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Nothing went right for Eli Manning and the Giants. Manning finished the game with a quarterback rating of 40.7.
ATLANTA — All week, the Giants players said this year could be different. They had lived through the stress that came with spending the final month of last season with their tiptoes on the precipice and, after walloping the New Orleans Saints a week ago, it seemed reasonable to think that this time they really might make the finish a little less dramatic. Maybe, just maybe, they said, they could make it easier on their fans, their coaches and most importantly themselves.
Instead, it was only the Atlanta Falcons who showed Sunday that they are worthy of a new perspective. Often seen as pretenders among the N.F.L.’s elite because of poor postseason performances, the Falcons routed the Giants, 34-0, further establishing their dominance in the N.F.C. and dooming the Giants to the same old story of a white-knuckle endgame.
The Giants no longer hold a home playoff game in their hands. For at the same time as the Giants were getting shut out in the regular season for the first time since 1996, the Washington Redskins — without the wunderkind quarterback Robert Griffin III — beat the Cleveland Browns to move past the Giants and into first place in the N.F.C. East.
While the Giants and the Redskins have the same overall record (8-6), Washington’s superior division record (3-1 to 2-3) gives them the tiebreaker edge. For the third straight season, the Giants lost in Week 15 to hamper their postseason hopes, and they will travel to Baltimore next week with the division title, and even a playoff berth, in doubt.
“After today’s performance, we’ve got a lot of questions to answer,” Justin Tuck said. “I wish had some red shoes, and I could wish myself right to next Sunday.”
Coach Tom Coughlin was even more basic. “Atlanta was very, very good, and we were very, very bad,” he said to open his postgame news conference. He answered a few more questions but then hopped off the makeshift stage; in many ways, there was little else to say.
It was a startling — though not altogether stunning — turn for the Giants, who have appeared to be a serious Super Bowl contender for most of the season but have been undercut by some horrendous performances.
Sunday’s showing, in which they were never competitive against the Falcons, will go up against their meltdown in Cincinnati last month as the most disappointing of the season. Simply put, the Giants struggled in every phase: their offense, which was so effective against the Saints a week ago, never fired; their pass rush rarely ventured into Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan’s peripheral vision, let alone his personal space; and their secondary, which was hampered by injuries to cornerback Prince Amukamara and safety Kenny Phillips, was torched repeatedly for big plays down the field. Even kicker Lawrence Tynes missed his third field-goal attempt in December after missing only three attempts in the previous three months combined.
The demolition was comprehensive. Ryan passed for 270 yards and 3 touchdowns, 8 different players caught passes for Atlanta and running back Michael Turner recorded 52 rushing yards and a score. At one point midway through the second quarter, Ryan’s quarterback rating was 140.7 while Eli Manning’s was 2.8.
Defensive tackle Chris Canty looked pained afterward — both by the result and a neck injury that seemed to limit movement in his right arm — and he did not hesitate to call the game an “embarrassment.” Jason Pierre-Paul used the same word. Linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said the Giants’ performance was “unacceptable by any standard.”
It was also maddening, particularly because the Giants ripped the Saints, 52-27, just seven days earlier. Even Coughlin was surprised, saying, “What happened? Where are they?” when asked about the offensive fall off.
Of course, this has been a pattern for the Giants. In Week 3, they routed Carolina then lost the next week to Philadelphia. After losing to the Bengals in Week 10, they dominated Green Bay following a bye only to fizzle against Washington. The one-step-forward, one-step-back routine then continued with the rout against New Orleans and this blowout loss to the Falcons.
“Two steps back,” defensive end Osi Umenyiora said, correcting a reporter. “It’s very frustrating. Obviously nothing we did worked.”
Falcons 34, Giants 0: Falcons Rout Giants, Ensuring a Bumpy Playoff Path
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Falcons 34, Giants 0: Falcons Rout Giants, Ensuring a Bumpy Playoff Path
