If the New York Giants had a competent coaching staff, they wouldn’t have lost to the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s as simple as that.
The first half of the game told a very different story from the second. Offense didn’t come too often for either side early on but the Giants did manage to pull away and a well-rested Eli Manning looked a bit more like his old self, connecting with Darius Slayton for multiple big plays and helping the Giants to build up the lead they’d take into the half.
And then the second half happened, and the Eagles started working their way back.
Unlike the Giants, the Eagles didn’t find themselves out coached and overmatched going into the second half. They produced more offense after adjusting their game plan, and it didn’t seem like the Giants had much of a counter to it. The secondary hadn’t given up points in the first quarter, and they only gave up three points in the second quarter – in the third and fourth, however, Carson Wentz started to pick the defense apart and there was little the Giants could do.
At least, there was little they could do with the coaching staff on hand. It’s easy to just say that the players aren’t talented and that the loss falls on their shoulders for not closing out the game well and finishing the job. While some of the blame does fall on them, though, it’s clear that the Giants can be a competitive team when their pieces are used correctly.
The defense did hold the Eagles to three points earlier in the game, after all. Their failure to adapt and to continue the good performance, which only required them to hold on to a decent sized lead. That nearly happened, but in a somewhat typical fashion, the Giants just couldn’t hold on through the end of the fourth quarter and things ended up going to overtime.
It was Zach Ertz that had the winning touchdown. A player that the Giants failed to game plan against in the second half, who helped turn around the fates of the Eagles in the offensive department.
The pieces were all there for the Giants to put on a good performance, even when it came to defending. This was practically demonstrated in the earlier part of the game.
But while the Eagles staff moved around their proverbial chess pieces and adjusted at halftime, and during the second half itself, James Bettcher and his defense failed to compensate. There were failures on offense, of course, as the Giants couldn’t extend their lead for the entire second half. But the ones on defense were more glaring. They directly cost the team the game.
There possibly hasn’t been a better argument yet than this game, when it comes to the reasons why the Giants should have new coordinators next season. Really, though, the two win record the Giants possess right now shows that, while James Bettcher’s defense is a problem that needs to be solved before next season, the team would likely be better off with a larger reset than just firing the coordinators.