E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer
for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he is one of
only four sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

By DAVE KLEIN
IT WAS NOT TWO BAD CALLS THAT HURT --
IN FACT, THEY WEREN'T BAD CALLS AT ALL

Let's clear up a few things first before we try to discuss the Giants' severely disappointing performance Sunday at home against Dallas.

First of all, it is incredibly difficult to officiate a game in the NFL. That's why they have six zebras running around, and even then some of them get things wrong. It is not possible to officiate a game without making a single mistake, impossible. It can't be done.

Got it? OK, here's more. The bad calls, if they were bad calls, didn't lose the game for the Giants. It was, in fact, the Giants who lost the game for the Giants. They didn't play well enough, they didn't take advantage of their opportunities, and they didn't do the things better-than-good teams do. That's it, really. The Giants are good; they are not better than good. Not yet, at any rate.

Now you're going to start jumping up and down and holding your breath about two holding calls, the one that negated Brandon Jacobs' six-yard touchdown and the one that blew away Ahmad Bradshaw's 83-yard kickoff return to the Cowboys' two-yard line.

Were they holding penalties? It doesn't matter, or it certainly wouldn't matter if those calls went against the Cowboys, if they took away a six-yard touchdown and an 83-yard kickoff return.

The officials are not "colluding" to help Dallas, because frankly nobody wants to do that. It's too risky, too dangerous, too obvious and, of course, illegal.

Were there things wrong with the game? Oh, for sure. Like Eli Manning, for instance. Like the defensive line, for instance. Like an almost non-existent secondary, for instance.

You can pick and choose. You can point to Eli's three delay of game penalties, which is patently ridiculous for a quarterback at home, on the road or in an elementary school playground. He says he … oh, this is too good, just listen: "One time I saw the [play] clock, I saw what was going on. One time I was sure I got it off. I thought it got called a little early on me on a screen. The other one -- I saw a blitz, tried to change protection and pick it up and just ran a little late. I don't think it is going to be a big concern. Obviously, I have to do better in just getting up to the line of scrimmage and getting the play called so we are not getting penalized. But I'm not concerned that it will be a lasting factor."

Wait, stop giggling. There's more.

The question concerned the plays and were they coming in fast enough. "Yeah, technology was fine," he said. "Maybe one after the penalty, but it still seemed like we had time to get up there, try to get the play called; that one, as I said, Shaun [center Shaun O'Hara] didn't hear me kind of make a call to say the clock is running down. Everybody was kind of jumping and he snapped it late. And so that is why we got called for that one. We did all the right things. We got out of the huddle late in a substitution, but that was one that would you like to have back but it was just one call."

I'm sorry, fellas. Eli is a nice guy. He is polite and he answers questions (well, he does on the days designated for him to agree to speak to the media). He may one day be a very good quarterback, except he isn't that right now. And for those of you who still expect him to blossom into greatness, there is a strong chance that you are expecting too much.

Did rookie tight end Kevin Boss hold on the long kickoff return? Possibly, but four out of five times the official will see that and just ignore it. Did guard Chris Snee hold on the Jacobs' touchdown run? If he did, it happened after the big running back blew past that point on the field. Oh, wait, I know. If somebody is holding and the play isn't anywhere near him, you should call it anyway, right? There is precedent for this -- see: Super Bowl XXXV, defensive holding on tackle Keith Hamilton about a quarter of a mile away from where linebacker Jessie Armstead had picked off a Trent Dilfer pass and taken it in for a touchdown.

Remember?

What happened Sunday was the Giants' fault. They didn't play well enough, they didn't take advantage, they allowed the Cowboys to dictate terms and they allowed the game to be taken away from them -- the pace, the intensity, the creativity and the momentum.

You cannot blame that on a holding penalty.

Oh, and for those of you still clutching to the hope that Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo was across the line of scrimmage when he threw a touchdown pass, drop it. According to Giants' head coach Tom Coughlin, who must have watched it four million times: "Your foot has to be down." Meaning it wasn't. Meaning that had he planted that front foot before he threw, he would have officially and technically been over the line of scrimmage (10 yards, loss of down). But he didn't. Close? Of course it was close. And do you know what else it was? It was a great call by the official.

I know, I know, this isn't what you wanted to hear. Would you rather discuss cornerback Sam Madison and how the next time he sees Terrell Owens' face it'll be the first time? He tried to chuck him at the line of scrimmage on that 50-yard touchdown play (and Romo put the ball up perfectly, hitting Owens' hands in stride). But Madison missed. He missed. Holy cow, how can you miss?

That gave T.O. about a five-yard head start racing downfield, and Madison could have been on a Moped and he wouldn't have caught him. There was no "bad call" that gave up that touchdown. It was generated by the Giants.

You know, you can't even blame the coaches. They saw the Cowboys on tape all week and they knew what to do and they designed a game plan that, on paper, would have done it. The problem is that putting plans on paper doesn't automatically mean the players will perform exactly that way every time.

"There were a lot of things and you could go on and on about this game because there were so many of them," Coughlin said. "As I always say, there is no one group, there is no one player, no one aspect of our team that ever loses a game. We lose it together or we win it together. We didn't win it. We don't have any excuses for it. Understand this: At no time during the course of this season after any of the six wins have we ever dwelled on 'yesterday.' I am not going to do that now, either."

Oh, and for those of you ready to lynch Manning, Coughlin offers this: "In the first half he was outstanding, and in the second half obviously the numbers weren't as good. Eli had an outstanding first half and the blame [for a loss] always goes to the coach and the quarterback. It should go to the coach."

Remember, if those two "bad calls" had gone against the Cowboys, they would have already been drowned in the giddy rush of a victory, you know?

Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here.
- Team Giants

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