Giants' grades
OFFENSE
C They moved the ball well on the opening drive but came away with nothing to show for it, a big emotional blow. Still, the Giants managed to battle back and fought through a strange 16-play drive that had two penalties for their first TD and took advantage of a short field to take a 17-14 lead. They even used a direct snap to Brandon Jacobs. But when the defense handed them the ball at the 4 with a chance to end the game, a penalty, a quick pass and two runs resulted in a zero-yard drive for a FG.
DEFENSE
D For two series, the old Giants defense was back. They pushed the Chargers back to their own 4 and set up a short field for the go-ahead touchdown. Then after the teams swapped punts Terrell Thomas intercepted Philip Rivers, the second pick of the game. But on the final drive the Giants fizzled as Rivers led the 80-yard game-winning push in 1:46.
SPECIAL TEAMS
DThe one redeemable play was the 46-yard punt by Jeff Feagles in the fourth quarter that changed field position and preceded the Thomas interception. Besides that it was pretty bad with the non-attempted field goal that Lawrence Tynes blamed on Feagles, the fair-catch interference call against Kevin Dockery and a lot of other mistakes.
COACHING
FForget the play-calling on first-and-goal at the 4; they should have been going to Jacobs who was pounding the football much more before that series that left the door open for the Chargers. The Giants seem to be coaching not to lose instead of coaching to win because Tom Coughlin said they went conservative on that drive to avoid a turnover and the defense eased up on its pressure on the Chargers' game-winning drive.
