Palladino: Giants' Late-Game Collapses Make One Wonder If Anyone Is Listening To Coughlin
By Ernie Palladino
» More Ernie Palladino Columns
Two games into the football season, the Giants give off a distinct feeling that this team just doesn't have what it takes to win, much less become a playoff contender.
Last week's defensive collapse in the final seconds against Dallas might have easily been passed off as an isolated problem had it not turned Sunday's 24-20 loss to Atlanta into something like what a butcher stores in his back room.
But it did. And now, 0-2 after two agonizing defeats, the Giants face a three-day combination of forgetting the past two games and preparing for Thursday night's contest against NFC East foe Washington.
Tom Coughlin will continue to bang home his philosophy about finishing games -- get stops on defense, keep the chains and the clock moving on offense -- something the Giants' failed at miserably both in the final seconds against Dallas and in the entire fourth quarter against Atlanta.
"I just asked them to search down inside," Coughlin said after the game. "We talk every week about finishing. That wasn't a finish for me.
"We talk about 'Don't keep score, I'll keep score. I'll let you know when the game's over.' The competitive nature and the finish of the game has got to improve."
Over those same three days, Giants followers will wonder whether anybody in that locker room is listening. They will have good reason, too.
The fact is, the Giants right now are incapable of putting in a sustained performance for 60 minutes.
Sunday, the fourth-quarter offense was just as disappointing as the defense. It's no surprise the defense is having its issues, what with missing pieces in Jason Pierre-Paul and Jon Beason and youngsters like Landon Collins and Uani 'Unga in the starting lineup. Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo had to know he was going to have his hands full, especially in crunch time of games.
But Eli Manning was supposed to counter all that. His was the calm head that was going to lead Ben McAdoo's runaway offense to a fast start. They would start at 28 points per game and go from there.
It's bad enough that the first final totals read 26 and 20. But Sunday, much of the blame could be laid at Manning's own doorstep. For the second time in two weeks, he made like he needs a refresher course in Football 101.
First, he gave up the football at the Falcons' 9 in the third quarter, his mental clock apparently a few ticks too slow as defensive end Kroy Biermann closed on the scrambling quarterback for a strip sack that prevented a touchdown or, at least a field goal that would have extended a 20-10 lead. Instead, Matt Ryan assaulted the flailing defense for a 12-play, 91-yard touchdown drive that brought the Falcons to within three in the fourth quarter.
The game was still within reach for the Giants. They needed only to keep the chains moving in the final 4:24. A couple of first downs and they might even have been able to run out the clock.
Instead, Andre Williams got tackled after a 1-yard gain and Larry Donnell had to fight for every inch of a 2-yard completion. And that was before Manning brain-cramped for the second time in two weeks.
This time, instead of the ball flying out the back of the end zone, it never left his hands. Atlanta had called a timeout, giving the Giants plenty of time to call a good play. But Manning saw something funny, tried to get to a different play on 3rd and 7, and instead wound up getting flagged for a delay of game.
Then it was 3rd and 12.
To compound matters, instead of looking downfield to Odell Beckham, who only caught seven balls for 146 yards and a touchdown, he went underneath for five yards to Preston Parker.
Oy.
Even Coughlin couldn't defend his favorite quarterback on that one.
Despite all that, the Giants still had a chance. They still had the lead. And had Unga simply turned around on Ryan's 2nd-and-6 throw to Devonte Freeman, the game would have been over. Instead, Ryan's throw hit him in the back. The quarterback converted third down with a 17-yard pass to Leonard Hankerson, a gain extended when Collins, thinking he was still playing college rules at Alabama, failed to touch him down five yards before.
The next play immediately following the two-minute warning saw the Giants mount an all-out blitz. It didn't get home. Instead, Ryan found Julio Jones streaking past Prince Amukamara in single coverage for 37 yards to the 1.
Two plays later, Freeman ran it in for the lead. The Giants had their second loss.
Coughlin is now left to wonder whether his team has the stuff to overcome its late-game shortcomings.
And those outside the locker room are left to wonder whether anybody inside the locker room is listening to him at all.
