(
)
BALTIMORE — The end is near for the Giants, who will not mount a Super Bowl run like they did last year. You have to be in it to win it and not only are the Giants not getting in, they resemble a team that has no business even thinking about that faraway land called the playoffs.
“Our season’s not over yet,’’ Antrel Rolle said last night in the quiet of the Giants locker room, “so we’re going to go out like champions.’’
They are going out more like chumps than champs. The Giants are not officially eliminated from postseason contention but, based on the way they performed in a limp 33-14 loss to the Ravens and the way they are closing out the season, does it really even matter?
The Giants look like a shot team, a team ready to close up shop and head home, rather than a defending Super Bowl champion gearing up for another run. The Ravens (10-5) came in on a three-game losing streak but they had no trouble getting back on track, clinching the AFC North by toying with the laboring Giants from start to finish at M&T Bank Stadium.
“Do we deserve [the playoffs] by the way we played? Do we?’’ Jason Pierre-Paul asked, fully knowing the answer. “[Bleep], I don’t think so. We went out there and we pissed down our legs. There’s really nothing more I can say.”
That sums it up nicely. The Giants (8-7) close out their regular season Sunday at home against the Eagles, no longer in control of their playoff destiny, their postseason hopes on fumes. They need to win and then need help — loads and loads of help. They need the Redskins to beat or tie the Cowboys, the Lions to beat the Bears and the Packers to beat the Vikings.
It’s an unlikely scenario and the Giants have no one to blame but themselves, which is why they sounded like a team that knows the season will soon be at an end.
“You fight your whole year, literally from the time one tournament ends to the next,’’ a subdued Tom Coughlin said. “All your sights are on getting in this thing. You can’t make a mark for your team unless you get in it. We were sitting where we could determine our own fate and we let it get away from us. It’s very disappointing.’’
This is a remarkable fall, considering the Giants were 6-2 at midseason and not long ago owned a three-game lead in the NFC East.
“I don’t know how we got here, I don’t,’’ Chris Canty said. “I have no idea, I don’t. I just don’t have any answers. I don’t know.’’
After they were drilled in Atlanta 34-0, the Giants spoke of their time-tested ability to play their best when their backs were against the wall. If they won their last two games they were assured of no worse than an NFC wild-card playoff berth.
As it turned it, it was all just talk. Until a meaningless touchdown, the Giants were outscored 67-7 in the last two games, the sort of no-show efforts that prompt big changes.
“There’s obviously something missing because this is not who we are, this is not our team but this is the team we’ve displayed two weeks in a row now,’’ Rolle said.
This was a rout seemingly from the opening kickoff. The Ravens toyed with the Giants’ lame defense, running through it for 224 yards with Bernard Pollard (123 yards) and Ray Rice (107). Joe Flacco, mired in a slump, got well in a hurry, throwing for two touchdowns and picking on struggling cornerback Corey Webster blatantly and ever-so effectively.
Eli Manning’s offense, coming off the first regular-season shutout in the Coughlin Era, was dismal. Ahmad Bradshaw returned, but the Giants got behind early and ran it only 14 times. Manning was sacked three times, repeatedly under pressure. Hakeem Nicks for the first time in his NFL career did not catch a single pass.
Asked if the performance was embarrassing, Manning said “You saw the scoreboard. It wasn’t real pretty, but that’s what can happen in football.’’
It is difficult to pinpoint a worst moment, but what happened with 1:04 left in the first half has to come close when Rice ran through Michael Boley, Will Hill and Stevie Brown for a 27-yard touchdown catch-and-run to make it 24-7 at halftime.
“We still had a fighting chance to make our way to the playoffs, we didn’t achieve that,’’ Rolle said. “It’s a huge letdown for everyone, families, friends, organization, more importantly ourselves because this is not the kind of team we are.’’
paul.schwartz@nypost.com