The best thing the Giants did Sunday night on special teams was thwart a fake field goal try by the Steelers but that was about it, which is why coach Tom Coughlin said “covering punts and kicks the way we did was terrible, was awful’’ following their 24-20 loss at MetLife Stadium.
The battle for field position was tilted heavily toward the Steelers. Chris Rainey had kickoff returns of 50 and 68 yards and Emmanuel Sanders had a punt return of 63 yards.
“We know what we have to do every week, we’ve done it most weeks and we can’t take our foot off the pedal at all,’’ Mark Herzlich said of the breakdown in the return coverage. “You can’t let that become a factor in the game.’’
The lone bright spot on special teams came with 10:30 remaining, when instead of trying to tie the game at 20, the Steelers went for broke as they lined up for a 20-yard field goal. Holder Drew Butler flipped the ball over his shoulder to kicker Shaun Suisham, who needed 1 yard for a first down. He didn’t get it, as Michael Coe played his responsibility and dropped Suisham for a 1-yard loss.
“The call on that play was for me to be kind of a contain rusher, not so much going after the field goal block,’’ Coe said. “Usually I do come off the edge. I just did my job, really did nothing fancy.’’
* LB Mathias Kiwanuka said the Giants “went above and beyond’’ when it came to helping players get through the hurricane aftermath. That meant finding hotel rooms and, more importantly, getting them gas. “When guys needed it they were giving people fuel, guys who were less than a quarter tank they had the ability to get filled up,’’ Kiwanuka said.
* Victor Cruz was nailed by the Steelers’ Ryan Clark in the end zone in the first half, as Clark was called for a blow to the head penalty and Cruz was down for a few moments before getting to his feet. “It was clean, it just caught me by surprise and knocked the wind out of me,” Cruz said. DE Justin Tuck had his first two-sack game of the season. … RB Andre Brown (shoulder) and DT Chris Canty (groin) were both forced out in the third quarter. Brown said he is OK and Canty said he didn’t think the groin injury was serious. … TE Martellus Bennett limped out of the locker room with what looked to be a lower leg injury. Asked if he’s worried about an injury, he said, “I’m always worried about everything.’’
After participating in practice all week, declaring he would play and heading into the weekend listed as questionable, Kenny Phillips was inactive, missing his fifth consecutive game. … TE Travis Beckum was active and made his season debut.
Coughlin wore a cap in the first half with “NJ” on the front and an outline of the state hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. … Before the game, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell chatted with military personnel and first responders on the field.