david dieHl - New York Giants

“Obviously there’s something missing,” safety Antrel Rolle said. “This is not who we are. This is
not our team. But this is the team that’s played the last two weeks.”
It was only a year ago that Week 16 had been so kind to Rolle’s team, so crucial in their
unexpected leap from late-season malaise to postseason glory. But this time around, there was
no 99-yard Victor Cruz explosion to ignite a dormant offense, no tough-as-nails Coughlin limping
up to the postgame podium, the searing pain of a torn hamstring caused by a sideline hit erased
by a vital win over the rival Jets.
“We had a spark; it really invigorated our team,” Coughlin recalled. “We played very well the
next week and we gained in confidence. We’re not a very confident group right now. In any
profession, you have to earn the confidence. You just don’t talk about it. Sometimes I get tired
of talking, talking, talking.”
The Giants talked all week about reversing the curse of their hideous shutout loss last week in
Atlanta, of finally fully digesting the gravity of their tenuous position in the standings, of getting
off the roller coaster and driving their own fate.
“We knew we had to play our best football to win and get in the playoffs,” Eli Manning said.
“We didn’t do that, and when that happens, teams in this league will embarrass you.”
The Ravens didn’t do anything worse to the Giants than they did to themselves. Manning didn’t
connect once with top receiver Hakeem Nicks. He couldn’t find Cruz until there were only
seconds left in the first half. Ahmad Bradshaw returned from injury, but managed just 39
rushing yards on nine carries. Rookie David Wilson’s 14-yard touchdown run was a small spark in
a 17-yard day. The flip side was even worse, with Corey Webster targeted and torched all day,
spun and outrun like a rookie rather than the eight-year veteran he is, and a defense unable to
stop the run.
By the time it was over, the visiting locker room was littered with reeling players. Their playoff
dream is all but gone, and that is a pill most bitter to swallow.
“You fight your whole year, literally, from the time one tournament ends to the next. … All your
sights are on getting in this thing,” Coughlin said. “You can’t make a mark for your team unless
you get in. We fought for so long, and fought so hard, we had our ups and downs, we were
sitting where we could determine our own fate and we let that get away from us.
“It’s very disappointing.”
As 2012 epitaphs go, that one will do.