POSTED: Tuesday December 16th 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GIANTS NOTEBOOK, DECEMBER 15, 2008
By Michael Eisen
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Enduring Sunday night’s defeat was bad enough. Then Eli Manning further tortured himself by studying the Giants’ 20-8 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
“We struggled at times,” Manning said, “but I think once I looked at the film I kind of got more upset just because I thought we had some opportunities. We didn’t play our best, but we hung in there at the end and we kind of gave ourselves a fighting chance at the end. We had a couple opportunities, but we didn’t make plays and some of that is my fault.”
Just as there is with the U.S. economy, plenty of blame can be ascribed to the unprecedented slump the Giants’ offense now find itself in. Two weeks ago, the Giants had the NFL’s highest-scoring team. But the Giants scored a total of 22 points the last two weeks in losses to Philadelphia and Dallas. On Sunday, they failed to score a touchdown in a regular season game for the first time in more than four years.
“Offensively, we just haven’t made a play,” Coach Tom Coughlin said. “We have not made a play, really, in a couple of weeks. Obviously, we are under a lot of pressure. We got some hits on the quarterback – both quarterbacks took some licks last night, (Tony) Romo and Eli. We did some things, but they were sporadic. They weren’t with any consistency. We had a couple of runs, but we didn’t have anything consistent. We did have a couple of drives start well and made some plays right away and then it just slowly bogged down. We had a couple of opportunities for plays that just didn’t materialize.”
Playing without leading rusher Brandon Jacobs (knee injury), the Giants ran for a season-low 72 yards. Offensive linemen Kareem McKenzie (back) and Rich Seubert (illness) left the game. Manning was sacked eight times, tying a career high set early in the 2006 season. Coughlin cited passes to Mario Manningham, Domenik Hixon and Amani Toomer as failing to connect for one reason or another. Manning mentioned a third-down throw to Kevin Boss that he thought should have been completed.
“When there are plays there to be made that is where we have to step up and make those plays,” Manning said. “That is where I get upset at myself or get frustrated when we are leaving plays out there on the field. That is something that we can’t afford to do in these tough games where defenses are playing well. You have to make the plays, when guys are open you have to find them, and you have to hit those plays.”
The Giants did that regularly while winning 11 of their first 12 games. But in the last two games, the offense has come to a grinding halt. In the losses to the Eagles and Cowboys, the Giants had 20 combined offensive possessions. They scored one touchdown – and that was with 15 seconds remaining against Philadelphia – kicked two field goals and had another attempt blocked, threw two interceptions, lost the ball on downs three times and punted 11 times.
“We haven’t controlled the last couple of games,” Coughlin said. “We haven’t been in a position to be able to do that because we are not dictating with our offensive team at all. But to be able to do that would be a very important thing for us right now.”
Is the recent lack of production indicative of a slump?
“I don’t think we are in a slump,” center Shaun O’Hara said. “I think we played two very tough, physical teams that were desperate for wins to keep playoff hopes alive. We came up a little short.”
The offensive downturn has coincided with Jacobs’ absence. He carried the ball 10 times – just twice in the second half - for 52 yards – against the Eagles and was missed in Dallas. The 265-pound back, who has rushed for 1,002 yards this season, sets the tone for the offense with his physical and relentless running style. In his absence, Derrick Ward rushed for 64 yards. But the Cowboys seemed more focused on getting to Manning than concerned about the Giants’ run game.
“It is never pretty when you give up that many sacks,” O’Hara said. “It is painful to watch it again, but they did a good job. Give them credit. Obviously, we need to do a better job of running the football when we are given an opportunity, so that we don’t get into becoming a one-dimensional offense and just throwing the ball. So we can certainly do a better job of protecting him.”
“He is a big part, there is no doubt about it,” Coughlin said of Jacobs. “And the other guys have played well when we have asked them to do that. But in combination, to have all three of our backs (including Ahmad Bradshaw) ready to go, which means we can do a little something with spreading the wealth around a little bit on special teams, helps us as well. So there is no doubt that Brandon can set a physical tone that we have responded to very well over the course of the season.”
With Plaxico Burress out for the season and Jacobs not in uniform, Manning was asked if he feels he needs to carry the team.
“I think you get in trouble when you try to do more than what you can,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to do more. That is when you start making a lot of mistakes and forcing things that aren’t there. I had the one bad interception early, but I didn’t think I was forcing things. When I started getting pressured you are trying to make plays and that is when you start throwing the ball up and hoping for something to happen. Our defense was playing well, we weren’t forcing things, we gave ourselves a shot in that game. With four minutes left we were less than a touchdown away and they go down and get that final touchdown, but we kind of feel like, ‘Hey, if we get the ball back, we have a chance to win this game.’ We were kind of right in it as poorly as we played.
“Sometimes you have to play those tough games and just stay in the game and kind of hope that something happens and someone makes a big play and you find yourself in a situation to win. Obviously, it didn’t happen for us yesterday, but I have to play better. I don’t have to do wonders, but I have to play better than what I have been playing. It is just going out there and playing smart and trying to make plays that are there. I don’t consider anything special because there are guys open, it is just a matter of finding them, or buying some time, and doing my job.”
The real bottom line is that the Giants squandered their lead atop the NFC. Now 11-3, they are tied for conference supremacy with the Carolina Panthers – who will invade Giants Stadium Sunday night with home field advantage throughout the playoffs on the line.
For the players, that is the good news. Although disappointed by the results of the last two weeks, they can take solace in the fact that they alone will determine their fate.
“We know that we put ourselves in a situation where if we win this game, basically we control our own destiny,” defensive end Justin Tuck said. “Guys’ spirits are pretty much up, I saw a lot of guys in today and I feel like everything was as usual.”
“The best part of all that is that we have a great opportunity this coming week with the game against Carolina,” O’Hara said. “If we win that game, none of this matters.”
*Coughlin said McKenzie was undergoing tests on his back. The right tackle missed the entire second half and was replaced by Kevin Boothe. As he did after the game, Coughlin praised Seubert, who was sick all day Sunday, but played into the fourth quarter.
“I had tremendous appreciation for the fact that he went in and tried it – which we all knew that he would because of the competitor that he is,” Coughlin said. “But he was not – when I say not feeling well – that is an understatement. And the only reason that he probably got on the field was because he was not running a temperature.
“Richie is going to recover and feel better, without a doubt. He felt a little bit better this afternoon. But he was sent right home to kind of get back in the sack. So I would expect that by Wednesday he should be feeling pretty good. Kareem is getting all of the tests done today. And we will see where he stands as we get ready to go back to practice.”
*Jacobs’ status will also be evaluated when the team reports for work on Wednesday.
“We’ll see,” Coughlin said. “We’ll see how he feels and how the people in the medical area feel about his progress.”
*Linebacker Gerris Wilkinson (knee) and running back Reuben Droughns (burner) are not expected to work on Wednesday. Safety Kenny Phillips (mild concussion) will probably practice and the status of wide receiver Sinorice Moss (calf) will be determined later.
# # #
Keywords · New York Giants · NFL
Name: Avis Roper
Organization: New York Giants
Email:
Phone: +1. 201-935-8111
URL: http://www.giants.com/
Please refer all questions to the company listed above issuing the press release. SFC will not be able to assist you with any inquiries and disclaims any content in these press releases.
Print This Press Release
