Chargers' late TD hands Giants 4th loss in row
Photo credit: AP | San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, right, stiff arms Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas on his way to a first down during the third quarter. (Nov. 8, 2009)
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Nov. 8: Chargers 21, Giants 20
It had been a while since the Giants had enjoyed the feeling. The one where everything is under control and the players know what's going to happen. The feeling of being a winner.
That was the vibe going through the defensive huddle as the Chargers took over, first-and-10 from their own 20, with 2:05 remaining.
"We were pumped up," safety Michael Johnson said. "We were rolling. We were playing fast, playing confident, shutting them down. It felt good. It felt great, actually."
Added defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka: "The sense was that we were going to close out the game. Our heads were high, our confidence level was up. There was no doubt we were going to close out the game with a win."
Problem was, in the huddle on the other side of the ball, they were thinking roughly the same thing. And just a few minutes later, it was the other guys who were still feeling that way.
In as close to an all-in game as a team can have in Week 9 of an NFL season, the Giants very nearly held on Sundayfor a come-from-behind victory. Instead, they allowed the Chargers to drive for the winning touchdown, which came with 21 seconds remaining, and capped a 21-20 game that was the most emotional and devastating of a Giants season that is barely halfway over.
Or maybe it is over. After starting 5-0, the Giants have dropped four straight and are sinking fast in the NFC East, a game and a half out of first place. They go into their bye week with the weight of that losing streak still on their shoulder pads and facing the prospect of a remainder of the season that could easily spiral away.
"We can't afford for that to happen," Eli Manning said. "We have too many good players, too much character on this team just to let that happen."
It would have been easier to make that argument on the heels of a win, and the Giants were nearly able to. Trailing 14-10 midway through the fourth quarter, Manning threw an 8-yard pass to Kevin Boss for a go-ahead touchdown. Just a few minutes later, Terrell Thomas was fluttering and dodging through Chargers territory with what should have been the game-sealing interception. He brought it back all the way to the 4, setting up first-and-goal that was really first-and-game.
A holding penalty called on Chris Snee on the first play set the Giants back 10 yards, but all they managed to do was recoup those 10 on the next three plays - without taking a shot at the end zone - and settled for a 20-14 lead after Lawrence Tynes' chip-shot field goal with 2:07 left. What could have been their biggest offensive drive of the last month went for zero yards and only three points.
Rivers and the Chargers (5-3) couldn't settle for a field goal. They needed a touchdown. And eight plays later, he found Vincent Jackson in the corner of the end zone for that deciding score. The play before that, Rivers threw a check-down pass to Darren Sproles for a 21-yard gain. Sproles had been held to 2 yards of total offense before that play.
"The backers were hugging up, trying to keep him in to block, and Sproles just blew by him," Chargers coach Norv Turner said of the play, which was suggested by the running back himself.
As for the touchdown pass, Michael Johnson called it a "weave-post-corner" route that forced him to bite inside on the top of Jackson while Corey Webster was left to play below the 6-5 target in man coverage.
"Vincent probably on that play is the last guy that's going to get the ball pre-snap," Rivers said. "As I let it go, I saw him separate."
It was just a matter of a few inches - and one point - but as the Giants are finding out, that's the separation between winning and what they're feeling now.
"There were many, many times when this game should have been over," Coughlin said, speaking about a missed field-goal attempt at the end of the Giants' opening drive and probably the wide-open Kris Wilson on the TD pass that gave the Chargers a 14-7 lead in the third quarter.
"No matter if you were sitting there undefeated, this would have been a very tough loss," Coughlin added.
That they weren't undefeated, well, he left that part unsaid.
