Giants Q&A: Did Big Blue leave Patriots too much time?

Did the Giants mess up the clock management at the end of the game again?

Maybe. They had the ball first-and-goal at the 5 with 2:06 left and down by one and used only 19 more seconds on the four plays that ultimately resulted in a field goal with 1:47 left. Had they run the ball on first down instead of throwing what wound up being an incompletion, they would have forced the Pats to use their final timeout sooner, been able to eat up more of the clock and left Tom Brady with less time than he wound up having.

Seems like they did. So why is it "maybe''?Because the Giants aren't built to run the ball that way. Consider that they faced a third-and-1 earlier in the drive from their 33 and ran a play with an empty backfield. Plus, the first-and-goal play nearly resulted in a game-winning touchdown pass to Odell Beckham Jr."We had some runs called and they weren't going to let us run," Eli Manning said of the Patriots' defensive formation. "They had goal-line personnel in and they just weren't going to let us run the ball in that situation, so the one to Odell on first down was actually a run call, but I threw the pass on the outside.

"That was just kind of the way it was going to be. They weren't going to let us run the ball right there."

At least Eli Manning seemed to have learned his lesson about late third-down plays in the red zone, right?

Did Danny Amendola call for a fair catch and then return that third-quarter punt 82 yards?

No, but the Patriots' returner did wave his arms to tell his teammates to scatter, using a "peter" call that players usually declare when they are about to allow a punt to hit the ground and bounce. That may have been the reason why gunner Dwayne Harris ran past Amendola instead of waiting for him to make the catch.

"I was looking for the ball," Harris said. "When I came down, he had caught it. It was a mis-read."

Others on the punt coverage team said they didn't see the signal at all, although Tom Coughlin seemed to indicate it was a little sketchy.

"He did something, which is normally the way it is," Coughlin said. "He did something, which whatever it did, Harris didn't finish the play."

How did Jason Pierre-Paul do in his second game back?

He nearly had his first sack of the season, but it was negated by an illegal-hands-to-the-face penalty against the Giants (referee Ed Hochuli did not identify the player). "Every day I'm getting better," Pierre-Paul said. "Still got some things to take care of."

Did JPP start the game wearing only a glove on his injured right hand?

He did, but after the first series, he went back to the taped-up club wrapping that he used last week against the Bucs. "I just felt like going with the club," he said. "I'll use the glove eventually."

The Giants go into the bye after playing a football game (pre- or regular-season) for the 14th straight week, so it's certainly a well-deserved break. How about JPP?

He's just played in two games. "I'm just getting warmed up, man," he said with a grin.

Why didn't Justin Pugh play?

The Giants thought he would until he woke up Sundaymorning and did not feel right. He had complained of headaches earlier in the week and was diagnosed with dehydration but practiced on Thursday and Saturday. He woke up Sunday and still felt fatigued, the Giants said, and they decided to take a "cautious approach" and sit him out. John Jerry started in his place at left guard.

And Weston Richburg?

The starting center left the game with an ankle injury. Coughlin did not have an update. "I'm sure he'll be hurting for a while," he said.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.