Giants watching playoffs thanks to turnovers

The number jumps off the page at the Giants - 42 turnovers, most in the NFL. Quarterback Eli Manning had a hand in 30 with 25 interceptions and five fumbles.

"If you want to look at one reason why we're not in the playoffs, we turned the ball over," center Shaun O'Hara said Monday as the 10-6 Giants packed their bags and headed into the offseason. "We led the NFL in takeaways [with 39], but yet our turnover ratio as a team [minus-3] was atrocious. We've got to take care of the football. Had we done that, we'd be in the playoffs."

Unavoidably, the focus has been on Manning's role in running up the turnover count. But his wasn't the only hand that could have reduced that number significantly.

"If you were to take every interception and put them on one reel and watched them, I think one of the most frustrating things would be how many were tipped passes, balls that could've been caught and were intercepted," O'Hara said. "I'm sure he's frustrated by them, too, but Eli has been great for us and I don't think anybody in this locker room would trade him for anybody in the league."

Manning's frustration was evident after interceptions and even incompletions on third down. Injuries hit his receiving corps, and the loss of Pro Bowler Steve Smith, the slot receiver who was Manning's go-to guy on third down, was a huge blow.

Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham shifted to that role at times, and a revolving cast filled the other wideout roles. Their lack of experience with Manning limited the game plan and affected timing.

Describing the factors that led to frequent miscommunication, Manning said: "On paper, you draw it up and you think they know what they're doing. You get to rep it one or two times in practice, but all of a sudden in a game, you're in a different coverage and you have a little pressure and you have to move around and your timing is off.

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"So it definitely affects things. We weren't as sharp as we needed to be with our route-running and decision-making just because we had different guys moving around each week."

Manning took responsibility for many of the bad decisions, saying he plans to spend the offseason asking why it happened and what he can do to fix it. The 17 fumbles lost, including six by running back Ahmad Bradshaw, certainly didn't help, either.

"That number has cost us football games," coach Tom Coughlin said. "I've said it all year long. You just look at our takeaways and say, 'My God, in other years with the [better] job we've done taking care of the ball, the difference might have been plus-15, plus-18.' "

Minus-3 doesn't get you to the playoffs.