There was a moment in the second quarter yesterday when Osi Umenyiora ran off the field to get an intravenous injection and he casually glanced up at the scoreboard. He was shocked by what he saw.
“It was 24-7 and I was like ‘How did that happen?’ ” Umenyiora recalled.
It was that sort of now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t afternoon for the Giants and especially for Eli Manning. Rarely can one side of the ball, and one player in particular, take a week of game-planning and preparation and render everything utterly useless. Based solely on his performance, the Giants never had a chance.
A quarterback can play until he’s 50 and never compromise his team’s ability to succeed as dreadfully at Manning did, as he threw four interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns by the Vikings and another that all-but put the Vikes in the end zone.
Each Manning misfire seemed to suck more air out of the rapidly-deflated Giants, who could not come close to overcoming the 28 points Manning handed over in a throwback stinker of a performance that devolved into a ridiculous 41-17 loss at Giants Stadium.
“I wish there was some simple explanation for this game but there isn’t,” a flushed but calm Tom Coughlin said afterward. “We played very, very poorly. You cannot wrap it up and hand it to the guy across the field and we did.
“Obviously I did a very poor job of getting them ready to play.”
Ready to play is not an apt description of the Giants. Lawrence Tynes sent the opening kickoff rolling out of bounds and two plays later Tarvaris Jackson was burning rookie cornerback Aaron Ross and hitting Sidney Rice on a 60-yard touchdown pass.
Ready to play is not an apt description of an offensive line that caved in badly against a Minnesota defensive front not exactly renowned for its ability to rush the passer.
“We were awful,” guard Chris Snee said. “I’m embarrassed. We really gave them four touchdowns, which is just unbelievable. I’ll be sick all night, probably, about it.”
Ready to play was not close to an apt description of Manning. No Giants quarterback has ever had three interceptions returned for touchdowns in one game and it hasn’t been done in the NFL since 1984. We’re talking historic badness here and it came against the NFL’s worst-ranked pass defense.
“When you throw four interceptions, it is never a good day,” said Manning in typical monotone fashion.
Manning hit his first three passes and then went 3 of 17 the rest of the first half. On the first interception, Manning misread a hot read and fired over the middle before Jeremy Shockey ever turned around, allowing that old Giants-killer, safety Darren Sharper, to pick the ball off and race 20 yards for a touchdown. Two years ago, Sharper intercepted Manning three times and had one scoring return in a Vikings upset at Giants Stadium.
Trailing 14-7, Manning was backed up in his own territory when he looked over the middle for Plaxico Burress but tossed a terribly off-target pass that safety Dwight Smith hauled in and took to the Giants 8-yard line. On the very next play, three defenders – Justin Tuck, Michael Strahan and Ross – had a shot at stopping Chester Taylor and none did, as Taylor cruised into the end zone to make it 21-7.
The Giants closed to 24-10 early in the third quarter and then allowed Jackson (an efficient 10 of 12 for 129 yards) to run and pass his way on a field goal drive that ate 9:24 off the clock. Early in the fourth quarter, Shockey was free for a potential touchdown but Manning’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage by defensive end Ray Edwards and deflected into the hands of Smith, who sped 93 yards for what looked to be the most embarrassing touchdown return of the game.
But 42 seconds later, linebacker Chad Greenway stepped in front of Shockey and raced 37 yards with the interception to make it 41-10.
At 7-4, the Giants have a one-game lead in the NFC Wild Card race but this was no way to dive into a playoff race.
“We always do this, we almost make it hard on ourselves … the roller coaster goes down and it comes back up,” Shockey said.
“No, I’m not in shock. We lost a game. No one’s going to flip out. We are a good football team, but if we play like that we’re not going to win against a high school team.”