david dieHl - New York Giants

In the days leading up to that same 15th game of 2011, Coughlin sat down with a battered and
bruised Tuck and appealed to him to practice and play with his old intensity, a meeting the
defensive end would cite as the reason behind his enhanced performance down the stretch.
In a symbolic scene one year later, Tuck was wearing a winter jacket and ski cap near Coughlin
on the sidelines, ruled inactive because his injured shoulder was too sore to go.
Some of Tuck's fellow holdovers from the first championship run -- the ones healthy enough to
face the Ravens -- were among the biggest culprits in the blowout. Webster was dreadful in the
secondary, covering like a clueless rookie, and the banged-up Snee committed two penalties
and was beaten by Haloti Ngata for a sack. Manning was sorely outplayed by another ring-free
quarterback (Matt Ryan last week, Joe Flacco this week), and Umenyiora was among the pass
rushers who couldn't get a sack.
"I have no explanation as to why we're in the position that we're in," Coughlin said.
His franchise quarterback offered one. "When you're not playing your best," Manning said,
"teams can come out and embarrass you."
Manning called the Giants' collapse "shocking," though this really shouldn't come as too big of a
surprise. Yes, Baltimore had lost three in a row and, yes, Peyton Manning had supplied Eli with
last week's blueprint on how to outsmart the Ravens.
But as much as Coughlin called for his players to "build the bridge" from last year's six-game
winning streak to this year's proposed sequel, the Giants just didn't have it in them to grind out
one more improbable trip to the Canyon of Heroes.
In the end, these 8-7 Giants looked and acted like the 7-7 Giants of 2011, before those 7-7
Giants found themselves at Rex Ryan's expense on Christmas Eve. It's not the end of the world.
Tom Coughlin will still wind up in the Hall of Fame, right alongside plenty of coaching immortals
who lost plenty of hangover seasons to human nature, the toughest opponent of all.