Tom Coughlin knows that Monday night’s loss to the Redskins, which trimmed the Giants’ division lead to just one game, means the Giants will have to “win literally every one of our games.” (UPI)
With their lead in the NFC East reduced to a single game, the Giants have margin for error — but it’s thinner than Tom Coughlin’s patience with all the penalties his team committed in Monday night’s 17-16 loss to the Redskins.
The 7-5 Giants are trying to hold off the onrushing Redskins and Cowboys, both 6-6. It is certainly plausible that even if the Giants lose one of their remaining four games they will win the division title, though they do not stack up well if tiebreakers are needed to determine the order of finish.
“I’m going to be aware of all the things you’re talking about,” Coughlin said yesterday, “but that’s not going to enter into my thinking.”
Coughlin is thinking something quite different for his Giants and it goes like this: Win ’em all.
“I’m just looking at it one game at a time knowing full well it’s a four-game season,’’ Coughlin said. “We have to win literally every one of our games.”
A clean sweep of the remaining four games won’t be easy, considering up next is the underachieving but dangerous Saints, who always have a puncher’s chance as long as Drew Brees is slinging the football. Then come road games at Atlanta and Baltimore and the regular-season finale with the self-destructed Eagles.
Coughlin didn’t buy into the theory the Giants could have nailed down the division title if they beat the Redskins.
“It would be no nailing down,’’ he said. “There are still plenty of games to be played. It certainly would have been a great advantage to win there in terms of the Washington-Giant separation, but that’s not going to eliminate other teams.’’
The Giants blew their chance to widen their lead on Robert Griffin III and the Redskins, and just like that there’s urgency ushered into the final month of the Giants’ season.
Asked if he thinks his team will respond, Coughlin said, “I certainly think we will and I hope we will. I don’t know why we wouldn’t.’’