ATLANTA — This is no way for an elite quarterback to defend a Super Bowl, and it is no way for a two-time Super Bowl coach’s team to defend a Super Bowl.
Eli Manning threw two early interceptions on a day when Matt Ryan was easily the better quarterback and orchestrated the first regular-season shutout under Tom Coughlin’s watch. Of course, he didn’t get to play against a Giants defense that was too soft again against the run and virtually helpless against the pass.
All that was missing was a Manning butt fumble.
Coughlin went for a fourth-and-1 when he should have attempted a field goal late in the first half at a time when the Giants, 34-0 losers to the Falcons, trailed 17-0. But his worse crime was fielding a team that showed absolutely no pride or toughness or heart at a time when it is fighting for its playoff life.
The Giants strutted into the Georgia Dome feeling like champs and trudged out feeling like shell-shocked, clueless chumps.
That dog mentality you need to defend your championship? They were all dogs yesterday.
Use any word you want. Disgrace. Inexcusable. Unconscionable. Incomprehensible. Reprehensible. The surging Redskins, with a backup rookie quarterback named Kirk Cousins, went on the road and beat the Browns and grabbed the division lead. The Cowboys persevered and beat the Steelers in OT to also get to 8-6, and also move ahead of the Giants based on tiebreakers. Welcome now to Wild Card-or-Bust. Win and get in. If they can. Twice.
Never mind the Falcons were hell-bent on revenge for last year’s playoff humiliation at MetLife Stadium, that they were driven to make a statement and send a message they will be a team to be reckoned with this time in the playoffs.
Manning (13-for-25, 161 yards) had thrown seven touchdown passes in his previous two games and everyone nodded, viewed it as confirmation that SuperMann was over his tired arm, and was back driving the Big Blue Bus across that bridge to Super Bowl XLVII.
His quarterback rating at the half: 29.2.
His quarterback rating at the end: 38.9.
Ryan’s quarterback rating: 142.6.
Manning’s woes started immediately when he threw behind Hakeem Nicks, and Asante Samuel accepted the gift. Ryan started at the Giants’ 16 and soon it was 7-0.
“Samuel just jumped it, and that’s what he does, he’s done it a number of times. … Thought I had room and threw it, and he did a good job jumping on the ball,” Manning said.
It was 14-0 when Manning, first down at his 20, went deep for Nicks, and overthrew him by maybe a foot.
“It seemed like it was close, but obviously just a little bit overthrown,” Manning said. “Those are momentum-changing plays, and those things, would it have had an impact on the game? You never know.”
His next pick came when he threw short right for Nicks and was intercepted by Thomas DeCoud. Ryan started at the Giants’ 27 and soon it was 17-0.
“Looks like I maybe threw it just a little bit behind Hakeem on the slant, let the guy get his hands on it,” Manning said.
So now Coughlin went for it fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 32, and David Wilson was stopped for no gain.
On his next possession, Manning found Nicks for 24 yards and Domenik Hixon for 37 before Coughlin, fourth-and-1 at the 11, called timeout with 1:14 left in the half. Kick the field goal and get your team to within two scores. But no. Manning rolled right and threw incomplete short for Victor Cruz, who honored 6-year-old Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim Jack Pinto with “My Hero” written on his cleats and gloves but finished with only three catches for 15 yards.
“I went for it, that was all my call, twice on fourth down, thinking that we needed to do something to engender a lift for our sidelines since it had all been one way,” Coughlin said, “and that did not work out either.”
A lift for their sidelines? In a game of this magnitude? Where was the fire? Where was the elite quarterback in the second half? Where was the fearsome pass rush (one sack) of yesteryear?
If you called this performance for the birds, you would be doing a disservice to birds.
The bridge the Giants all thought they were building to New Orleans is on the brink of collapse.
“We’ve had crappy games like this,” Justin Tuck said, “and came right back out and played like Super Bowl champions.”
That was then.
This is now.
“I have no answers,” Chris Canty said.
If the quarterback and head coach don’t have them immediately, someone else will be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
steve.serby@nypost.com