BALTIMORE — Eli Manning put it simply. The Giants needed to save their best for last this season.
“We knew we had to play our best football at the end of the season to get into the playoffs,” Manning said. “And we haven’t done that these last few weeks.”
Ya think? The Giants were shut out last week in Atlanta and last night were mauled 33-14 by the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. Manning felt uncustomary pressure, being sacked three times as the Giants need combination thinking by Einstein, Confucius and Lombardi to figure a path to the playoffs.
“We haven’t played the style of football that we needed to get into the playoffs, to win the division,” Manning said. “And when you’re not playing your best, teams come out and embarrass you.
“It’s disappointing.”
Again, ya think?
Two weeks back against New Orleans, the Giants needed an abacus to keep track of their yardage and points.
“The confidence doesn’t waver from game to game,” Manning said. “You always feel confident going into a game.”
Well, that didn’t last long. Yesterday, the same abacus was required to tally their bad, disappointing and frustrating plays.
“You could see the score. It wasn’t real pretty out there,” Manning said. “It wasn’t a matter of preparation or anything. It’s just a matter of execution and playing at a high level and everybody doing their part. That didn’t happen today.”
The Ravens jumped on top 14-0 in the first quarter and Manning directed a lightning quick, 5-play, 77-yard drive that took just 2:54 and ended with David Wilson running in from 14 yards out. So it was 14-7. And the Giants were hardly heard from again. Manning finished 14-of-28 for 150 yards, his second lowest total of the season even with the game in blowout mode. Plus, he got hit nine times.
“That’s what we wanted to do, pressure him and not let him get hot,” said Baltimore defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, who had one of the sacks.
So this close to the end of the season, the Giants were hardly at their best.
“It’s shocking,” Manning said. “It’s one thing to lose and it’s one thing to be in there and something happens at the end of the game and [another to] not give yourself a chance. To get down early and getting no momentum, get no spark that can get us going and consistently not making plays that are there and not executing to our ability, it can be confusing.”
So one week remains and the Giants need help. Lots and lots of help if their season is to extend beyond playing the Eagles next week.
“All we can do,” Manning said, “ is go out and try to get back to playing better. Whatever happens after that, you can’t worry about it. … So whether we make the playoffs or we go into the off-season, at least we go into that last regular season game and … we have a sense that we played well and ended on a good note.”