Cardinals hand Giants second straight loss
There's no such thing as a second aberration, "just one bad game" back-to-back. So the Giants were left to explain their second consecutive defeat Sunday night, a 24-17 loss to the Cardinals in which they committed four turnovers and allowed three touchdown drives of fewer than 55 yards each.
"Words don't even express it," Justin Tuck said of the disappointment.
That's a far cry from the casual yet confident shrugs that graced the Giants' locker room in New Orleans a week ago when they could explain away their first loss of the season as just one of those things. No one goes undefeated, right?
But even the refocused Giants, looking, as many said, to get back on "the right track," could not overcome all of their mistakes.
"We didn't come out here and expect to lose a game at home, especially after last week," Antonio Pierce said. "Thought we'd bounce back strong, and obviously we didn't."
Asked if the consecutive losses were troubling, Pierce said: "Doesn't matter back-to-back, one loss hurts."
How bad was it? Even the punter was booed. And yes, Jeff Feagles deserved it.
But there were plenty more glaring errors. Eli Manning threw three interceptions, one that set up what proved to be the winning touchdown late in the third quarter and one that sealed the win for the Cardinals late in the fourth. Ahmad Bradshaw fumbled to kill a promising drive late in the game.
"Any time you turn the ball over four times, you don't have much of a chance for winning," Tom Coughlin said.
The Cardinals (4-2) took a 24-14 lead on the heels of Manning's second interception. He had a pass tipped by Calais Campbell on third-and-7 from his own 22 and it was picked off by Adrian Wilson. That gave the Cardinals one of their many short fields and they went 20 yards on three plays, capped by a 6-yard screen pass from Kurt Warner to Jason Wright.
The short field was such an issue that the Giants outgained the Cardinals 327 yards to 288. Yet the Giants played most of the game from behind.
After settling for a 20-yard field goal on fourth-and-1 from the 2 that made it a touchdown game, the Giants still had two opportunities to tie it. They had the ball with 4:48 remaining, and after a 26-yard pass to Kevin Boss, Bradshaw ran up the middle for 15 yards. He tried to stretch for one extra yard but had the ball knocked out of his arm from behind by Matt Ware.
The defense served up a three-and-out that was timely and nearly timeless, using less than a minute of game time. That set the Giants up at their own 9 with 2:52 left. Two penalties pushed them all the way back to the 1, but a throw to Steve Smith, who made a leaping grab in traffic, and a 12-yarder to Hakeem Nicks brought the ball out to midfield at the two-minute warning.
The Giants converted a third-and-1 at the 41 on a toss to Brandon Jacobs. Manning then threw an incomplete pass to Smith that probably should have drawn a flag for pass interference on Michael Adams, who never turned to see the ball while face-guarding Smith. Manning tried to hit Smith on a deep out on the right sideline on the next play, but safety Antrel Rolle was able to yank the ball away from Smith to secure the win.
"As soon as I turned, I saw the safety," Smith said. "We both went for the ball but he had a little bit more of it than I did. I barely had it."
Manning said the Giants (5-2) found themselves in a situation they liked on that last offensive play, with the corner staying low and the safety covering Smith.
"Just trying to get something going there," Manning said of perhaps forcing the pass. "We needed a little bit of a chunk. The safety made a good play on it. You have to try to get something going and the safety just made a good play."
Manning's first interception also was a play in which a defensive back swooped in and robbed a receiver. This time, it was Domenik Hixon on a post in which he and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie went up for the ball. Hixon appeared to make the catch, but before he hit the turf in the end zone, Rodgers-Cromartie had wrangled it away from him.
"That's something I can't allow to happen," Hixon said. "When the ball is up in the air, it's either got to be incomplete or we have to catch the ball. I had it and he came across and took it on the way down."
Manning, who was 19-for-37 for 243 yards, said the offense had trouble finding its rhythm all game. "We had some opportunities to get the ball down the field," he said. "I have to play better football."
Even the Giants' best offensive play of the game came courtesy of a nice Cardinals defensive play. Mario Manningham was lined up on the right and ran a post with Rodgers-Cromartie in coverage. Manning tried to hit him and threw it high. Rodgers-Cromartie reached up and batted the pass away with his left hand, but it went right into the waiting arms of Nicks, standing alone at the 30. The rookie took it into the end zone for a 62-yard touchdown and a 14-7 lead.
The Giants opened the scoring with an old-fashioned touchdown, one that was set up by the defense and punctuated by a driving run. Terrell Thomas cut off a route by Larry Fitzgerald to intercept Warner and give the Giants the ball at the Cardinals' 29. Jacobs ran down the left sideline for 25 yards. After an incomplete fade pass that worked as a breather for Jacobs, the running back flashed some of his bulldozer form when he pushed linebacker Gerald Hayes into the end zone from the 1.
Thomas set up the first touchdown and was responsible for the second as well, as he lost containment and took a stiff-arm to the chin on Beanie Wells' 13-yard run around the left edge to tie it at 7. The Giants seemed to be on their heels, but on third-and-8, the tipped pass to Nicks happened and the lead was 14-7 with 2:09 remaining.
The Cardinals marched to the Giants' 12 but had to settle for a field goal and a 14-10 halftime score. They forced the Giants into a three-and-out on the first possession of the second half, though, and drove 55 yards on the back of two long passes to Fitzgerald (26 and 27 yards) and a 1-yard touchdown run by Tim Hightower.
After the game, the word in the Giants' locker room was concern.
"Yeah we're concerned, I'm concerned," Osi Umenyiora said. "Don't like the way that went down out there. We could have definitely played better defensively, offensively, but we found a way to give them the game. Very, very disappointing."
