The New York Giants stayed with the defending champion Seattle Seahawks for three quarters on Sunday, but NFL games are four quarters long. Let's see what head coach Tom Coughlin and the Giants' players were saying in the locker room after the Giants' fourth straight defeat.
Coughlin on the second-half collapse, which saw a 17-17 game turn quickly into a rout:
"It’s hard to believe what you saw in the second half."
Coughlin called the interception by Eli Manning which turned the game in Seattle's favor in the second half "ill-advised."
"The timing was disrupted the ball probably didn't come out on time," Coughlin said.
The Giants led at the half, 17-14, but were shut out over the final two quarters.
"I thought there was a lot of good plays in the first half. Odell made some plays and we moved the ball down the field. In the second half we didn't make many of those plays," Coughlin said.
Coughlin on what is next for the Giants:
"We talked about improvement. I thought in the first half we did show improvement. There's more work to be done there. Everybody's going to be disappointed, Everybody's going to be embarrassed, and rightfully so. Somehow, someway we've gotta come back together because once again we have a very difficult opponent next week."
Manning agreed with Coughlin that he never should have thrown the ball to Beckham that ended up being intercepted:
"Very, very bad decision on the interception. Just late and can’t afford to do that," Manning said. "Was trying to hit Larry down the seam. Went to Odell way too late. Just a bad decision."
Safety Antrel Rolle was, of course, asked about the defense surrendering 510 yards, including 350 rushing yrads:
"Our defense is based on everyone doing their job, doing their assignment. What you saw today, especially in the second half you saw a clear-cut case of that not taking place," Rolle said.
Rolle on the second-half collapse:
"We got handled. There's no way around it. We didn't get one stop. We didn't do anything right in the second half," Rolle said.
"If you have an assignment, you do your job. It’s that simple. You can’t beat yourself in this league, and we’ve been doing that for quite some time now. If you have the dive, take the dive. If you have the quarterback, take the quarterback."
Jason Pierre-Paul had questioned the hearts of his teammates during the week. He said Sunday night it was "embarrassing" to give up 350 yards rushing.
"We made mistakes. Big mistakes that cost us the game," Pierre-Paul said.
Asked about what defensive adjustments were made at halftime, Jason Pierre-Paul said "I don't know. I was in the bathroom."
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RVacchianoNYDN) November 10, 2014
"As a defense you've gotta go out there and execute and do your job," said defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins. "We didn't do that tonight."
DRC: "You’re fighting for your season, and you go out there like that, that should hurt. I’m mad. I want to win. We want to win." #giants
— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) November 10, 2014