 |
The Giants suffered one of the more embarrassing losses in franchise history last Sunday at Jacksonville.
|
As soon as Giants Quarterback Eli Manning was sacked and fumbled the football deep in his own territory in the third quarter of last Sunday's game at the Jaguars, every Giants fan with any glimmer of hope in retaining some positivity from this woeful season jumped up shouting "Fall on it! Fall on it!" Only the Giants could not secure the ball as it rolled into the end zone, and the Jaguars somehow managed to recover the loose ball for a touchdown. It appeared as though running back Rashad Jennings was going to be able to recover it, as it sat on the turf waiting for him to fall on it, but just as it has felt much of the 2014 season, it slipped away right through his grasp. At this point, the Giants still held a 21-10 lead with plenty of time remaining in the game, but if you have followed this team during this tumultuous season, it felt as if things were beginning to unravel and the game was getting away from them. Sure enough, the Jaguars continued to pressure Manning off the edge and up the middle, and the constant pressure the Giants generated in the first half on Jags quarterback Blake Bortles slowly decreased. The defensive numbers looked good, 258 yards allowed, 7 sacks, 12 points surrendered (the Jaguars had 2 defensive touchdowns), but the end result was the same. Similar to the Dallas game the previous Sunday night, when asked to come up with a game-clinching stop, the Giants defense could not rise to the occasion. Similar to the Seattle game several weeks ago, they could not defend the read-option and mobile quarterback. Defensive ends collapsed and allowed Bortles to get the edge and rush for a big gain to put Jacksonville in field goal range late. It was like watching a bad movie. The same bad movie that we've watched the last several weeks. Perry Fewell's defensive calls continue to baffle most of us, as he elects to rush four down linemen when they cannot generate the necessary pressure all game to disrupt the flow of the opposing offense. Injuries and personnel have a lot to do with his schemes, but there are fatal flaws in his approach to calling a game. You cannot allow an offense to get into a rhythm on your defense and torch you for plays in the passing and running game, all the while continuing to play conservatively and "die a slow death." Offensive coordinater Ben McAdoo gets a little bit more of a pass than Fewell, since this is his first go-round overseeing the entire play calling of an offense. Fewell has been at this awhile, and has been torched on several previous occasions. Manning may not be the best quarterback for McAdoo's uptempto style of offense (he's no Aaron Rodgers), and that's what this season may be pointing out moving forward. Regardless, moving forward will be challenging, and no one person or group should shoulder the entirety of the blame. Having the 3rd highest amount of players (20) put on the injured reserved list is an unfortunate thing to have happen for a team, but it is no excuse to drop 7 consecutive games. The musical chairs situation with the offensive line is a direct result of these injuries, with key components missing valuable time, such as free agent acquisition Geoff Schwartz. But other parties such as Will Beatty, John Jerry and J.D. Walton have drastically underperformed. Regardless of how the remaining quarter of the season unfolds, there will have to be changes to the Giants front office, roster and coaching staff come next season. A storied, successful franchise like the Giants cannot tolerate one losing season, let alone two consecutively. This team is firmly in rebuilding mode, so it will be interesting to see if they decide to completely clean house top to bottom or elect to re-up some of their key components, such as Coach Tom Coughlin and Manning, and continue to put faith in their abilities. Unfortunately for the fans, the Super Bowl runs of 2007 and 2011 seem like a distant memory.
