Media experts give their take on the Giants following Sunday's loss:
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"It's premature to say the Giants are who we thought they were, but Sunday was a bad day for two streaking teams—New York and Miami. The Giants (8-4), three back of 11-1 Dallas with four to play, have to hope for the five seed now, with Dallas and Detroit at home, then ending at Philly and Washington. Tough sledding."
"Led by Eli Apple's two takeaways and Olivier Vernon's sixth and seventh sacks in the past five games, the Giants' flourishing defense held its own on the road."
"No time for the Giants to feel sorry for themselves, as the Cowboys come calling on Sunday night. QB Eli Manning (two INTs, 69.9 rating) has to play better in these big games. Double-digit points is not good enough. Don't even think I can make much of the Steelers' defensive performance in that game because it looked like the Giants, from the offensive line, receivers and QB, just played poorly."
"After facing the Bears and Browns over the past two weeks, the Giants seemed kind of shell-shocked on Sunday when they actually played a good team. With no running game and an ugly performance from Eli Manning, the Giants put together what might have been their worst first half of the season, totaling just 90 yards. The Giants offense actually gave up more points than it scored after the Pittsburgh Steelers got a first-quarter safety thanks to a holding call. You can blame whoever you want -- Eli Manning, Ben McAdoo, the offensive line or the Giants' lack of a running game -- but the fact of the matter is that New York's offense doesn't look good right now, which is not something you want to be saying in December."
"The defense, meanwhile, played relatively well. Yes, the defense gave up 118 yards on the ground to Le'Veon Bell –- the first 100-yard rusher the squad has allowed all year. And yes, Landon Collins made perhaps his first big gaffe of the season in letting Steelers tight end Ladarius Green slip past him for a 20-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, which put Pittsburgh up 21-7. But the defense was put on its heels early thanks to the Giants' offense."
