PHILADELPHIA — Odell Beckham Jr. acted out the way many of his Giants teammates felt after they fell behind early, never caught up late and lost to the Eagles 24-19 Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field, failing to secure a playoff berth that remains extremely likely to happen.
Beckham knocked his head against the wall. Literally.
Not long after the Giants’ last gasp ended when Eli Manning’s 63rd and final pass floated toward tight end Will Tye, who stood like a statue with five seconds left as Terrence Brooks came away with the third interception of the night off Manning, Beckham showed exactly how he felt. He stood in the tunnel adjacent to the visitors’ locker room and fumed, emitting guttural sounds of anguish in a display of utter frustration.
Then he stood facing a steel wall and banged his head into it, once, twice, three times, before team officials, including co-owner John Mara, consoled him, with Mara patting him on the back as Beckham slowly made his way into the locker room.
“You want to come in here and take care of business and we didn’t do that tonight, but it’s not the end of the season,’’ a more composed Beckham said later.
No, it is not the end of the season. Far from it.
The Giants entered the night with a 99.3 percent chance of making the playoffs, even if they lost, as they get in this weekend if the Lions, Packers, Buccaneers or Falcons lose or tie. So the odds remain off the charts that they will make it into the postseason for the first time in five years. They will have to wait a bit longer, as they blew the chance to win and get in.
“We did this to ourselves, we got no one to blame but ourselves,’’ guard Justin Pugh said.
“We had it right there in our grasp to win this game and be into the playoffs and we didn’t complete that task,’’ added Victor Cruz, who admitted he did not know the scenarios that will get the Giants into the postseason.
“I don’t really even know, I haven’t wrapped my head around it,’’ he said.
The loss by the Giants (10-5) enabled the Cowboys (12-2) to clinch the NFC East. The Giants close out their regular season against the Redskins at FedEx Field and, if nothing works out for them this weekend, they get into the playoffs if they beat the Redskins on Jan. 1.
“I didn’t coach well enough and we didn’t play well enough in all three phases,’’ Ben McAdoo said when asked about the failure to secure a playoff berth.
The Giants trailed from start to finish, were again shaky on offense, watched Eli Manning toss a pick-six that safety Malcolm Jenkins returned 34 yards for a touchdown to put the Giants in a 14-0 hole. It was an uphill battle the rest of the evening.
“We got knocked down early. They hit us right in the mouth and we got back up,’’ said Beckham, who was targeted 20 times and finished with 11 receptions for 150 yards. “We just got to put more points on the board, that’s really the bottom line.’’
The last of Robbie Gould’s four field goals pulled the Giants within 24-19 with 5:17 remaining, and they got the ball back with 4:15 left on their 27-yard line. On fourth-and-1 from the Philly 32-yard line, right guard John Jerry got nervous feet and was called for a false start. On fourth-and-6, Manning looked for rookie Sterling Shepard but cornerback Nolan Carroll was all over him and broke up the pass right in front of the Giants sideline with 1:54 to go.
“Got to the top of it, got held a little bit, tried to swing him off, still had my arm but I got to come up with that play,’’ Shepard said. “I don’t ever expect a flag because we don’t tend to get ’em that much.’’
It was typical of the way the night went for the Giants, who moved the ball but managed only one touchdown and were not happy with the officiating. The Eagles were flagged only one time, for 5 yards, while the Giants were not happy with unnecessary-roughing penalties on Eli Apple and Olivier Vernon. In the third quarter, Vernon was penalized when he tackled Carson Wentz just after he released the ball.
Asked what he could have done differently on the play, Vernon said, “Stop in mid-air, like freeze time. I don’t know what you want me to do.’’
The Giants got the ball back one final time, on their 15-yard line with 1:31 remaining. They called their final timeout with 25 seconds left on the Eagles’ 34-yard line but got no closer and Manning’s desperation deep ball to Tye was intercepted. It ended a career-high 63-pass-attempt game for Manning, who completed 38 passes for 356 yards.
“I got off to a bad start,’’ Manning said. “We got down into scoring position a bunch, and just too many field goals. That’s really what it came down to.’’