When Theo Johnson plucked a Jaxson Dart pass that had bounced out of the arms of Wan’Dale Robinson out of the air on a third-and-17 and rumbled 41 yards for a touchdown to give the New York Giants a 26-8
lead over the Denver Broncos on Sunday, there was euphoria in Giants land.
It might have been the most fortuitous bounced since Phil McConkey caught a touchdown pass in Super Bowl XXI that squirted through the fingertips of Mark Bavaro.
Former Giants placekicker Lawrence Tynes let out the massive, jubilant exhale that Giants fans everywhere had to feel. A third victory in four weeks, all over good, playoff-bound teams, seemed certain. So, Tynes, posted this:
Tynes should have been right. This should have been a euphoric “We are back” sort of evening for the Giants to celebrate.
It wasn’t.
These are the Giants. Epic, historic, seemingly impossible failure is part of the deal. The Fumble. The Trey Junkin Game. The Matt Dodge Game. The 1997 playoff collapse against the Minnesota Vikings, giving up 10 points in the final 1:38 to lose 23-22. Blowing a 21-3 halftime lead and losing 25-24 to the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014 to fall to 3-9.
This loss is now on that list. The first time in 1,602 NFL games a team with an 18-point lead and less than six minutes to play found a way to lose the game.
The stunned Giants were — like everyone watching the game — having a hard time digesting how they lost a football game they had control of until there were nearly five minutes to play.
You have likely seen a hobbling, heartbroken Brian Burns’ reaction heading to the locker room:
“Tough loss,” was head coach Brian Daboll’s understated reaction. “We put our heart and soul into it. [There is] not a lot of talking that needs to be done when you lose a game like that. Everybody gave everything they had.
“It’s tough to lose any game. But certainly, this was a tough one.”
Tight end Daniel Bellinger, who had a career day with a 44-yard touchdown and 88 receiving yards, struggled for an explanation.
“I mean at the end of the day, it’s tough to even think because my mind is just on us not finishing the game,” Bellinger said. “To be honest, that’s just where my mind is at right now. We just got to find ways to win.”
Quarterback Jaxson Dart, who led the Giants on what should have been a game-winning drive and scored the go-ahead touchdown with :37 to play, was
“I think right now, it’s just really frustrating. I’m trying to put it all together,” was similarly at a loss to explain what happened. “We had chances to win the game and we didn’t do it. It’s frustrating.
“I never felt like we’re gonna lose the game.”
No one did. Until they actually lost.
When you do something no NFL team has accomplished in the previous 1,602 times it was in that situation — leading by 18 or more points with six minutes to play, there is plenty of blame to go around. Some of the culprits:
Brian Daboll. I’m not going to say the Giants should have done X, Y or Z in the final minutes. If you want to argue they were too conservative on offense — and defense — in the final minutes and it came back to bite them, fine. If you want to argue they never should have thrown the ball on the third-and-5 interception by Dart, running the ball instead and forcing the Broncos to use their final timeout, fine.
What I know is this. As much as you want Daboll to succeed with Dart, and sometimes it looks like they can, unfathomable, unexplainable, unforgivable things keep happening to the Giants on Daboll’s watch. There are too many embarrassing losses — some lopsided ones where the Giants look inexplicably ill-prepared and others where they should win and can’t figure out how to do that.
Shane Bowen. Yes, the defensive coordinator was saddled with Tae Banks playing cornerback in the fourth quarter. But, he could have replaced him with Nic Jones or Art Green. Giving up 33 points in one quarter in horrific. Losing it in the end by repeating the same playing too soft while trying to protect a lead in the closing seconds mistake he made Week 2 against the Dallas Cowboys is unforgivable.
Brian Daboll denied screaming at Bowen on the sideline after the game. But, shoot, who would have blamed him if he was?
Bowen got props for his aggression the past few weeks. He obviously did not learn from his Week 2 mistake, thoughAfter Sunday, I don’t know how Giants’ defenders can look at Bowen and trust him to put them in the right positions to succeed.
Jude McAtamney. Very simply, why is a kid Rutgers (yes, RUTGERS!!!) did not trust to kick field goals being used as the placekicker for the New York Giants?
Tae Banks. I am not blaming the loss on Banks, but it was apparent the minute he entered the game that the Broncos knew where the ball needed to go. Wherever Banks was, passing or running. Banks seemed to somehow be in the middle of everything that went wrong for the defense in the fourth quarter.
GM Joe Schoen — The GM drafted Banks, even trading up a spot to get him. That looks more and more disastrous every time he steps on the field. Another first-round pick, Evan Neal, hasn’t gotten a uniform yet this season. The front office brought McAtamney to the Giants, and had to have something to do with the decision to go with him as the kicker. If you want to back up, they are in this situation partly because of a failed gamble that a 38-year-old kicker coming off two injury-riddled seasons would stay healthy.
The placekicker debacle continues what has really been a three-year pattern of questionable roster construction and game day roster management decisions. Those land at Schoen’s feet.
There is more blame to go around. You can read ‘Kudos & Wet Willies,’ Nick Falato’s ‘5 plays review,’ and Tony DelGenio’s ‘Instant Analysis’ to comb through all of that. And, you should. As painful as it is.
What now?
The NFL season is a rollercoaster of emotions. Players and coaches try not to ride that rollercoaster, but fans are obviously buckled into their seats for the ups and downs every week.
I don’t know what the biggest rollercoaster in the world is, but the Giants seem to have been on it the last four weeks. A victory over the 3-0 Los Angeles Chargers. An unfathomable loss to the 0-4 New Orleans Saints. The best victory for the franchise in a loooooooong time, a 34-17 whipping of the Philadelphia Eagles in front of a national TV audience on Thursday Night Football. Now this.
Can the Giants turn the page and not let Sunday’s disaster snowball? Even with all the good vibes of recent weeks and the hope for the future provided by Dart and Cam Skattebo, the Giants are 2-5. They are already on the precipice of another season gone wrong.
“We’ll play in six days, so you can’t let one loss lead to another,” Dart said. “You’ve got to fix the things that you messed up on and we’ve got to finish games. We have to be able to finish the game. We have good leaders on the team, we have good players, we have to find ways to finish the game and bounce back.”
What of Bowen? There have already been a couple of points this season where I thought the defensive coordinator, a questionable hire by Daboll from the beginning, would lose his job. He has rallied the defense just enough so far to keep it, and through three quarters on Sunday things were looking terrific. The Giants had played five straight quarters of shutout football.
Now, you have to wonder if Bowen has lost the confidence of the locker room and can continue as defensive coordinator.
There has to be a new kicker on Sunday against the Eagles, whether that is Graham Gano coming off IR or Younghoe Koo coming off the practice squad.
The Giants just need to stop putting Banks on the field, regardless of the circumstance.
In reality, though, how things go from here on out depends on the resolve and the leadership of the players in the locker room. Can the Giants pick themselves up after as devastating a loss as possible, especially with the revenge-thirsty Philadelphia Eagles on deck?
It’s easy to see the light at the end of the tunnel when things go well, like they did against the Eagles in Week 6. Maybe how the Giants respond to Sunday’s shocker will tell us more about whether the Giants have the right people in the locker room, on the sidelines and in the front office.
