Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Manning, Giants do everything but prevent yet another loss
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. » There are a lot of things that went wrong this season for the Giants, including injuries, bad coaching and just plain bad luck.
But the Giants, to a man, will not point to a lack of effort as the reason they fell to 2-12 Sunday after their hard fought, 34-29 loss to the Eagles at MetLife Stadium. With the victory, the Eagles clinched a first-round bye and a guaranteed home game in the upcoming playoffs.
The Giants continue on the road to nowhere. But at least they had Eli Manning leading the way on this day.
“I’m proud of the way the guys are competing, the no-quit from the guys,” said Manning, who was sacked only once all afternoon. “They work hard, they practice hard. We’re being creative, whether it’s the coaches or the players coming up with ideas, we’re being creative and doing some different things. Some are working, some aren’t, but we had some good stuff today and it’s fun when you feel like you had a great plan and some of the stuff worked and you made some plays.
“So, just happy the way guys are keeping their head up and competing hard.”
Giants linebacker Olivier Vernon talked about the team’s season and offered some reasons for the dozen losses, including injuries and bad luck, but not bad ethic.
“It wasn’t because of effort,” Vernon said. “That’s the last thing on the list of things.”
Center Brett Jones agreed with that sentiment and said he understands people question when teams sink to the bottom of the league.
“Those questions don’t bother us,” Jones said. “We know what we’re playing for; we’re trying to beat them, a division opponent, and effort never popped up. (Not) in my mind, at least.”
Jones pointed to the Giants’ progress on the offensive side of the ball, jumping out to a 20-7 lead and blocking well enough for Manning to put up 434 yards passing and three touchdown passes. Before the game against the Eagles, the Giants had scored an average of just over 13 points per game over the last seven games.
“We had a lot of good tempo calls, keeping them off balance,” Jones said. “We weren’t going to sit there and just let them tee off on us. I think we did a good job on that, we just didn’t score at the end. It was a tough game but I think we did some good things.”
Jones said his team is not packing it in.
“We’re all here to play on Sunday,” Jones said. “It’s our job and that’s what we’re going to go out and do.”
Whether or not they go forward this season with Manning is a matter of debate. Manning was briefly benched by former head coach Ben McAdoo, who was promptly fired shortly thereafter. Interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo re-installed Manning after McAdoo was fired.
Jones said he hasn’t noticed anything different about the twotime Super Bowl champion quarterback, in spite of all the disappointments and drama during the season. Jones said there has been no talk about this being Manning’s last year with the Giants.
“He’s a great leader,” Jones said. “He’s had nothing but support for us and we’re going to support him and just keep going forward.”
Vernon said if people want to question the Giants’ effort, just look at the film.
“I don’t think you can put on any of the tape this year and not see any of the guys fighting,” Vernon said. “Every game we’ve been fighting this, every game we come in here and try to get a win. It’s always been our mindset. Things just haven’t gone our way. Everything happens for a reason. I don’t know what the reason is this year, but you can’t put on the tape and say we’re not fighting.”
As this game approached, several Giants players looked back at their first meeting against the Eagles in Philadelphia, a last-second 27-24 win by the home team. They talked about the circumstances that unfolded, especially with Brad Wing’s shanked punt and Eagles rookie kicker Jake Elliott nailing a walk-off 61-yard field goal to win the game for the Birds, setting off a nine-game winning streak, while Big Blue went on to suffer frustrating loss after loss.
“You never know how a season is supposed to go,” said Vernon, who finished with two tackles, a sack, five quarterback hurries and a forced fumble. “Our expectations were through the roof. We had a lot of things come up that we couldn’t control, with guys being hurt. But at the end of the day, other guys have to step up. That’s football. You can’t put excuses on anything. All we can do is go out and fight and get these W’s.”