Dec 182011
 

Giants Lay Yet Another Egg at Home, Swept by Redskins: The New York Giants fell to the Washington Redskins 23-10 earlier today at MetLife Stadium. With the loss, the Giants’ record falls to 7-7, one game behind the 8-6 Dallas Cowboys with two games left to play in the regular season. It was yet another terrible performance by the Giants at home in a game with everything to play for.

The Giants have lost five of their last six games, and their last three homes games. The Giants can still win the NFC East if they win their last two games of the regular season. But if the Giants lose to the Jets and Dallas defeats Philadelphia next Saturday, the Giants will be eliminated from the playoffs.

The Giants had more first downs (22 to 19), total net yards (324 to 300), and net yards passing (233 to 177). However, the Redskins, out-gained the Giants in net yards rushing (123 to 91), time of possession (35:00 to 25:00), and won the turnover battle (3 interceptions to 2). The Giants’ defense also allowed the Redskins to convert 8-of-15 third-down opportunities.

“We didn’t play well,” said HB Brandon Jacobs. “We were disappointed in each other. We disappointed our fans. We just have to play better. We didn’t want it bad enough the first time we played these guys and we didn’t want it bad enough this time.”

“Obviously the one word that comes to mind is disappointing, a little bit embarrassed,” said DE Justin Tuck. “Knowing what we had at stake, it is disappointing.”

“I mean, we can point a lot of fingers but it’s still not going to change the outcome,” said S Antrel Rolle. “They were the best team today, hands down.” Before the game, Rolle said the Giants would beat the Redskins 99 out of 100 games.

Washington received the football first and on the Redskins’ very first play, QB Rex Grossman was intercepted off a flea flicker by CB Corey Webster at the Giants’ 33-yard line. A personal foul penalty by DT Chris Canty pushed the Giants back to their own 18-yard line. The Giants went three-and-out after three incomplete passes.

On Washington’s second possession, the Redskins drove 52 yards in 10 plays to set up a successful 30-yard field goal. Redskins 3 – Giants 0. The Giants blew a chance to go up 7-3 on their next possession when WR Hakeem Nicks dropped what should have been an easy 54-yard touchdown pass on 3rd-and-6. The Giants got the ball right back, however, when Grossman was intercepted again on the very first play of the Redskins’ third offensive series, this time by S Kenny Phillips at the Giants’ 27-yard line. However, the Giants went three-and-out again and were forced to punt.

The Redskins then put together an impressive 13-play, 82-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Grossman to WR Santana Moss for a 10-0 advantage early in the second quarter. On the Giants’ fourth possession, New York gave the ball right back to Washington as QB Eli Manning was picked off at the Redskins’ 33-yard line. The interception was returned 26 yards to the Giants’ 41-yard line. Nine plays later, Washington went up 17-0 on a 6-yard touchdown run by FB Darrel Young.

The Giants gained one first down and punted on their fifth offensive series of the first half. Up to this point of the game, the Giants’ offense had only accrued three first downs and 50 net yards.

Washington drove from their own 25-yard line to the Giants’ 32-yard line on their final possession of the half. But with just over a minute to play, Grossman’s 4th-and-1 deep pass fell incomplete. The Giants finally managed to put some points on the board by moving the ball 46 yards in six plays to set up a 40-yard field goal by PK Lawrence Tynes with two seconds on the clock.

At the half, the Redskins led 17-3.

The Giants received the football to start the second half but promptly turned the ball over when Manning was intercepted at the Giants’ 34-yard line. The Redskins could not gain a first down but the great field position allowed them to kick the 43-yard field goal to give them a 20-3 lead. “I had a poor pass to Hakeem on the interception – just underthrew it a little bit,” said Manning. “I knew when I let it go it was going to be a little under-thrown.”

The Giants drove from their own 20-yard line to the Redskins’ 18-yard line on their second series of the half, but on 3rd-and-6, Manning was sacked and then Tynes missed the 44-yard field goal. Washington then responded with a 10-play, 59-yard drive that resulted in yet another field goal for the Redskins, this time from 25 yards out at the start of the fourth quarter. Redskins 23 – Giants 3.

The Giants quickly drove to the Redskins’ 13-yard line in four plays on their third possession of the half, but Manning’s 1st-and-10 pass was intercepted in the end zone for a touchback. There appeared to be miscommunication between Manning and WR Mario Manningham on the play. “Had a fade route out there (with Manningham),” said Manning. “They were doubling our tight end and Z so I was going to throw it to the back corner of the end zone. That’s where we always try to hit those. I guess he went inside at the last second so it made it a little bit too easy of a play for the defensive back.”

The Redskins went three-and-out and punted. The Giants drove from their 25-yard line to the Redskins’ 2-yard line. On second down, Nicks dropped another touchdown. On third down, instant replay overruled what had been originally ruled a touchdown catch by HB D.J. Ware. Then on 4th-and-2, Manning hit Nicks for an apparent touchdown, but the play was nullified by a holding call on LT David Diehl. On 4th-and-goal from the 12, Manning was sacked for a 13-yard loss with just under nine minutes to play.

The Redskins’ offense was able able to gain two first downs and take almost five minutes off of the clock. The Giants scored on their final possession of the game, driving 76 yards in 13 plays. HB Ahmad Bradshaw scored from three yards out with 33 seconds left in the game. Too little, too late.

Offensively, Manning finished 23-of-40 for 257 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. Bradshaw carried the ball 10 times for 58 yards and a touchdown. Jacobs ran for 33 yards on 8 carries. Nicks caught 5 passes for 73 yards but had costly drops.

Defensively, DE Jason Pierre-Paul was credited with 16 tackles (11 solo), 1 sack, 2 tackles for a loss, and 3 quarterback hits. LB Michael Boley had 12 tackles (10 solo) and a quarterback hit. Both Webster and Phillips had interceptions.

“I felt good this week about our week of practice,” DE Dave Tollefson said. “Defensively, I felt really good. We had energy. Game plan was great. We just came out here and really just let a team drive down the field. The big plays were not as bad as they’ve been in the past, but we didn’t stop anybody. Even the drives that we got them off the field, they had a couple first downs.”

Highlights/lowlights of the game are available at NFL.com.

Injury Report – TE Jake Ballard Hurt: TE Jake Ballard left the game with a knee injury. “They are going to do all the tests on the knee,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin.

WR Devin Thomas left the game with what is thought to be a stinger. “Devin Thomas is going to go through a series of tests to determine, as I understand it, precautionary stuff,” said Coughlin. “It sounded as if it was a stinger versus a disc. They will have to see the tests and determine all that stuff.”

Head Coach Tom Coughlin’s Post-Game Press Conference: The transcript and video of Head Coach Tom Coughlin’s post-game press conference are available at Giants.com.

Post-Game Player Media Q&As: Transcripts and video of post-game media Q&As with the following players are available at Giants.com:

Post-Game Notes: Inactive for the Giants were H-Back Travis Beckum (chest), OC David Baas (neck), OT James Brewer, DE Osi Umenyiora (ankle/knee), DT Jimmy Kennedy, LB Mark Herzlich (ankle), and S Derrick Martin (back).

The Giants were swept by the Redskins for the first time since 1999.

The Giants did not score a touchdown in the first half for the fifth time this season and the fifth time in seven games.

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Eric Kennedy

Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.

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