Missed Opportunities Haunt the Giants in 38-17 Loss to Seahawks

For 30 minutes, the New York Giants actually looked like they had finally found their mojo against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. 

The net yardage total was literally even—the Giants had 224 to Seattle’s 220—and the Giants had a 17-14 lead at the half that was built mostly thanks to the 192 passing yards, 92 of which were recorded by receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and the plus-2 turnover ratio.

Still, as the Giants have done so many times this season, they failed to finish the game, losing 38-17 as head coach Tom Coughlin, who was generally pleased with the production he saw from his team to keep the game competitive in the first half, had no answers regarding why that was so.

“For whatever reason, the second half didn’t include those types of plays,” he told reporters regarding the game’s decline. “I thought there were a lot of good plays in the first half; in the second half, we didn’t make those types of plays.”

The wheels began to fall off the wagon in the second half, as the Seahawks pounded the Giants into submission with 510 net yards on offense that included 350 rushing yards, just 16 yards shy of the 366 yards the Giants yielded to the Buffalo Bills in 1978, according to Tom Rock of Newsday.

What went wrong?

Gee, where do we begin?

We can probably start with the 350 rushing yards, 247 of which were gained by running back Marshawn Lynch and quarterback Russell Wilson.

As we noted in our game preview, one of the keys to keeping Wilson in check is to defend the edge.

Yet repeatedly, we saw the defensive ends and linebackers flow to where they thought the ball was headed, only to see Wilson with the keeper dart out around the edge, exploiting a spot vacated by a defender.

Lynch? It’s quite simple really. He needs to be wrapped up. Not arm-tackled, and not ankle-tackled. Wrapped up tighter than a birthday present.

So how many times did the Giants do this? Not many, by our count, which is why the well-known Skittles aficionado averaged a very healthy 6.7 yards per carry in a performance that will likely earn him NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Mel Evans/Associated Press

“I'm not sure exactly what was going on,” defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins told Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. "It just got out of control on us.  … It seemed like they just had the whole field to run on."  

What's going on is that the Giants run defense has given up 798 yards on the ground to opponents over the past four games, an average of almost 200 yards per game, which is completely unacceptable.

Strategy and coaching aside—and there was a lot to not like from these areas if you’re still willing to admit you’re a Giants fan after this latest meltdown—there were other missed opportunities, some of which if you hadn’t witnessed for yourself, you’d swear they weren’t true.

For example, why was defensive end Damontre Moore spotted in coverage on a passing down instead of rushing the passer? 

Why was the Giants defense unable to recover not one, but two Seahawks fumbles on the same fourth-quarter scoring drive that turned a still-manageable 24-17 game into an out-of-reach 31-17 affair?

And why was weak-side linebacker Jacquian Williams isolated in coverage against receiver Jermaine Kearse on his 60-yard, third-quarter reception on a 3rd-and-7, the ball at the Seahawks’ 24-yard line?

That reception, by the way, set up kicker Steven Hauschka’s 28-yard field goal to tie the game, the last time the game was even remotely within reach for the Giants.

Adjustments? Forget about it.

When defensive coordinator Perry Fewell wasn’t caught by the cameras smiling—hopefully in disbelief as his fast-sinking defense repeatedly committed the same mistakes—there was this little gem that Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News managed to get from defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, who questioned the team’s heart last week:

Lest you think this loss was all on the defense, the offense needs to take its share of the blame.

Beckham, who had a solid first half against Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman, seemed to vanish from the landscape in the second half thanks to adjustments made by the Seahawks that either offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo either didn’t have an answer for, or he had a totally different game plan in mind for the game’s final 30 minutes. 

There was the inability to capitalize on a second-quarter Seahawks turnover, a fumble by running back Robert Turbin forced by linebacker Jameel McClain and recovered by safety Antrel Rolle on the Seahawks’ 47-yard line.

Scott Eklund/Associated Press

Instead of marching down the field and at least coming away with three points, the Giants went three-and-out, the drive marred by offensive pass interference called against receiver Preston Parker that turned a 2nd-and-11 into a 2nd-and-21.

The back-breaker for the offense? That came when Manning’s streak of 167 passes thrown without an interception ended on his 168th pass attempt late in the third quarter when he attempted to connect with Beckham in the corner of the end zone on a play in which the rookie was well covered.

Beckham tried to knock the ball away from Sherman, but instead the ball was plucked from the air by safety Earl Thomas and returned for 47 yards, setting up the Seahawks’ go-ahead score at the top of the fourth quarter.

So where do the Giants, who are now 3-6 and have the San Francisco 49ers on deck, go from here?

There is nowhere to go but up, but the reality is that this team might just be too far gone to pull itself out of the tailspin that is fast sending its 2014 season and the playoff aspirations it desires to the grave.

Patricia Traina covers the New York Giants for Inside Football and the Sports Xchange. All quotes and other information obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced. Follow Patricia on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.