The New York Giants loss against the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday night was heart wrenching to watch. With more than one opportunity to take the lead from the Eagles, the Giants just fell short, 19-17 at Lincoln Financial Field.
With the clock running out, Manning decided to go to wide receiver Ramses Barden, who may not have had the experience for such a clutch play. Barden was guarded by top defender Nnamdi Asomugha, and struggled to make a catch after three pass interference calls, two of which benefited the Giants. The last pass interference call on Barden cost the Giants the game, resulting in a missed 54-yard field goal attempt by kicker Lawrence Tynes. Despite the debate over whether or not quarterback Eli Manning made the right call to go to Barden in the end of the fourth quarter, head coach Tom Coughlin stood by his player.
“Well there was a number of things. We had options on either side of the field and Eli decided to take the X-receiver and it didn’t work out. But that wasn’t the only option,” he stated in the postgame interview. “We put ourselves in position a couple of times to win the game and we didn’t get it done. We gave up an awful a lot of yards rushing and we had trouble running the ball ourselves obviously. We did make some plays as we came down through the second half but too little, not enough.”
Coughlin focused more on the pass interference calls than Manning’s decision to go to Barden. Manning completed the game 24 for 42 passed with 309 yards, his second highest of the season.
“Looking back on it I had the corner up top and I should have tried to throw to Barden’s back shoulder to keep it away from the corner. I would have rather not thrown it so far down the field to cause the pass interference,” Manning commented.
Despite the loss, the team looks to regroup, being 0-2 in their division.
Wide receiver Victor Cruz had a good game with a total of nine catches for 109 yards with one 14-yard touchdown. With fellow wide receiver Hakeem Nicks still out due to an injury, Domenik Hixon filled in and had a stellar performance. Receiver Hixon tied his career-high of six receptions going for 114 yards.
The Giants will host the Cleveland Browns next Sunday at 1 PM.
