Tom Coughlin finds running game offensive

The Giants' offensive line was manhandled throughout Sunday night's game against the Eagles. Afterward, the abuse kept coming. This time it was from an unlikely source, though: the head coach.

Tom Coughlin, who rarely disparages his players in public, called the team's 29 rushing yards on 17 carries "about as pathetic as you can get" and "a very poor performance."

"I know our offensive line was completely outplayed by the front eight of Philadelphia," he said.

The Giants have had difficulties running the ball all season, but the 17-10 loss to the Eagles provided a new low. Philadelphia not only stuffed the Giants' running attack but was able to consistently pressure Eli Manning -- including a sack by Jason Babin that forced a fumble on the Giants' final offensive snap and ended a potential tying drive that had reached the Eagles' 21.

It was the Giants' inability to move the ball on the ground, though, that drew the ire of Coughlin and the boos from the crowd at MetLife Stadium.

Brandon Jacobs had 21 rushing yards on 12 carries, an average of 1.8 yards per carry. At 6-4, had he simply tipped over forward like a felled tree on every snap, he'd have covered more ground.

Rookie Da'Rel Scott chipped in 11 yards on two carries. It didn't help the Giants in their running game or their pass protection that D.J. Ware left the game with a concussion late in the second quarter, but even at that point, he had three rushes for minus-3 yards.

The Giants played their third straight game without leading rusher Ahmad Bradshaw.

"It's absolutely pathetic," Jacobs said. "This is the worst I've ever experienced in my seven years of playing here. We used to be top two or three in the league and now we're 40th."

There are only 32 teams in the NFL, so 40th is pretty bad.

Coughlin said the offensive line, once the spine and soul of the team, was "physically handled." Jacobs seemed to agree.

"I just hit holes," he said. "I got the ball and got what they gave me. I went out there and laid it on the line, and that's what we came out with."

The Giants managed only one rushing first down the entire game.

"We were saying all week that they would come in and we'd get their best shot," guard Chris Snee said. "They're a talented team and they physically beat us."

Somehow the Giants still had a chance late in the game. Until, of course, there was a breakdown on the offensive line and Babin beat Kareem McKenzie to force the fumble.

"[We put] ourselves in position to tie the game and go into overtime and again we have penetration, breakdowns in protection, somebody gets beat, the quarterback doesn't see him, doesn't protect the ball, ball comes out, the opportunity to give ourselves a touchdown there with all the time going forward doesn't happen," Coughlin said.

That sentence was about the only thing that was a run-on for the Giants in this game.

Still, Coughlin's words were surprisingly harsh. Pathetic? It's odd to hear a coach use that kind of language to describe his own players. How did they feel about that?

Said Snee, "You can use his word pathetic."