You want so badly to praise the Giants.
They did so many good things Sunday against the best team in the NFL. They outplayed the defending Super Bowl champions for 59 minutes and 59 seconds.
But in the end of a scintillating and maddening 27-26 loss to the Patriots at MetLife Stadium that was decided on a 54-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal with one second remaining, the Giants were what they’ve been for most of this curious season of theirs: Not good enough in the end.
This recurring late-game theme leaves you to wonder if this 2015 team simply lacks the “finish’’ gene in its DNA.
As they did in Dallas to start the season (a 27-26 loss), against Atlanta in the home opener (a 24-20 loss) and two weeks ago in New Orleans (a 52-49 loss), the Giants did seemingly too many things to win the game before failing to finish them off.
If the Giants had finished two of these four losses, they’d be 7-3 and in total command of the NFC East instead of in their current state of uncertainty: 5-5 and barely ahead of the rest of the mediocre teams in the division.
You cannot help but wonder what might be this season if the Giants could just finish.
“Extremely disappointing loss,’’ Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “I mean, finish the game. Just get the game over with.’’
Giants rookie safety Landon Collins had a chance to finish.
Tom Brady threw a wounded-duck flutter ball to the middle of the field with no receiver within 15 yards of it and Collins looking like the intended receiver. He leaped to make the pick and failed to hang onto the ball when he fell to the turf with 1:39 remaining and the Giants clinging to a 26-24 lead.
“My eyes got real big when I saw it,’’ Collins said. “I said, ‘Oh man, is this really happening?’ I went up and caught the ball and couldn’t control the ball when I came down. I hit my head on the ground. I thought I came down with it, but it didn’t happen that way.’’
Coughlin: “Catch the ball and the game’s over. I’m sending the victory team out. I mean, it’s just a shame.’’
Moments before the Collins play, receiver Odell Beckham Jr. had a chance to finish the game.
But he couldn’t hang onto a 5-yard Eli Manning pass long enough as Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler slapped what looked like a TD catch out of his hands at the last second with 2:06 remaining.
It was initially ruled a TD, which would have given Giants a 29-24 lead with a two-point conversion try to come, but overruled after an officials’ replay review.
“I lost us the game … a play that should have been made,’’ Beckham said.
Coughlin: “Hang onto the ball. Get the ball and put it away.’’
In the third quarter, when the Giants had the Patriots down 20-10, special teams maven Dwayne Harris had a chance to finish.
But Harris lost track of a Brad Wing punt and took a bad angle on Patriots returner Danny Amendola, who injected life into the Patriots with an 82-yard return that led to New England cutting the lead to 20-17.
“I was looking for the ball and when it came down he had caught it,’’ Harris said. “It was a misread.’’
In the fourth quarter, Giants safety Brandon Meriweather had a chance to finish.
But he gave Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski too much room in the middle of the field and that resulted in a 76-yard TD catch-and-run that gave New England a 24-23 lead.
This has become a recurring nightmare for the Giants, who now have nearly two weeks to stew over all the lost opportunities with their bye week ahead.
“I feel like we played — I don’t want to call it good game, because it wasn’t good enough — but it was a strong push,’’ linebacker Jonathan Casillas said. “We affected the best team in the league. We flustered them and we had them on their heels until the last play of the game.’’
Same old refrain: What might have been?
“It’s got to be something you think about — so close so many times,’’ defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. “We’ve just got to find a way to get that extra whatever it is to close out these games, because we’re too close to being a great team and we keep letting this happen.’’