PHILADELPHIA – The Giants to a man say they have to be smarter as a football team.
If that were the case, then the results on the field would prove a severe lack in intelligence.
What else can explain the turnover epidemic that, along with the mounting injuries threaten to take a season a promise into a season of regret with potential ramifications?
After turning the ball over five more times on Sunday night in their 27-17 loss at Lincoln Financial Field to the Eagles for the fifth consecutive time, you begin to wonder whether there is any cure to this deadly disease ailing this team.
Said Head Coach Tom Coughlin after the game, “This callous disregard for the ball, which has been going on for probably a year and a half here, and no one seems to be able to do anything about, again, cost us the football game.”
Clearly, Coughlin has no answers for this problem. Otherwise, he would have found a way to correct it. The “year and a half” that he references goes back to 2009 when his squad gave the ball away an astounding 31 times. 26 of those came in the final 11 games after their 5-0 start that dissolved into a playoff-less 8-8 finish.
This year, the problems have grown worse. 30 turnovers is the number with six games remaining. Unless there is some magic potion that the suddenly depleted offense will take between now and say, starting next Sunday against Jacksonville, the Giants will shatter that number by a healthy amount.
It is outright reckless.
“We’ve got to stop, somehow, some way, stop the turnover,” Coughlin continued.
All season the Giants have given the ball away much as a family doles out candy on Halloween to kids who trick-or-treat.
Come one come all! Free footballs for everyone!
Quarterback Eli Manning, responsible for 20 of the teams 30 gifts to the opponent said, “If we want to go anywhere, we have to fix it.”
You can get away with this lack of ball security against teams like Carolina, Houston, and in the first Dallas game when you have the talent and scoring ability to overcome it. Eventually, this catches up with you and it will always happen against an opponent of your equal.
“I have to stop the turnovers,” Manning said.
Yet, it keeps happening.
It is a miracle the Giants were even able to make this loss to the Eagles as close as it was. In the
second quarter, the offense tried to make sure the game was over by halftime by turning the ball over on successive drives. The first one came when Ahmad Bradshaw had the ball ripped out of his possession by Eagles rookie Brandon Graham, giving them the ball at the Giants 23. The second one came when Asante Samuel read Eli Manning’s eyes, jumped in front of Hakeem Nicks and intercepted a pass, returning it to the Giants 15.
Incredibly, the defense (aided by a dropped touchdown pass in the end zone by Jason Avant) both times limited the high-octane Philadelphia attack to only field goals on both drives when the score could have been as much as 21-3.
Give the defense credit for picking up the offense in those spots. However, it is becoming very apparent that this issue of turning the ball over is not going to stop no matter what the players or the coaches say on the subject.
The tired line of “we have to fix it” has become old. Even older is the tired line of “we beat ourselves,” a phrase Brandon Jacobs mentioned after the game.
“We cannot continue to beat ourselves. I don’t think that we are being outcoached or outplayed in many of these games.
Maybe so. However, when you turn the ball over 30 times, you can no longer use that excuse. Continuous self-inflicted damage becomes part of their DNA. Yes, they can move the ball as well as any team in the league (with the exception of last night). Eventually though they will find some way to make a mistake and spoil everything they done.
It is unusual coming from a team that only two years ago set the NFL record low for turnovers with 13. The 32 last year represented a 250% jump from 2008 and the Giants are on pace this season to shatter that.
Jacobs continued, “There is a dark cloud hanging over us right now”, speaking of the giveaways.
In that sense, they are nothing more than a good team that cannot get out of its own way. What good is it to gain 400 yards of offense if you are going turn the football over numerous times?
Manning himself has been a large part of the problem. His 20 charitable donations on the season place him second in the NFL to Brett Favre. While you may put the blame somewhat on his receivers for allowing balls to bounce in the air (or in last week’s case, Nicks failing to run his route fully), a majority of his interceptions are on him.
Said Manning, “We can’t afford to make mistakes.”
Bradshaw, for all the heart that he shows on the field as a runner, fighting for extra yardage and refusing not to go down, has grown the reputation as a man who will put the ball on the ground. The number of fumbles could have grown to six if not for Coughlin’s replay challenge in the middle of the fourth quarter showing that his wrist was on the grass before the ball came out, averting disaster.
Miraculously, the Giants still had a chance in the game down by a touchdown after LeSean McCoy gave the Eagles a 24-17 on a 50-yard sprint on fourth-and-1.
Manning’s pass for Derek Hagan was tipped and intercepted by Samuel for the second time, but Bradshaw forced a fumble to give the ball back to the offense.
Three plays netted four yards and the Giants faced a fourth down needing six. Manning took the shotgun snap, and with no one open, elected to scramble for the first down.
He got it.
Then, instead of going to the ground by sliding, Manning awkwardly stumbled to the grass. Problem was that he did give himself up, thus the play was not dead. The same play happened when the two teams played last season.
The ball came out and the Eagles recovered.
Game over.
“I have to slide,” Manning explained. “It has happened to me before, I just got to not worry about the yardage, we already have the first down and I need to go feet first and move the chains.”
In that one play, you saw what has become of the Giants season. A mixture of great play combined with the bonehead mistakes that now has them fighting for a playoff spot instead of growing their status as elite title contenders.
“You know it’s frustrating,” said Justin Tuck. “But the good thing about it is we can fix it. It is something that can be fixed.”
Easier said than done.
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