Week Seventeen 2014: Giants vs Eagles

The Giants’ 2014 season has mercifully ended, fittingly with a loss against the Eagles.

You know what the Giants are lacking? Explosiveness.

The last game of the season was against the hated Philadelphia Eagles. Just like every Giants’ game for the past four weeks, this had zero playoff implications. It would have been nice if the Eagles needed to beat the Giants to make the playoffs, and then the Giants beat them to prevent them from going to the dance, but that isn’t the world we live in. People get away with murder, Michael Bay keeps on making movies, and the Giants couldn’t play spoiler to the Eagles. But even if the Giants were in a situation to get some revenge, who says they'd actually win anyway?

If I had to sum this game up in one word, it would be “penalties”. The Giants had a real shot of winning this game but Big Blue had a lot of good plays that were nullified by dumb penalties.
Here are some examples:
- The Stevie Brown interception didn’t count because of a pass interference penalty. After that penalty, the Eagles were only a few yards from scoring a touchdown, and that’s exactly what they did.
- Also, an offensive pass interference call on Rueben Randle when the Giants were knocking on the door of the end zone. The Giants had to settle for a field goal there.
- A thirty-four yard touchdown from Eli to Randle was nullified because of a holding penalty on Will Beatty. They, again, had to settle for a field goal.
The Giants committed eight penalties for just over one hundred yards.

I swear, the officials should have a flag specifically for the Giants' offensive line.

Eli threw for four hundred and twenty nine yards, but only for one touchdown. He also threw the ball fifty three times and only completed twenty eight of them. You don’t need to be Albert Einstein to figure out that’s not acceptable. Actually, you could be a third grader with a pencil and paper and work it out. And, of course, his last throw of this season was an interception.

The offensive line didn’t give up any sacks, but they didn’t play great either. They have a lot of trouble creating lanes for the running game, and they commit bad penalties at really inconvenient times. 

Bro, do you even lift?

Odell put together another incredible game. He put up twelve catches for one hundred and eighty-five yards. One of those catches was a sixty-three yard touchdown. This just adds on to his stellar rookie season. To say he’s made an impact for the Giants is to say that The Incredible Hulk is strong.
Rueben Randle also put together a great game. With his performance the last coupe of games, he’s been making a good argument to not get kicked to the curb by the Giants.

The rushing attack had all the might of a sleeping four year old. Andre Williams and Rashad Jennings could only total seventy-six yards rushing.

This week's loss does fall on the defense’s inability to stop the hurricane force that is Mark Sanchez. The defense also gave up over one hundred and sixty yards on the ground.
Special teams also screwed the pooch a bit here too. A blocked Weatherford punt led to an Eagles’ touchdown.

On To The Next One: The Giants, sadly, have no more games left. They were not good enough to get into the playoffs. But there are big things coming up for the Giants, like who will be wearing G-Men gear in 2015.
This year’s draft saved Jerry Reese’s job. Beckham Jr., Richburg, Williams, and Kennard all made immediate contributions to this Giants this year. With an early pick in the upcoming draft, Reese has the opportunity to have back to back great drafts.
We know now that Coughlin and McAdoo won’t be voted off the island. I have zero problem with those decisions. The players haven’t quit on Coughlin and McAdoo’s system looks like it can be the real deal.
Where I think there should be changes is with defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, and special teams coordinator, Tom Quinn. It seems that Fewell’s defense can only work if the right parts are there, and the Giants just don’t have the parts. They might need someone who can make adjustment with the talent (or lack thereof).
I have no idea why Tom Quinn is still around. He’s like a Batman villain, he keeps on coming back. Every year, his special teams unit makes costly mistakes, or under performs and every off-season he somehow escapes the Giants’ Arkham Asylum ready to wreak havoc again.

Oh look, Tom Quinn is hard at work scheming a new return game.

But the truth is, the Giants are loyal, almost to a fault. They hold onto guys for too long. I’d like to see a change at defensive and special teams coordinators, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are back in 2015.

So What Have I Learned?

It’s been a long season for the G-Men. They had both good and bad moments, but unfortunately the bad outweighed the good in a major way. The new offense looks to work, especially with Odell Beckham Jr., but the offensive line needs more work than a meth addict’s teeth.
The defense showed glimpses of dominance, but they need just as much work as the offensive line.

I’m sure there will be re-signings that don’t make sense, and I’m sure guys will be cut that will make most people upset. However, I can’t begin to speculate on what players will be wearing Giants’ uniforms next year. It’s the NFL, you have a better shot of predicting who will survive in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Who knows who will be on the Giants' chopping block.