The Giants must beware of the third quarter against the Eagles on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. The third quarter has been the Giants’ doom in three of their four losses this season. They have been outscored 49-14 in the quarter, but worse than that, all three of those games essentially were decided in that quarter.
The Cowboys turned a 13-10 lead into 27-10 with two third-quarter touchdowns, on a fumble return and a Tony Romo pass.
The Broncos turned a 10-9 halftime lead into a 24-16 lead with two third-quarter touchdowns, thanks in part to a fluke deflected interception off Eli Manning.
Last Sunday in Kansas City, the Chiefs blew open a 10-7 lead in the third quarter with a Dexter McCluster punt return for a touchdown with 1:34 left in the quarter.
“It’s not the third quarter, it’s three minutes to go in the third quarter,’’ Giants coach Tom Coughlin said Friday. “Very deep into the third quarter where we’re very much in the game … we’re right there to make a play, to put ourselves into position to win the fourth quarter, win the game, and we haven’t done it.
“A major objective for us has been to talk about playing four quarters and like I just mentioned, go do it. Play four quarters. Play four solid quarters of championship quality football, supporting one another in all three phases, eliminate the foolish penalties, eliminate all that garbage that keeps you from being one.’’
The Giants insist they have gotten the message from Coughlin.
“With the exception of one game [the 38-0 loss to the Panthers], the three others games have been very competitive well into the third quarter,’’ tackle Kevin Boothe said. “That’s been a focus of ours. We’re a team that has always reached finishing and playing a complete game and we’ve yet to do that. That’s our next challenge. We have to be able to play a complete game and execute at a high level the entire game and see where we stand at the end.’’
Linebacker Mark Herzlich said: “We always talk about finishing and playing four quarters. We need to buy into that because playing 45 minutes of football and having the end of the third quarter deflate you and put the game out of reach, that can’t be the way we play the game.’’
Safety Antrel Rolle has said the Giants can run the table in the final 12 games, but to do that, something has to change.
“We have to finish better,” Rolle said. “We have to be mentally strong to handle adversity when things might not swing in our favor. We just have to play better ball.’’