In the aftermath of the latest Giants loss, the one that dropped them to 0-5, coach Tom Coughlin said quarterback Eli Manning simply had to play better.
But with a day to think about it, Coughlin tried to steer the blame away from his quarterback with a league-high 12 interceptions, and back onto himself.
“I can understand what the football world may think,” Coughlin said, via Conor Orr of the Newark Star-Ledger. “Actually, what should happen is people should shift [the blame] to me. The guy is trying to play the best he can. He’s certainly trying to do too much. He knows his team, and he knows his responsibility.”
Of course, it’s not all his fault. The Giants have been slapping together parts to make an offensive line, and there are receivers and play-callers who contribute to the failure.
“I know that we’re maligning my quarterback today, and believe me, there’s a bunch of people involved in that. Those things don’t happen just one-on-one now,” he said. “It’s a team concept. Whether you have a pressure situation, whether you have somebody that comes loose in front of him and he tries to move, whether the receiver doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do, whether people don’t come back for the ball … whatever it is.”
That’s a lot of moving parts, but Coughlin’s the one responsible for putting them together, and he was willing to make himself accountable.