A Look at the Giants: The Dreaded Coughlin Trap Game Bites the Giants...Again

Yesterday's Giants game had all the makings of a trap game: a bad team that just fired its coach, a Giants team with a few key injuries, no one giving the opposition a chance to win the game, and, most importantly, a big match-up coming up the next game that the Giants were looking forward to and maybe looking past their current game. Every year under Tom Coughlin the Giants seem to play one of these games. For a coach who is supposed to be a disciplinarian who keeps his troops focused, this seems like it never should happen. But yesterday afternoon, as the power went out at New Meadowlands Stadium, the power went out of the Giants. Let's take a look at the trap games losses throughout the years under Coughlin:

A big Eli Manning INT again led to a Giants "trap game" loss (Star-Ledger)

Nov 14, 2010 (Week 10): Dallas Cowboys at Giants. The Giants had spoiled the home opener of the Cowboys in their new stadium and then had walloped them a few weeks ago. You knew that the Cowboys were going to come in and play with a purpose (so you thought maybe the Cowboys would cover the 14-point spread). But a 13-point win marred by a ton of Giants mistakes and 3 key turnovers? Awful. The Giants had plenty of chances to get back in this game and instead gave up long 3rd down gains, had a huge touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks overturned because of a penalty, threw a 101-yard Pick 6 after first down at the 1, and generally looked like, well, the Cowboys of the past few weeks (the Cowboys have the 4th-worst defense and point differential in the NFL). With the Eagles looming on the schedule, the Giants were definitely looking ahead to that game and totally underestimated their opponent. The Giants are now going from a possible 1st round bye to possibly having to fight for their playoff lives in a span of one week. Trap game, indeed.

Nov 26, 2009 (Week 12): Giants at Denver Broncos. The Broncos had lost 4 in a row and looked totally lost when the Giants came in town having just won a huge post-bye week game against the Falcons but had a quick turnaround to play a Thursday night game only 4 days later against the Broncos. With Dallas coming next, the Giants got caught looking ahead once again as they fell behind 16-0 and were unable to recover. The Giants committed three turnovers including a costly fumble by Eli Manning in the 4th Quarter to seal the deal for the Broncos. The Giants got killed on the ground game with Brandon Jacobs and Danny Ware sharing the rushing lead with only 27 yards. The Giants defense continued to get slaughtered as they would finish the season giving up the 3rd-most point in the NFL (26.7 per game). The Broncos finished the season 8-8 and the Giants missed a golden opportunity to win a game and have a chance at a playoff berth.

Oct 13, 2008 (Week 6): Giants at Cleveland Browns. Monday night football with the 4-0 Giants playing a Cleveland team that would finish the season with 4 wins. This was one of those 4. The Giants defense gave up 455 yards of offense to Derek Anderson (who came into the game fighting for his job), Braylon Edwards (career-high 154 yards receiving) and the rest of the Browns and Eric Wright had a big Pick 6, returning an interception 94 yards for a touchdown. That was one one of Manning's 3 INTs as the Giants blew a chance to come back after a 17-14 halftime deficit. The Giants defense was so inept against the Cleveland offense that they didn't force the Browns to punt once--the first time that had happened since 1995. This was a Cleveland team that was 30th in the NFL in points scored and 27th in point differential. The Giants would win 7 games after this, but maybe this one should have been a warning sign of some defensive issues to come.

Nov 25, 2007 (Week 12): Minnesota Vikings at Giants. The Giants would win the Super Bowl this year but this one would sting. The Vikings were a mediocre 8-8 team (4-6 at the time of the game), but the Giants made them look a lot better as they lost 41-17 behind 3 Eli Manning Pick 6s (of the 4 Manning interceptions). Yeah, it was that game. The Giants had big road games coming up and they almost ruined their chances at the playoffs by hardly showing up for this game. They lost for the 2nd time in 3 weeks and fans had no idea this team would be able to figure out how to put it all together for a historic playoff run. Tavaris Jackson didn't have to do much on offense but was 10-for-12 for 129 yards and a touchdown  while the Giants were playing from behind the entire game due to the turnovers and inconsistent tackling. The loss dropped the Giants three games behind the Cowboys in the NFC East and seemed to at least seal the fact they wouldn't catch them for the division.

Nov 26, 2006 (Week 12): Giants at Tennessee Titans. The Giants had 3 "trap games" in 2006 (Week 3 at the Seahawks--which everyone remembers--and Week 11 against the Jaguars) but this one was the worst because of the in-game trap. The Titans came into the game at 3-7 and looked like they were going to fall to 3-8 after the 6-4 Giants took a 21-0 lead into the 4th Quarter and started looking forward to the next week's match-up against the Cowboys. That's when Vince Young and Adam "Pacman" Jones helped the Titans complete their biggest 4th Quarter comeback in franchise history, stunning the Giants. Again, Eli Manning's troubles came into play as two 4th Quarter interceptions helped set up Titans' scores. The Giants had two big defensive mistakes as Giants cornerback Frank Walker (one of my least favorite Giants ever) got a personal foul penalty after the Giants had stopped the Titans on 4th down (4th-and-9) and Mathias Kiwanuka let Young out a sack on another 4th down (4th-and-10) and Young scrambled for the 1st down. The Titans had the 2nd worst defense in the NFL, allowing 25 points per game, but the Giants couldn't seal the deal here (which was a preview for how their quick playoff exit would go).

Jan 8, 2006 (Wild Card Playoffs): Carolina Panthers at Giants. I know that it seems very odd to call a playoff game a "trap game", but this one against the Panthers was just that. Carolina would eventually lose the NFC Championship game against Seattle, but it seemed going into the playoffs that it would be the Giants title to lose. Instead, the Giants suffered their first playoff shutout in 20 years, losing this game 23-0. Again, Eli Manning turnovers were the problem as John Fox's crew forced 4 Manning turnovers in the win. The Giants didn't play well on any side of the ball as they got beat on offense (Manning only threw for 113, Plaxico Burress didn't catch a pass, and Tiki Barber only added a season-low 41 yards rushing), defense (they gave up 151 yards on the ground to DeShaun Foster), and special teams (where they muffed a punt to provide their 5th turnover). This trap game sent the Giants home.

Oct 24, 2004 (Week 7): Detroit Lions at Giants. It's hard to remember that the 6-10 Giants had a trap game during the year, but this one was very much so. The Giants were 4-1 coming into the game and riding high coming off their bye week (which was usually always a trap game under previous coach Jim Fassel). They followed it up by stinking it up 28-13 at home against a Detroit team that would go 6-10 with the 24th best offense and 23rd best point differential in the NFL. Joey Harrington threw two touchdown passes and Giants quarterback Kurt Warner got intercepted in the end zone late in the first half in a play that proved critical. The Giants were up 10-7 at half and 14-13 in the 4th quarter when the Lions staged their comeback. The Giants red zone failures killed them in this one. Although it looked like just a blip on the radar when they won the next week, the Giants would then go on to lose 8 in a row and the Eli Manning era would be ushered in by Week 11.