New York Giants Fall Back to Earth in Disastrous Sunday-Night Performance

The New York Giants will walk away from Sunday night's blowout defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles more stressed out about the loss of Pro Bowl receiver Victor Cruz than the loss to a division rival.

That's understandable because Cruz is one of the most important players on this roster. 

But I'm here to remind you that before Cruz suffered a knee injury in the third quarter, the Giants were already being spanked by a team they were supposed to go toe-to-toe with. At that point—more specifically, five minutes into the third quarter—the Giants trailed, 20-0.

This is a team that punted 10 times Sunday night for the first time this century. Seven of those punts came while Cruz was in the game. The Giants also had 10 penalties, and eight of those were committed with Cruz in the game.

Before the offense was forced to take its first snap without Cruz, the Eagles had gained 376 yards to New York's 122.

This was a disaster, with or without him.

In the tight NFC East, you can afford to lose to division rivals like the Eagles on the road. In fact, you're supposed to. Philly entered this game having won seven consecutive regular-season home games, and the Giants were underdogs despite the fact that they were riding a three-game winning streak.

Did we—yours truly included—overreact to that streak? It's possible. It's one thing to lose when you're an underdog playing a reigning division champion on the road, but it's another thing to lose like that.

The 27-0 defeat was the Giants' third-worst shutout loss in the last 17 years, which is saying a lot considering how many stinkers this team has suffered during what's been an era of high peaks and low valleys.

Date	Opponent	Score
Sept. 22, 2013	Panthers	38-0
Dec. 14, 2003	Saints	45-7
Jan. 3, 2010	Vikings	34-7
Dec. 16, 2012	Falcons	34-0
Dec. 27, 2009	Panthers	41-9
Dec. 26, 2010	Packers	45-17
Sunday	Eagles	27-0
Nov. 28, 2011	Saints	49-24
Nov. 25, 2007	Vikings	41-17
Sept. 29, 2013	Chiefs	31-7

"It's almost hard to explain, isn't it?" NBC's Cris Collinsworth asked during the waning moments of garbage time. "How does a team go from the way they were playing for the last three weeks and come in here and get just overwhelmed?"

That's the NFL for you, especially this season. And it should surprise nobody that the erratic Giants appear to be one of the league's most enigmatic teams yet again.

“We practiced well,” said head coach Tom Coughlin during his televised postgame press conference. “We were excited about playing in the division, we were excited coming down here and playing in a meaningful football game. But we don’t have anything to show for it.”

I was declaring this team a playoff contender last week, so it would hardly seem fair to retract that designation this quickly.

In the NFL, however, every single game represents 6.3 percent of your season. So when you lay an egg in embarrassing fashion like that, falling two full games behind two division rivals in the process—and when you also lose your best offensive player while you're at it—you're looking at a season-changing episode.

Look, what the Giants did in the three weeks leading up to Sunday's debacle is reason to believe this team won't be a mess in 2014 the way it was last season.

But the Houston Texans, whom they beat in Week 3, have lost three of their last four. The Washington Redskins, whom they defeated the next week, have just one win in six games this season. The Atlanta Falcons, whom they beat in Week 5, have now lost four of their last five games.

So the Giants have yet to beat anybody good—anybody likely to be alive in January. That doesn't bode well for their chances going forward, especially without Cruz. Just look at the upcoming schedule:

	Opponent	Record	Notes
Week 7	@ Cowboys	5-1	Have won five straight
Week 8	Bye week
Week 9	Colts	4-2	Have won four straight
Week 10	@ Seahawks	3-2	17-2 at home since 2012
Week 11	49ers	3-2	Three straight NFC title game appearances
Week 12	Cowboys	5-1	Have won two straight in NY

Is the injury to Cruz a convenient excuse for why they're likely to miss the playoffs for the fifth time in six years? Absolutely, and it'll be a factor going forward.

Based on what we saw Sunday night in Philadelphia even before Cruz went down, though, there was a good chance this team was going to lose to Dallas, Indy, Seattle and San Francisco regardless.

And consider that in the last two weeks, it's also lost starters Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Rashad Jennings to injury. This isn't about patching up one spot.

Nobody's going to give the Giants a chance now, and for good reason. Conversely, nobody was giving them a chance four weeks ago, either.

Never count Coughlin and Eli Manning out, but this team took a sizable step backward on Sunday evening.

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon