NFL

Giants dropped by Arizona, 24-17

One week after their defense barely showed up at all, the Giants went down again, this time because their offense imploded in last night’s 24-17 loss to the Cardinals.

At times boos cascaded down at Giants Stadium, where Eli Manning threw three interceptions and barely completed half his throws (19 of 37) in a disturbingly uneven performance that ended in fitting fashion. Looking for a final drive to force overtime, Manning moved his club from his own 1-yard line to the Arizona 39, but the comeback died on the vine when, with 1:08 remaining, he looked for Steve Smith but never fooled safety Antrel Rolle, who picked the pass off for the fourth Giants turnover of the game.

“Very disappointed in this loss,” Tom Coughlin said as his team dropped to 5-2 after a 5-0 start. “Any time you turn the ball over four times, you don’t have much of a chance to win.”

Coughlin saw his defense melt down in last week’s 48-27 loss in New Orleans, and this time it was his offense that played losing football. With 3:52 left and down by seven, the Giants were on their 42-yard line when Ahmad Bradshaw darted for 14 yards, but as he fought for extra yards he was hit from behind and fumbled the ball away.

“He’s an extreme effort football player and sometimes when he’s extending himself the ball leaves his side, and when it does it is vulnerable,” Coughlin said.

Trailing 24-14 with 8:14 left, Coughlin decided on a Lawrence Tynes 20-yard field goal rather than go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Arizona 2-yard line. The Giants needed two scores and got the ball back twice, but turned it over both times.

“We had opportunities to get the ball down the field,” Manning said. “I got to play better football.”

This certainly was not a dominating defensive effort from the Giants, as the Cardinals bettered their season average by rushing for 72 yards and got touchdown runs from Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower. Kurt Warner (20 of 36, 231 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) was solid. Warner did throw one interception early in the second quarter on a pass intended for Larry Fitzgerald that Terrell Thomas picked off and took to the Arizona 29. Brandon Jacobs scored three plays later for a 7-0 Giants lead.

There was simply not enough offensive flow to sustain any real momentum. Manning’s lone touchdown pass was a stroke of luck, as his second-quarter pass sailed over the reach of Mario Manningham, was deflected into the air by cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and directly into the hands of Hakeem Nicks. The rookie never broke stride as he caught the ball at the Arizona 31 and wasn’t touched, completing a fortunate 62-yard scoring play, allowing the Giants to go ahead 14-7 with 2:09 left before halftime.

The Giants weren’t helped by a rare poor game from punter Jeff Feagles.

“We went out and played the worst game that someone can play in the National Football League,” Jacobs said. “We didn’t go out and execute as well as we were supposed to, we didn’t want it bad enough.”

The tone was set early, as the Giants were wasteful on offense. They failed to score on their first possession when Manning was nearly intercepted by safety Adrian Wilson and got greedy and came up empty on their second series. After Jacobs ripped off a 17-yard run, Manning looked deep downfield to Domenik Hixon, who had a step on Rodgers-Cromartie. It became a jump-ball situation in the end zone and Rodgers-Cromartie ripped the ball away from Hixon for an interception.

The third Giants possession of the first quarter ended with a sack off pressure by Alan Branch against rookie Will Beatty, starting in place of Kareem McKenzie (strained groin), followed by a screen pass to Bradshaw that lost five yards.

“There are a lot of things that have to be addressed,” Coughlin said. “For whatever reason we had two weeks in a row where one particular area has not performed well. So back to the drawing board.” 