobs.

By the time the Giants picked up the shattered pieces of their lost season in the locker room following a second straight embarrassing loss, it was the plane ride back to Jersey that was no longer a lock.

“To be honest with you, I wouldn’t be surprised if John Mara takes off without us and lets us find our own way home,” center Shaun O’Hara said after the Giants capped their meltdown with a 44-7 loss to the Vikings. “To play like that two weeks in a row, that’s disrespectful to the logo that’s on our helmet. The Maras, the Tisches, the Giants organization and the fans certainly deserved better than they received the last two weeks from the players.” Continue

Giants embarrassed in stadium finale

The Giants played their 283rd, last and possibly worst game ever at their soon-to-be demolished Giants Stadium. They picked a huge moment to come up infinitesimally small and on their way to utter embarrassment to themselves and the franchise they all-but ushered themselves out of playoff contention.

If only the wrecking ball was brought in before this debacle. It would have saved everyone intimately and remotely involved with the Giants from three hours of torture.

In a game they had to win to close out their home in grand fashion and, more importantly, to keep alive their post-season hopes, the Giants did not merely lose. They never showed up. They shamed the uniform and the tradition and the honor of the franchise, falling meekly and non-competitively to the Panthers 41-9 in a performance so wholly awful that it not only ruined the goodbye party and the season but will cost people jobs. Continue

Giants show fight in rout of Skins

Two years ago, long before their Super Bowl run could begin, the Giants made their most famous stand in Washington and saved their season.

Monday night they may have done it again.

It may not have been as dramatic as the Week 3 goal-line stand in the final seconds back in 2007, but the Giants' dominant, 45-12 win over the Redskins may have been just as important. With almost no wiggle room left in their playoff chase, the Giants needed a win to stay alive.

And they have most definitely come alive.

"We're fighting," said Giants left tackle David Diehl. "We're fighting to stay in this. People were counting us out and saying after last week that we were just going to shut it down. We're going to do our best to prove people wrong." Continue

Giants D not up to Philly challenge

The Giants already had sour memories of DeSean Jackson from their first meeting with the Eagles this season. Sunday night’s 45-38 loss to Philadelphia at the Meadowlands was an even more sour reminder they have to face this guy at least twice each season.

The second-year receiver turned in two huge strikes — a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 60-yard catch for a score — to add to the headache he gave the Giants in the teams’ first meeting.

“We have to be cognizant of where he is on the field at all times,” cornerback Corey Webster said. “We have to know where the playmaker is at. We can’t just let him run down the field unharmed.” Continue

Giants back in the mix for playoff spot,beat Cowboys 31-24

Sunday evening, the Giants took control of their critical division game against the Cowboys -- and, perhaps, their season. Bolstered by running back Brandon Jacobs' 74-yard touchdown play and a 79-yard punt return from Domenik Hixon, the Giants fought their way to a 31-24 victory against Dallas at home.

With the win, the Giants (7-5) pulled within a half-game of the Cowboys (8-4) in the division standings, if the tiebreaker is factored in. The Eagles (8-4), who come to Giants Stadium next Sunday, are tied with Dallas atop the NFC East.

The Giants had led at the half, 14-10, after a pair of touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half. They had a chance to add to that lead when they came back out for the second half, but quarterback Eli Manning threw an interception in the end zone to Dallas cornerback Mike Jenkins. Continue

Giants mail it in vs Broncos

The Giants didn’t want any parts of this game when the schedule came out.

And they absolutely played like it Thursday night.

With a defense that couldn’t tackle or make a stop in the first half and an offense that failed to find the end zone for the first time this season, the Giants erased all of the good vibes they had mounted in Sunday’s victory over the Falcons with a 26-6 loss to the Broncos.

"We just didn’t play as well as we should," said Osi Umenyiora, who was caught by the TV cameras yelling on the sideline in the direction of a few teammates. "Given the situation, given the circumstances we’re in, we should have played a lot harder and we should have made a lot more plays. But we didn’t." Continue

Giants hold on and beat Falcons in OT 34-31

The Giants' long, miserable losing streak is finally over. But just barely.

They needed a monster game from QB Eli Manning and overtime to do it, but the Giants were able to squeak by the Atlanta Falcons, 34-31, Sunday afternoon. They got their first win since Oct. 11 thanks to a 384-yard, three-touchdown performance from their quarterback, and a game-winning 36-yard field goal from Lawrence Tynes..

It shouldn't have been nearly that close, of course. The Giants' defense, with its captain, Antonio Pierce, standing on the sideline with a bulging disc in his neck, gave up a 14-point lead in the final six minutes. In fact, they let the Falcons march 76 yards on 12 plays and get an 11-yard touchdown pass from Ryan to TE Tony Gonzalez with 28 seconds remaining to tie the game at 31-31. Continue

D can't seal the deal, Giants lose 4 in a row heading in to bye week

The much-maligned defense pulled the entire season back from the brink of disaster Sunday.

And then they let it go again.

What Antonio Pierce called a "Super Bowl" for the Giants and what Tom Coughlin called "a one-game season" came down to one awful drive for the defense. They let the Chargers go 80 yards in 1:46 and score on an 18-yard touchdown pass form Phillip Rivers to Vincent Jackson with 21 seconds remaining.

And just like that, what had been a remarkable comeback turned into another chapter in this disaster of a season, and a heart-breaking, 21-20 loss.

It was the Giants' fourth straight loss, equaling their longest losing streak since 2006, and it was clearly the worst of the streak. The defense had appeared to save the day earlier in the fourth quarter when its brilliant play had whipped the Giants Stadium crowd into a frenzy. Continue

Giants crushed by Eagles, its an official tailspin

For two weeks and two losses, the Giants kept insisting it was not time to panic.

So how about now?

This once powerful team hit what they can only hope is rock bottom Sunday, when the Giants were embarrassed by the Philadelphia Eagles, 40-17, at Lincoln Financial Field . For the second straight week, Eli Manning was inept, throwing two more interceptions, and for the second time in three weeks the Giants' defense was a disaster, giving up 391 total yards.

That's three-straight losses for the reeling and fading Giants who, just three weeks after getting off to a 5-0 start, are sitting in third place in the NFC East for the first time in two years.

The Giants (5-3) deserve that less than lofty place in the standings their absolutely dreadful performance against an Eagles team that was playing without Giant-killer Brian Westbrook(concussion). They were down 13-0 before anyone broke a sweat on the Giants offense. And as soon as they made it a game, closing to within 16-7 late in the first half, the Eagles turned it into a blowout before anyone could blink their eyes. Continue

Manning's 3 picks doom Giants

Eli Manning got the cornerback to “sit” on the right side, just like he wanted. He knew it would be a tight throw into Steve Smith underneath safety Antrel Rolle. But Smith had held onto a 34-yard catch in traffic just a few minutes earlier. And on the previous drive, Kevin Boss had clutched a 25-yard grab while taking a big (and arguably illegal) hit from Rolle.

Plus, this is Manning we’re talking about – a late-game magician who had been chucking balls into traffic during fourth-quarter comebacks long before David Tyree pinned one onto his helmet.

But this time, with 1:22 left on the clock, there was no magic. Only an interception by Rolle, who outmaneuvered Smith to make the catch and seal the Cardinals’ 24-17 victory – an outcome that made it a two-game losing streak for the Giants and pretty much erased the confidence they had built up over the first five weeks of the season.

It was Manning's first failed attempt at a fourth-quarter comeback drive (while tied or trailing by one score) since he was intercepted by then-Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs in the 2007 regular-season finale. Continue