ALL MY FAULT: Giants coach Tom Coughlin blamed himself for being too conservative during the final seconds of the Giants’ 19-17 loss to the division rival Eagles on Sunday night. (Bill Kostroun)
Tom Coughlin finished up an emotive day-after press conference that could be used as a “How to deal with a tough loss’’ primer knowing he had to put the 19-17 setback at the hands of the rival Eagles to bed and move on to preparing for the winless Browns.
But he couldn’t.
“Not what I want to do right now,’’ Coughlin said yesterday as he exited the room. “I’d rather cry some more.’’
There was plenty to bemoan about how the Giants, sitting on the doorstep of a makeable field goal for Lawrence Tynes to get out of Lincoln Financial Field with a rousing victory, instead let it all unravel in just a few seconds. Just like that, with a 3-1 record within their grasp, the Giants had to face the grim reality they are 2-2 and, even worse, 0-2 in the NFC East, the first time that has happened since 1996, way back in the ill-fated last year of the Dan Reeves regime.
“We had the game in our possession, we were in position, we were in field goal range, we had an opportunity to do that and we didn’t get it done,’’ Coughlin said. “All of those things, put the blame right here. It’s right where it should be. The game was in hand, we let it get out of hand.’’
For the Giants, hindsight is 20-20, especially when the vision before them is a 19-17 loss to the Eagles.
With 25 seconds remaining, trailing by two points, Eli Manning had put the Giants in an enviable position, with the ball on the Eagles 26-yard line, setting up a 44-yard field goal attempt for Tynes, who had been 11 for 11 in field goals to that point in the season.
Coughlin had a choice: Run the ball on second down to get a few yards closer for Tynes, spike the ball on the next play to stop the clock and go ask Tynes to win the game for the Giants. Or else, try another pass play to get even closer.
Ahmad Bradshaw, who on first down picked up just one yard, said the ball should have been kept on the ground.
“I think it could have been or it should have been a couple of reasons why we should’ve ran,’’ Bradshaw said. “We could have ran and avoided the penalty at the end, kicked the field goal.’’
Manning’s pass lofted to the right sideline, deep down the field, was thrown too far, forcing Ramses Barden to nearly haul down cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha in order to prevent an interception. Barden, who earlier on the drive had drawn two defensive pass interference calls, this time was flagged for offensive interference. There were no complaints from the Giants, only heartbreak as the ball was moved back 10 yards.
“That’s the way we usually play unless the clock is radically against us,’’ Coughlin said. “We’ve been able to do that by virtue of putting the ball in the hands of the quarterback and having him make good decisions. And this one didn’t work out.’’
Now facing a 54-yard field goal — Tynes’ career-long is 53 yards — Coughlin had another choice. With 15 seconds left, he could try to get closer with another pass but if the reception was in-bounds, the clock would expire and there would be no field goal attempt. The Eagles would certainly be giving up anything in the middle of the field and protecting the boundaries. That was too much of a risk in Coughlin’s view.
“If I were to do it over myself, would I be as conservative with 15 seconds?’’ Coughlin asked. “Not this morning.’’
Tynes came up a few yards short on his 54-yard field goal attempt.
“I take full responsibility for that and as I told the players, I’ll start the meeting off by talking about my sins and that’s one that I’ll confess to,’’ Coughlin said.
There were plenty of other sins, such as playing as if they were allergic to LeSean McCoy’s cutback runs as he ran for 121 second-half yards. Coughlin didn’t like that one bit, but he saved his harshest critique for the players who are supposed to produce the points.
“You’re not going to win any games at this level with 17 points,’’ Coughlin said. “Come on. Yeah, lots of yards, lots of stuff, blah, blah, blah. In the end, there was 19 points. Nineteen points. Seventeen points is not going to win games at the professional level.’’