New York Giants head into bye with goal of curing turnover bug

The Giants woke up on the first day of their bye week at 5-2 and alone atop the NFC East. But that doesn’t make for a worry-free vacation; not after committing five turnovers in their 41-35 win over Dallas.

Coach Tom Coughlin said Tuesday that the Giants were “fortunate” to get out of that mess alive. Much of what little work the team gets before scattering Thursday afternoon will be designated toward curing the turnover bug.

“We have to play our quality of football and become the smarter team, and we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” Coughlin said. “It’s something no one harps upon more than we do, and quite frankly we haven’t had the return with regard to that.”

With Eli Manning having thrown 11 interceptions in seven games, and the team losing 10 fumbles, one wonders how many more incidents such as the Dallas game the Giants can survive. Coughlin just knows it has to stop before the Giants face the meat of their schedule, regardless of how comfortable the win-loss record might seem now.

“There’s no question this is a critical factor," Coughlin said. “We were able to overcome it last night, but we were most fortunate.”