Jints choices look worse by numbers

Everybody agrees the Giants gave Dallas a shot at a miracle comeback Sunday with a couple of bad decisions: Tom Coughlin’s call to pass on the goal line and Eli Manning opting to throw the ball away rather than take a sack (and bleed more clock).

But what if it’s a third call that really cost them?

What if they’d gone for it on fourth down? It would have been a nervy decision from Coughlin. But should Big Blue have gone for it on fourth andgoal from the Dallas 1 late in what turned out to be the Giants’ 2726 loss?

Coughlin admitted there was some thought given to it.

“But why would you let them get to midfield to kick a field goal to tie? That was my only thought there — to come away with something,’’ Coughlin said.

“With the backandforth with the penalties and whether the clock was running and we gave them the timeout back. It would have been a little more difficult for them had that timeout that they took would have been able to stand.”

By now, the Giants’ mishandling of the clock has been welldocumented. Big Blue kicker Josh Brown nailed a chip shot 19yard field goal for a 2620 lead with 1:43 left, leaving the Cowboys to drive for a winning touchdown with no timeouts and no Dez Bryant. That’s exactly what Dallas did, marching 72 yards in just 1:27 for the winning touchdown to tight end Jason Witten.

And while eschewing the risky fourth down and taking the birdinthehand, chipshot field goal is the safe call, was it the right one?

If the Giants score a touchdown, the game is essentially over, with the presumed PAT giving the Giants a 3020 cushion with, say, 1:40 left.

Even if they fail and get stopped on the 1yard line, they would have forced Dallas to go 99 yards in the same time frame for the win, or about 60 yards to even attempt a gametying field goal. Dallas kicker Dan Bailey is 16for23 over 50 yards, with a careerlong of 56 last season against Seattle.

It’s clear the Giants’ decision to pass was both costly and illfated.

According to ESPN, Dallas’ Win Probability — a model of how likely a team is to win based on the game situation — shows Dallas’ odds of winning the game when getting the ball on firstand10 from its 28 with 1:34 left at 10.9 percent. Had the Giants run the ball and not stopped the clock, giving Dallas the ball from the same spot with just 54 seconds left, the odds dropped to 5.2 percent.