Tom Coughlin didn't mince any words after Sunday night's loss.
"I didn't like the way we played," the coach said. "I know our offensive line was completely outplayed by the front eight of Philadelphia."
It's hard to paint it any other way when the offense generated a meager 29 yards on the ground, dropping the Giants to 31st in the NFL with 83.2 yards per game. Without Ahmad Bradshaw again, the three Giants running backs averaged 1.7 yards per carry. Brandon Jacobs had 21 on 12 touches, Da'Rel Scott had 11 on two attempts, and D.J. Ware lost three yards on three carries.
"That's definitely going to burn for a long time," center David Baas said. "We didn't get it done as a team. We've got to look at ourselves, and we've got to be honest, get better at things. We have to stay as a team."
Coughlin's disappointment in the line spoke to a greater frustration with the team's performance as a whole.
"We got physically handled," Coughlin said. "I have to look at it. As I just said to each one of the players, first start off with yourself and look at yourself in the mirror. Ask yourself. Because my question for them was 'why?' What does it take to understand what the Eagles were going to be like coming here? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that the team is 3-6 with their backs to the wall, they are going to play their butts off. To get to where we wanted to go, we had to play better and harder and we didn't."
In addition to a sputtering run game, pass protection was an issue as well. Eli Manning was sacked three times while the offense couldn't pick anything up on first and second downs. As a result, the Giants were 5-for-14 on third downs.
"Just couldn't get anything going," Manning said. "We had trouble running the ball, had some penalties, had some drops, and just never got in good rhythm. Had third and longs and against this team it is tough when you have third and longs, they have a good pass rush. We just never got in a rhythm at all. Our defense was playing outstanding; we had good field position at times off turnovers and couldn't do anything. We have to find a way to get things going a little bit. We can't put that much pressure on our defense."
"There's disappointment there," Baas said. "We all feel that way. We have to stay together." Join other diehard Giants Fans!
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