Ugh, I remember this feeling. The Giants are once again an excruciating, exhausting team to watch. They have been for most of my lifetime, yet somehow, they put it all together at the end of the 2007 season. They won the Superbowl, beat an undefeated team, and even carried that momentum into the majority of the following season, but overall this has never been a team that handles prosperity well.
The Giants conservative approach on offense is becoming more and more frustrating to watch. They have to play the perfect game now in order to win against decent/good teams. Even the Dallas win this year required a flawless performance from Eli to eek out a win against a team that commited at least 4 turnovers.
I believe Coughlin and the rest of his staff need to shift their overall philosophy in several areas. They overemphasize the importance of controlling and possessing the ball. They win the turnover battle almost every game, they run the ball a ton, and they ALWAYS dominate time of possession. Is this team capable of scoring quickly on offense? I thought they had shown in the first few weeks that they were a dangerous passing team, but watching them take nearly 11 minutes to piece together a touchdown drive today has left me with doubts.
It makes sense that the Giants run more than most teams, especially when you consider how lousy the weather becomes during their home games towards the end of the year. Still, I wish the Giants would pass first, and try to take the lead in games before they decide to shorten the game and run. The Giants seem to have the ball for endless stretches of time, and then bog down in the redzone time and again. This has been a problem for way too long, and they don't seem to know how to fix it. In coach Coughlin's postgame press conference, he seemed almost speechless. They accomplished a number of his goals, played better than in previous weeks, and yet they lost for the fourth straight time to what seems like a mediocre Chargers team at home. Today's loss has severely weakened the Giants' chances of making the playoffs for a fifth straight season. At least last year, you could point to the Plaxico Burress (self) shooting to explain their season-ending slide, but how does one explain this?
