EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo didn’t throw a lot of numbers at the New York Giants defense after their somewhat dismal performance against the Philadelphia Eagles last weekend.
Make no mistake, there were plenty of bad ones he could have used.
The Super Bowl champions allowed the Eagles to run 72 plays, gain 144 yards rushing and prevent New York’s front seven from recording a sack.
The number that Spagnuolo did mention to his unit was six inches. It was the distance that he said kept his players on the field more often than not when Philadelphia converted 12 of 18 third-down chances. Seven of the conversions were by one yard.
“You have to run to the ball,” defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka said of the third-down failings. “You have to do everything a little harder. You have to get off the ball a little faster, punch a little harder and pursue a little faster. That’s all it comes down to.”
but he also told his players they have to do a better job on Sunday when the Giants (11-2) try to secure a first-round playoff bye with a win at Dallas (8-5).
“What I said to the guys is, ‘That is just one more detail somewhere; that is one more run, pass route or one more second, or one more step, and we are off the field.’ And that was an issue and hopefully we can get that solved this week,” Spagnuolo said Thursday.
There were some obvious mistakes on third down. Rookie safety Kenny Phillips missed a tackle on Kevin Curtis on a third-and-7 in the second quarter when the receiver was well short of a first down. He got 10 yards on the play, and Brian Westbrook eventually capped the drive with a 30-yard touchdown run.
Spagnuolo didn’t point any fingers at any of his players, but he also noted that other defenders did not swarm to the ball on several occasions.
Middle linebacker Antonio Pierce said third down was not entirely the problem for the defense last week. He said the Eagles had good gains on first and second down that put them in manageable third-downs situations.
ifference in the game.”
The Eagles’ statistics for the game were among the best for a Giants opponent this season.
The 72 plays tied the most by an opponent. The 331 yards allowed were the fourth most in 13 games. The 144 yards rushing tied Cleveland for the best against New York. It was the third time this season that the Giants failed to register a sack.
“It was a lot of situations where we were this close to getting off the field,” defensive end Justin Tuck said. “There were situations where they needed five and they got right at five or six. That’s something on our football team. One of our things is we say find six more inches. If we would have found six more inches we would have been off the field. Give them credit. But we feel we could have played those situations better.”
Defensive tackle Barry Cofield said the Eagles’ ability to convert wore down the defense.
“When you don’t get off the field on third down, that allows them to line up and run the ball over and over again,” Cofield said. “When a team runs the ball almost 50 times you expect them to break 100. It was a situation where we have to get them in third and long, and when we do we have to get off the field.”
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