1. Injuries and problems are mounting for the Giants.
As the score became out of reach in Monday night's 40-24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the Giants' problems became worse when two more starters went down with injuries and did not return to the field. The first was cornerback Prince Amukamara, who tore his biceps in the second quarter, an injury that could be season-ending. That was before rookie left guard Weston Richburg, who is part of an offensive line that has seen the same five players start every game this season, left with an ankle injury.
"There is a lot of concern," coach Tom Coughlin said about Amukamara. "We've lost a player or two in each game, it seems like. That's not a good one. Prince was playing well. He did a very nice job tonight and that was a blow to lose him." As for Richburg, Coughlin said the second-round draft choice underwent X-rays and is awaiting further information.
2. Everything was too little, too late on Monday night.
Against a Colts team that has an NFL-best, plus-54 scoring differential in the first quarter this season, the Giants found themselves down by just a field goal after the opening 15 minutes of the game. But Big Blue's inability to keep the clock moving due to an inconsistent rushing attack eventually surfaced as the defense allowed too many big plays to Indianapolis, which took a 16-3 lead into halftime. In the end, the numbers looked similar -- the Giants were outgained by just five total yards while Eli Manning threw for five more yards than Andrew Luck -- but the two teams were going in different directions.
"I thought we were still battling and in it at the half even though we only had the three points," Coughlin said. "We felt pretty good the way we were playing on defense, but they took it and drove and scored the first two times they had the ball and then we contributed with the fumble that they ran down inside the five and scored there, too. I did think that we played hard. We had a little bit of a lull when they started to run the ball on us, but we came back, we bounced back and held them to a field goal there. Everything was too little too late."
3. The road doesn't get any easier.
View the best photos from the game vs. the Colts
A three-game winning streak has become a losing stretch of the same number of games for a Giants team that came off the bye against the Colts and hasn't tasted victory since Oct. 5. Now the Giants travel into the home of the 12th Man and the Seattle Seahawks this week before returning home for dates with the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys.
"We've got to keep fighting," Manning said. "We've got to find a way to be better offensively, to find a rhythm. We're just not helping ourselves. We're making it tough on ourselves. We've got to find a way to move the ball more efficiently as an offense. I've got to play better, I've got to hit my targets and have a great control of the offense with protections and getting into better plays and doing some things. All around, we've got some moving parts and some different guys playing, it's my job to play better and to raise my level of play and raise their level of play."
