david dieHl - New York Giants

On Sunday, the Giants allowed the Ravens to rack up 533 total yards, about 200 more than
Baltimore’s average. Joe Flacco passed for 309 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Ray Rice
combined with Bernard Pierce to rush for 230 yards. Baltimore converted a staggering 11 of 18
third downs, many of them by using a simple strategy: find Webster and throw the ball in his
direction.
Webster, an eighth-year veteran cornerback, has had an erratic season but had never been
exposed quite as badly as he was Sunday. Flacco burned him for a 6-yard touchdown pass to
Torrey Smith, a 43-yard completion to Smith and a 36-yard pass to Dennis Pitta, not to mention
two other downfield plays in which Webster was called for pass interference. At times, it
seemed as if he could do nothing right.
That was a common problem for the Giants, though, and Manning — who was so often the
team’s savior last season — was squarely among the guilty again. One week after passing for
just 161 yards and two interceptions in Atlanta, he mustered just 150 yards and a quarterback
rating of 78.0. To be fair, Manning also spent much of his time trying to avoid the Ravens’
behemoth linemen, who were constantly chasing him in the backfield. Manning was sacked
three times and knocked down nine others, leaving his uniform streaked with mud.
Flacco’s jersey, on the other hand, looked as if it was still starched from the dry cleaner. Perry
Fewell, the Giants’ defensive coordinator, often had the Giants use a relatively new formation
with four linebackers on the field. It was wholly ineffective. The Ravens ran 81 plays (to the
Giants’ 45) and held the ball for nearly 40 minutes.
Of course, tackling remains a basic skill in the N.F.L. regardless of a team’s defensive scheme,
and the Giants continued to be abysmal at bringing down ball carriers. In the days leading to the
game, players and coaches bemoaned their 18 missed tackles against the Falcons and vowed
things would be different. It was no surprise, then, that Coughlin waved his hand in disgust
when Will Hill and Stevie Brown both dived — and came up empty — as Rice zoomed past them
for a 27-yard touchdown late in the second quarter. Indeed, for most of the game, it seemed as
if the only difference for the Giants this week was that the jerseys they could not tackle were
black with purple piping instead of red with black.
“We’re a very, very long way from the team that played New Orleans,” Coughlin said, referring
to the Giants’ 52-27 victory over the Saints three weeks ago.
He might have added that they are even further from the playoffs. A year ago, the Giants got a
99-yard touchdown from Victor Cruz in Week 16 as they came back on the Jets. Then they won
their last regular-season game and stormed to the Super Bowl.
This year, it did not happen. And so barring a remarkable confluence of events, a Giants season
that once seemed so promising will end with the team chasing a goal that seems spectacularly
mundane.
What is there to play for? Coughlin shook his head in resignation. “Well,” he said softly, “we
certainly know that 9-7 is better than 8-8.”