The New York Giants: A Sinking Ship
By Michael Stewart
I know it’s only been 2 games and both Giant losses could have gone in the Giants favor. However; the cold hard reality is that the Giants are 0-2 and despite playing Washington in week 3, will be playing tougher opponents through weeks 4-10 before their bye week.
The problem here is not that the Giants lost, but more importantly; how they lost. Blowing two 4th quarter leads (10 points) and making many mental mistakes along the way.
Game 1: Giants had a 3 pt lead and had the ball on the Dallas 2 yard line with less than 2 minutes to play. Eli Manning in his own words told Rashad Jennings not to score, so the Giants can eat more time on the clock.
If this is indeed true, why in the world would Manning (a 10+ year vet) make such a naïve suggestion. Scoring a TD would have given the Giants a 10 pt lead with roughly 2 minutes to play. That translates into the Cowboys needing to score very quickly and then recover an on-side kick. In the history of the NFL, that scenario happens very, very rarely.
Then to make matters worse, on 3rd down, the Giants run a pass play and Manning throws it away, instead of taking a knee. You expect that from a rookie QB, not Manning as that cost the Giants valuable time left on the clock.
Game 2: Giants home opener against a team that historically; the Giants have done well against at home. So what happens, the Giants play fairly well for about 45 minutes and let a 10 point lead slip through their hands as the Giants could make any big plays and let the Falcons march up and down the field to a 24-20 victory.
Now the Giants will be hosting the Washington Redskins who are in worse shape than they are and on paper, the Giants should notch their first win of the season. However; stranger things have happened and the way the Giants season has gone thus far, it wouldn’t surprise me if this is decided late in the 4th quarter.
The Giants lack play-makers, especially on the defensive side of the ball. OBJ is a play maker, but he has been the target of double teams in the last 2 games. Without a serious threat at either the WR or TE positions, why would opposing teams employ single coverage on OBJ. Randle and Donnell look lost and non factors, Preston Parker [now released] can’t catch a cold and Manning looks indecisive at times.
As I mentioned in the opening line, it’s only been 2 games, however; if the Giants continue this trend, they will surely miss the playoffs again and Jerry Reese and Tom Coughlin could be someplace else next season.