Giants vs. Saints: Why Blowout Loss Marks End of Giants' Playoff Hopes

Stop me if you've heard this before, but the New York Giants are running out of steam late in the regular season.

Indeed, this is something we've seen before from the G-Men. The only difference with this latest adventure is that many of us were surprised to see the Giants in the race in the first place.

Well, they're out of the race now. The Giants gave it their all, but they're done. Turn out the lights, the party's over.

I was holding out hope for the Giants, but their loss to the New Orleans Saints on Monday night sealed the deal. They were badly outplayed from start to finish, ultimately losing, 49-24. Drew Brees accounted for five touchdowns, easily picking apart a Giants defense that is quickly transforming from a bend-but-don't-break unit into a plain-old-break unit.

On the bright side, Eli Manning did have over 400 yards passing. Kind of fitting seeing as how he's been pretty much the only bright spot for the Giants all season.

With the loss, the Giants failed to keep pace with the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East. The division is now theirs to lose, and the Giants are not going to keep them from winning it.

Schedules have a lot to do with this. The Giants are going to host a well-rested Green Bay Packers team on Sunday, and I think it's fair to chalk that game up as another loss. The Cowboys, meanwhile, will be taking on the Arizona Cardinals. I'm willing to bet that they'll handle them easily enough.

So when the Giants hit the road to take on the Cowboys in Week 14, they'll likely be two games back in the division. If they lose, they'll be three games back with three games to play.

Given the way the wild card picture is shaping up, winning the NFC East is probably the only way the Giants are getting into the playoffs. To actually pull that off, they're going to have to get hot again.

That's not going to happen. The Giants have far too many issues on the defensive side of the ball, and Manning is only capable of doing so much. 

Of course, we thought heading into the season that this is how things were going to be for the Giants in 2011. Like I said before, that they even have a shot at making the playoffs at this juncture is pretty impressive.

Sadly, the Giants are only technically in the playoff race. In reality, they are out of it and drifting further away every week.

Writing the Giants off like this isn't exactly a nice thing to do. But hey, the truth hurts.