Giants lose game, control of playoff fate

Last week was The Meltdown at the Meadowlands. This week, the Giants were beaten by The Turnovers on the Tundra.

They let the ball slip away six times (their most since Dec. 12, 2004) in yesterday's 45-17 loss to the Packers, a game that wrested control of their own playoff destiny away from the Giants.

"I didn't think anything could get worse than last week," defensive tackle Barry Cofield said. "Last week may have been more stunning, but this is just as disappointing. It gets to the point where you keep losing games like this and you have to ask, 'Are we good enough?' "

To get into the playoffs now, they must beat the Redskins in Washington in Week 17 and get some help. Assuming they win, they'll get in if the Bears beat the Packers at Lambeau next week or if the Saints lose their last two games against the Falcons Monday night and the Bucs next week. That would create a three-way tie for the wild card between the Saints, Giants and Bucs, from which the Giants would emerge with the playoff berth.

"A very poor loss for us," Tom Coughlin said. "There's no way anyone wins in this league turning the ball over six times. It's a very, very bad part of our team that we've demonstrated over and over this year . . . It doesn't give us a chance to win."

Making matters worse, the Giants were unable to return to New York last night because of the blizzard ravaging the East Coast. They spent another evening in Appleton, Wis.

Eli Manning threw two touchdown passes but was intercepted four times, and the Giants lost two fumbles. Aaron Rodgers passed for 404 yards and four touchdowns for the Packers, and John Kuhn scored three TDs.

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They were within a touchdown at halftime, but four plays into the third quarter, they tried a direct snap to Ahmad Bradshaw on a third-and-2. Charles Woodson knocked the ball away from Bradshaw and Atari Bigby recovered it at midfield. The Packers converted that into a field goal and a 24-14 lead.

The Giants moved within a TD on Lawrence Tynes' 38-yard field goal midway through the third, but the Packers scorched the defense for a 70-yard TD drive that included passes of 33 and 36 yards from Rodgers before he hit Donald Lee for a 1-yard TD to make it 31-17.

Looking for a spark, the Giants sent Hakeem Nicks back to return the next kickoff - and he fumbled it. A challenge by the Giants gave them the ball back - Nicks was down by contact - but later in the drive, Brandon Jacobs turned in the day's longest run, 21 yards, only to have the ball punched out from behind by Clay Matthews. It bounced along the sideline, and although Kevin Boss had a clear shot to fall on it, he tried to scoop it and the Packers recovered.

The Giants tried to challenge that fumble out of desperation, hoping that someone had tipped the ball while out of bounds, but it turned out to be a double loss for them because it was the last red flag at Coughlin's disposal. That turned out to be critical because a pass by Manning that was intercepted by Sam Shields appeared to be incomplete and out of bounds on replays, but there was nothing the Giants could do. Rodgers then threw his fourth TD pass, giving the Packers a 38-17 lead.

Right from the start, the Giants didn't look much like a team that deserved to go to the playoffs. After allowing 28 straight points in the final eight minutes of last week's loss to the Eagles, they started this game by allowing 14 straight points.

The first Packers touchdown came on an 80-yard pass from Rodgers to Jordy Nelson over the middle. Safety Antrel Rolle missed on a jam of Nelson, allowing him to get past him easily, and then deep safety Deon Grant did not recognize it and was spun around in a different direction. That allowed Nelson to catch the pass between the two defenders and beat Grant in a footrace for the end zone.

Manning then threw his 21st interception of the season to set up Rodgers' second touchdown pass, a 3-yarder to James Jones.

It wasn't until the second quarter - after allowing 42 straight points - that the Giants were able to score. And that was a gift from the turf at Lambeau as cornerback Charles Woodson slipped while covering Nicks and Manning, rolling to his right, was able to pass to the open receiver for a 36-yard score.

With the Packers driving, the Giants posted their league-leading 34th takeaway as Rolle forced a fumble after a completion to Nelson and Justin Tuck made his sixth fumble recovery of the season at the Giants' 15.

On the next play, Manning lofted a pass deep down the left sideline for Mario Manningham, who outjumped Tramon Williams for the ball at the Packers' 45, high-stepped out of a tangle with the cornerback and cruised into the end zone for an 85-yard touchdown that tied it at 14.