A Giants clunker has become almost as much of a yearly guarantee as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
And in recent years it’s the one gimme game that has separated the Giants from the playoffs. Tom Coughlin deserves credit for being able to turn his team around after these losses, but the Giants no longer have the talent to afford them. This isn’t 2007 and 2008, when the Giants were among the best teams in the NFL, or 2006, when 8-8 was good enough to get the Giants into the playoffs.
The NFC is a deep and talented conference — even the Lions and Redskins are in contention — and the teams that make the playoffs are the ones that win the games they should win and a couple they shouldn’t. The Giants already do the latter; two weeks ago they produced a brilliant performance in Philadelphia. The Eagles are not as good as everyone expected, but they are an extremely talented team and the Giants pulled an upset that should have provided momentum.
The same cannot be said about the Seahawks, who are average at home and pathetic on the road. Seattle is in a rebuilding season with Tarvaris Jackson at starting quarterback, and even knocking him out of the game was not good enough as Charlie Whitehurst rallied the Seahawks late.
“I don’t know,” former Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce said on “SportsCenter” Monday morning. “We always would have those games where’d you wake up the next day scratching your head.”
It’s hard not to place the blame on Coughlin. The Giants — winners of three straight — were simply not ready to play against a far inferior team Sunday. The Giants lost 36-25 and had late leads of 22-19 and 25-22, but really this game should have been a blowout for the Seahawks. Only Seahawks turnovers in the red zone kept it close for as long as it did, and even that could not save the Giants.
They lost the second of those leads on a play when the defense stopped playing because they thought they heard a whistle, leaving future Hall of Famer Doug Baldwin all alone for a 27-yard touchdown. It’s that type of play that has defined these no-show losses in the Coughlin Era. I am confident the Giants will regroup and put up a much better effort against the Bills this Sunday. But that might not matter at the end. You only have so many easy games on your schedule and the Giants just choked one away. If they miss the playoffs at 10-6, like last season, they can look back at this game and know they should have been 11-5.
And even the extremely patient Maras may run out of patience for games like Sunday.
Here’s a look at some of the Giants other terrible performances under Coughlin:
Nov. 13, 2010 — Cowboys 33-20
The Giants had come in winners of five straight, Dallas losers of five straight, but in Jason Garrett’s first game as Cowboys coach that did not matter.
Jon Kitna threw three touchdowns and the Cowboys rolled with 19 straight points after falling behind 3-0.
Sept. 19, 2010 — Titans 29-10
The Giants turned over the ball twice inside Tennessee’s 6-yard line and Vince Young led the Titans to an easy win.
Nov. 26, 2009 — Broncos 26-6
After starting 6-0, Denver would win two of its final 10 games, and one of them came against the Giants in convincing fashion.
On Thanksgiving night, the Broncos led 16-0 at the half and kept the Giants out of the end zone for the easy win. It’s the same Broncos defense that would allow the 4-12 Chiefs to score 44 points on them the final game of the season.
Oct. 13, 2008 — Browns 35-14
We’ll give Coughlin a break for the late-season collapse brought on by Plaxico Burress’ arrest. But early in the season, the defending Super Bowl champs forgot to show up for a Monday nighter in Cleveland and got thumped by a Browns team that finished 4-12.
Dec. 16, 2007 — Redskins 22-10
Even in a season the Giants would go on to win the Super Bowl, there were terrible losses. Todd Collins led the Redskins into the Meadowlands, and despite completing 8 of 25 passes, the veteran led Washington to the easy win.
Nov. 26, 2006 — Titans 24-21
This was the loss that could have cost Coughlin his job five years ago if not for Tiki Barber’s heroic performance in the season finale that got the Giants to 8-8 and into the playoffs.
The Giants were dominating the 3-7 Titans and had raced out to a 21-0 halftime lead that they still held after three quarters. But the Titans would score 24 points in the final quarter, highlighted by the Giants handing them two fourth-down conversions on a late-hit penalty and when Mathias Kiwanuka let go of Young, eliminating a sure sack and allowing them to convert. Kiwanuka thought he heard the whistle then, just as he did Sunday.
This is what was thought to be Young’s coming-out party, instead it became a staple of the Coughlin Era.
Nov. 13, 2005 — Vikings 24-21
Heading into the Meadowlands, the Vikings had been outscored 133-34 in their four road games. But they intercepted Eli Manning four times and returned one of them for a touchdown. Minnesota blocked a kick and a punt for a touchdown in the upset.
