Even if nobody named names or pointed fingers at exactly which Giants were lacking in the effort department, anybody with eyes had to question the effort wideout Hakeem Nicks gave Sunday. Or more to the point, didn’t give.
Eli Manning targeted the struggling receiver five times in the 23-0 loss to Seattle. One of those ended up as a catch, with the other four ending up as interceptions. And from the outside, it didn’t appear as if Nicks gave his utmost in fighting for the ball.
“They went up and grabbed some balls and took it away from our guys,’’ Manning said.
And while none of those balls were particularly well-thrown, one or more could have gone for incompletions with a little more exertion from Nicks, who didn’t agree with coach Tom Coughlin’s assessment of the offense as “pathetic.”
“I wouldn’t use the word pathetic. If you lace your cleats up as a professional, I have too much respect for these men in this locker room to say it was pathetic,’’ said Nicks, a free agent-to-be who still hasn’t caught a touchdown all season. “Was there a lack of effort on certain plays? There could’ve been. We just have to go and critique ourselves, watch film and try to bounce back from it.’’
They have plenty of bouncing back to do. And Nicks’ play was a bad visual, coming in a game in which fellow wideout Victor Cruz suffered a concussion and sprained knee after leaping high in the air and coming down hard on his head trying to make a tough — and dangerous — catch, only to have it ruled incomplete.
A pass deep down the right intended for Nicks got picked off by Richard Sherman in the second quarter, as did a Hail Mary at the end of the half. Byron Maxwell intercepted the first pass of the fourth quarter, a short pass over the middle that was a bit behind Nicks, and Seattle made a stunning play with 4:24 left. On 2nd-and-10 from the 13, Manning threw a corner route in the end zone. But Sherman had good position and made a leaping deflection, with free safety Earl Thomas making the pick.
“He got out-jumped a couple of times. The [last one], the ball was just kept alive,’’ said Coughlin.
“It was just a jump ball,’’ said Nicks. “I think I jumped too early to try to get the edge because the first one. He had good position and I was kind of trying to hold the line. He just had good position and break on the ball. That was a good play on his part. Like I said, we just have to go in and watch the film and critique ourselves.’’