In their biggest game of the season, the New York Giants blew a seemingly insurmountable lead. And Tom Coughlin might eventually pay the biggest price for it.
The Giants, who controlled the game the whole way Sunday — right up until Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson ripped it away — blew a 21-point lead in the final seven minutes of a 38-31 loss to the Eagles. Barring a Philadelphia collapse, New York, now a game back of Philly in the division, is resigned to fight for a wild-card berth.
The Giants may well reach the playoffs. They still control their destiny. But this is the kind of gut-punch meltdown that can have lingering effects. The 2002 Giants — Jim Fassel‘s last playoff team — blew a 24-point second-half lead in their wild-card game against the 49ers. It was a collapse so complete and so bizarre that Fassel’s G-Men never really recovered, going 4-12 the following year. Fassel subsequently was fired, quarterback Kerry Collins was released and New York rebuilt around Coughlin and Eli Manning.
An organizational reconstruction probably isn’t in the cards, but Coughlin could be the fall guy if the hangover causes the Giants to miss the playoffs for the second year in a row.
