Palladino: Giants Continue To Prove They're Not One Of The Big Boys

By Ernie Palladino
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The Jets' season ended weeks ago, and now, after a 40-24 shellacking against Andrew Luck and the fast-twitch Colts, the Giants' season is about to go down the drain, too.

As if an unchallenged Coby Fleener touchdown and T.Y. Hilton's end-zone fleecing of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on what should have been an interception weren't enough, the Giants now have to head into CenturyLink Field to face the Super Bowl-champion Seahawks.

Under other circumstances, it would be easy to pass off Monday night's game as a bad but recoverable misstep; a team struggling to stay in the yearly clump of wild-card contenders falling to Indianapolis' next, more mobile incarnation of Peyton Manning.

Some may even shrug it off as a near-meaningless, non-conference game. That's all well and good. Certainly, if this 3-5 team rebounds to go 6-2 over the second half and works itself into a wild-card tiebreaker situation, it's better that their third straight loss came against an AFC team.

But the Giants have before them a scenario that is anything but optimistic. Playing in Seattle is tough enough with a healthy team. Now, at 2-4 in the NFC, they'll face the same, full-throated 12th man that once vocalized the Giants into 11 motion penalties. They'll go in without their top cornerback, without a starting guard and with Antrel Rolle having just called his coaches and teammates indecisive and docile.

At 5-3, the Seahawks may not look like the power they were last year. But they are 3-1 at home and winners of two straight. The defense is still mighty, giving up the fourth fewest points in the conference. And Russell Wilson and his receivers will now work against a defense that will spend the rest of the year trying to replace Prince Amukamara as he recovers from pending surgery on a torn bicep.

It won't help a harassed Eli Manning that starting guard Weston Richburg will also miss time with the ankle injury he suffered against Indy. Those three sacks Monday made it nine for Manning in two of the last three games, and there were 11 additional hits on top of those. The Colts were only credited with two hits on the stat sheet, but their game-long rush -- led by Jonathan Newsome's two sacks -- left Manning with minimal time to operate. Plus, he fumbled twice, losing one of them.

As for Rolle, he was none too pleased with the embarrassing two-play sequence that put the Colts up 10-0. Fleener clearly had possession of the ball on the 21-yard catch that preceded his touchdown. What should also have been clear, considering Jacquian Williams tackled the tight end right in front of the Giants' bench, was that the ball came loose. Even Fleener admitted after the game that he anticipated a catch-and-fumble ruling.

But there was no red flag. Luck lined up his team quickly, took a one-word play call from the sideline and ordered the snap. Meanwhile, the Giants' defenders were still looking at the sideline awaiting their own call.

Fleener ran an out route, basically uncovered. The result was the Colts' easiest touchdown of the year.

And now the Giants go into Seattle with Rolle's words ringing in their ears.

"We're so up and down, you don't know what you're going to get," he said. "You don't know if you're going to get the good Giants, the bad Giants, the flat Giants. You lose, you lose with a fight. You go out there, you fight and scratch and claw … Right now that's not happening."

It probably won't happen in time to save the season. After Seattle comes San Francisco and its harassing defense. Then Dallas again before things lighten up a bit with Jacksonville, Tennessee and Washington. But none of those games are gimmees, not even the matchup against the 1-8 Jags. Not with the beatings the Giants have taken of late. Not with the shattered roster and shaky pass protection they'll take into Seattle.

The Giants might just be ready to slip into the abyss.

With losses to four division leaders in the Lions, Cardinals, Eagles and Colts -- and another to the second-place Cowboys -- they have already proved that they don't belong at the big boys' table.

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