The Giants were on the receiving end of a serious thumping from the Seahawks on Sunday and no one had a harder time with the visitors from Seattle than the team’s offense.
They were held scoreless in the 23-0 loss and gained 181 yards, although the majority of those came once the game was already well out of reach. There were five Eli Manning interceptions, some of which came as Giants receivers put up minimal fight for 50/50 balls, and four sacks and, well, Tom Coughlin can handle the rest.
“There’s no way to sugar coat it, it was a pathetic offensive performance,” Coughlin said, via the Newark Star-Ledger. “We didn’t block anybody, we didn’t make any plays, we didn’t create any opportunities for ourselves. I told the players who prepared and gave great effort that I appreciate what they did; I told those that were obvious they had not that I felt sorry for them, because they’re missing the whole point.”
Effort was also on the mind of Giants safety Antrel Rolle, who had an interception as part of a decent defensive effort that had no chance when matched with the offensive mess. Rolle said it looked like “we didn’t have a pulse” at times and that it isn’t “about pointing fingers, but it is what it is” when asked if the offense was on the field at those times.
A couple of members of the Giants offense took issue with such sentiments. Tight end Brandon Myers took to Twitter to say that he was “cussed out for encouraging people” while also telling teammates that question his passion that they are mistaken. Wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, who was the target on one of those contested balls that Coughlin said the team is expecting their best players to win, took issue with Coughlin’s word choice.
“Offensively, it was a tough one for us,” Nicks said. “I wouldn’t use the word pathetic. I think every man ... if you lace your cleats up as a professional, I have too much respect for the guys in this locker room to say it was pathetic. Was it a lack of effort on certain plays? It could have been. We just have to go and critique ourselves, watch the film and try to bounce back.”
It was an ugly game on the field for the Giants offense in a season filled with them, which makes it fairly unsurprising that it has gotten a little ugly in the locker room as well.