There was nothing to add about how embarrassingly small the Giants came up in their biggest game of the season — leaving only one sentiment, above all else, that Tom Coughlin wanted to convey.
I’m sorry.
“I do think the one thing I want to say to our fans is that, to a man, we’d like to apologize,” the Giants coach said yesterday.
“For whatever reason, a team that had an awful lot to play for, that had opportunities there — we were playing in Giants Stadium for the last regular-season game of the Giants — didn’t play up to our capabilities. It’s been a very frustrating thing.”
There have been somber post-mortem days around the Giants, but it would be difficult to recall a sadder time than the day after the 41-9 loss to the Panthers, a setback that shook the franchise.
The Giants were non-competitive, and showed no fight for their playoff lives.
Asked what he would say to disgruntled fans who claim their team showed no heart, Eli Manning offered no disclaimer.
“I apologize,” the quarterback said. “I’m sorry. I wish I had an answer.”
There will be no playoffs for the Giants, who for the first time since 2004 prepare for a meaningless regular-season finale Sunday in Minnesota ripe with the “playing for pride” rhetoric that all athletes dread.
The sights and sounds inside the Giants’ spacious locker room had the feel of a clearing-out day. Safety Michael Johnson was busy getting a Giants helmet signed by his teammates. Few starting players made themselves available to the media, and no one looked as if they very much wanted to be there.
“This is a bad day,” punter Jeff Feagles said.
“Of all the losses, this one hurts the most, because it had a lasting effect. … You feel like that kid that just did something really bad and you got to come in and face the facts.
“I feel sorry for what we put on that field for the fans who have been here for a long, long time, and more importantly for the owners of this team. For us to go out there and do what we did was totally unacceptable, embarrassing, and we should all be very sad about it. I know I am.”
Coughlin admitted his team suffered from a lack of leadership.
“There isn’t any doubt there’s a void there from not having Antonio Pierce around,” he said. “Certainly Eli has tried to be a strong leader. Jeff Feagles in his own way has tried, he doesn’t have the contact with as many players, obviously. Many people have had an opportunity to step up, but probably because of the lack of success it hasn’t happened.”
First-year defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan probably will be the first to go following the season, as his unit has allowed 40 or more points four times.
Manning did not discount some sense of entitlement as a destructive attitude.
“Four years in a row where we have made the playoffs … you get to thinking that comes with the territory,” Manning said.
Coughlin also said his team might have gotten a needed wake-up call.
“Those that have been around here for a while perhaps will all of a sudden realize how precious it is to be in a position to be in the playoffs,” he said.
“To have a chance to advance to play for the world championship, the Super Bowl title, is a great, great honor and great privilege and does not extend to anyone. You have to earn it.”