The Giants were one of two teams, both from the NFC, to win 10 games but miss the postseason. Everyone is pointing fingers at their late-game meltdown against the Eagles as the reason they missed the playoffs. But they had a shot to make punch their ticket in any week following and continually made it more and more difficult on themselves. The leading cause of their unfortunate season result was their inability to protect the ball.
Eli Manning led the league in interceptions, despite his big brother’s mid-season slide. Ahmad Bradshaw couldn’t protect the ball much better, losing six of his seven fumbles during the season. After counting up all of the Giants’ turnovers this season, the grand total is 42, the most by any team in the NFL this season.
Their secondary, like that of Dallas, needs some work. Though the did not give up as many big plays as the Cowboys did, they looked pretty pitiful in the final quarter of the season, including against the Redskins who had Rex Grossman starting.
Tom Coughlin is the oldest coach in the NFL and some players don’t seem to think he’s the right man to get them motivated properly anymore. But Coughlin is a very smart coach. He led the Giants to a Super Bowl victory against the undefeated New England Patriots just a few years ago. The only thing that has changed has been the players’ attitudes. Whether the Giants will get to the postseason next year remains to be seen, but I have little doubt that as long as Coughlin stays in New York, the Giants will continue to have plenty of success on the field.
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