The New York Giants keep finding new ways to lose games (seven so far) in dramatic, tragic or even comical fashion. If only NFL games would be a bit shorter, they’d be on top of their division, with a playoff spot clinched for all to be impressed with.
The Giants are 5-7, co-leading the NFC East (although they won’t finish first if the season ended today due to the tiebreakers in favor of the Redskins). They’ve lost three in a row and four of the last five, showing just how quickly things have dissolved from them after looking to be in the clear to win a division that best teams are two games under .500. The most interesting thing about their losses? Six of them have been by six points or less.
And it keeps coming down to final plays, drives and possessions. Bill Pennington of the New York Times did the math and came to a conclusion that if their games were 75 seconds shorter, the Giants would be 9-3 at this point. They also won one game this season (against the 49ers) in the final seconds, but overall, it keeps coming down to the final two minutes in which games slip away from them, and bring us closer to a fourth consecutive postseason without the Giants in it.
Tom Coughlin might think of it as bad luck or something unbelievable, but it shows a lot about his decision making in crunch time, and also Eli Manning, despite his famous ice-in-the-veins performances in Super Bowls and playoff games, has made quite a few mistakes and baffling decisions with the game on the line. Blaming luck, lazy receivers, the offensive line or anything else might hit a little bit of truth, but this team has been making mistakes at the highest and most important levels of game management for more than one season. Manning is here to stay, he has a big deal through 2019. Coughlin? Not making the playoffs might be his swan song after Two Super Bowl titles, but a lot of other disappointing seasons.