It is hard to pinpoint everything that went wrong in the New York Giants opening 24-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The secondary was awful, the offensive line was atrocious, and the defensive line was nowhere to be found for the entire second half. I honestly feel like ending the article there, because that second sentence sums it all up.
The Cowboys took a while to get going, but when they realized Michael Coe could not cover a fly with a down comforter, it was the Kevin Ogletree party.
He ended up with seven catches for 116 yards and two touchdowns, and did most of his damage on a number of huge third down slant plays that looked easier than hitting the broad side of a barn with a 12 gauge. It was typical that the final important play of the game—a third and 12 with 2:11 left—was a slant to Ogletree in which Justin Tryon, who was in for the injured Coe at this point, got absolutely owned on the play.
But don’t blame it all on the secondary. The defensive line disappeared in the second half. The Cowboys made offensive adjustments in the second half and the Giants did not react well enough. I mean it doesn’t help when the secondary cannot cover to save their lives, but I felt like Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora were complete non-factors.
Jason Pierre-Paul disrupted things from time to time, but other than him no defensive lineman provided consistent pressure on Tony Romo, who carved up the depleted secondary from the second quarter on.
It didn’t help that the replacement referees were about as bad as you could get. The biggest blown call was a no-call on a hold by Orlando Scandrick in the end zone on Victor Cruz. Just about everyone watching the game saw it, but the refs did not. Tom Coughlin was not happy.
“It was more than a hold. There’s another word for it.”
But Coughlin wasn’t about to use that as an excuse, saying the loss was ”a bite out of humble pie…There won’t be any more blowing smoke up their rear ends.”
Good. This team needs a good kick in the pants, because they showed up completely flat tonight. There was not much that went right with this team. The linebackers played OK, Eli Manning made some decent throws and had no mistakes, but the good drastically outweighed the bad.
And I haven’t even discussed David Wilson‘s fumble, Cruz’s multiple drops or Corey Webster‘s botched play where he got dominated by Ogletree on a double-move.
This team has a long way to go, and did not look like a playoff team at all. Hopefully getting players back healthy will help, but I wouldn’t hold out much hope considering Terrell Thomas, Chris Canty, Shaun Rogers and Marvin Austin are on IR, the PUP or likely out for a while.
It could be a tough start to the season Giants fans.
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