Giants play lousy and lose to the Cards 21 - 7.
Kerry Collins was 19-of-36 for 199 yards and 2 INTs.
Ike Hilliard had 4 receptions for 56 yards.
Jeremy Shockey had 4 receptions for 56 yards.
Giants had a 76-yard touchdown pass from Collins to Ron Dixon called back.

The Giants lost to the Cards 21 - 7.
"I know the game was blacked out in Arizona because not enough tickets were sold, but after a while, I was feeling it was a shame it wasn't blacked out here as well. That was a hard game to watch. Both teams played like it was their first game out of preseason. There were penalties, interceptions, fumbles, sacks, bad and missed calls by the refs, bad play calling by the coaches, poor executions by the players, and some missed opportunities.
Did I leave anything out? I might have, because I felt the need to cover my eyes here and there. Maybe it's just me, but I never enjoy these games against the Cards. Win or lose, it always seems to be a lousy game, and so I'm glad we won't be playing them very much from now on. Don't boo me bird fans, it's not your team I'm complaining about. The matchup between the Giants and the Cards just doesn't produce good football."

The Giants did score right away on their opening drive.
"Right, and they looked fantastic doing it too. First the Giants let the Cards waste two minutes going three and out. Then they took over on offense and they were unstoppable. Collins completed long passes to Toomer and Shockey. Tiki caught one, and he and Dayne ran the ball. The Giants were in command marching down the field, needing only one third down play, and they broke the so called red-zone jinx, scoring seven with no trouble at all.
It looked like they could do it over and over again. Yet, somehow, at the end of the game all the Giants had on the scoreboard was still those same seven points."

Matt Bryant didn't even get a chance to kick a field goal.
"That's a good point. Once the Giants showed they could score from the redzone, they never could get back to it. It wasn't the Cards stopping them all the time. The Giants also hurt themselves by making every mistake in the book with interceptions, fumbles and penalties that even included having a touchdown called back.
Last week maybe you didn't like that Matt Bryant was getting called on to kick field goals, but looking back it wasn't such a bad thing. Instead this week Matt Allen was called on all the time to punt. By the end of the third quarter you were hoping you'd see Matt Bryant come out and put some points up on the board, because nothing was happening for the Giants. I hope they can pick it up for next week's game on the road against Dallas."

Last week you didn't like the play calling.
"Right, and even Fassel said that he shouldn't have gone for it with the ball on the Seahawks 1 yard line with less than 20 seconds left in the half. He said he wouldn't make that mistake again.
This week he made an even bigger one. It looked like the Giants were lucky when Gramatica missed a 42 yard field goal right at the end of the half. That kept them up at 7-0 with the Cards feeling like they couldn't do anything at all. All they had to do was fall on the ball at their own 32 yard line because there was only 14 seconds left.
Instead they had Collins throw a pass which ended up as an interception return for a touchdown. The next kickoff ended the half, and the Cards trotted off the field with a tie game. Having Collins throw the ball in the hope of doing something with 14 seconds left when they hadn't done anything since the opening drive was foolish to say the least."

Why do you think they called that play?
"Obviously the Giants couldn't handle the desert sun and became sun-struk by the end of the half. That would be a good reason, but let's analyze what I'll call the 'Three Stooges Play".
Stooge #1 (Fassel) to Stooge #2 (Payton) - 'We have 14 seconds on the clock and only have 7 points on the scoreboard. Run a play and see if we can get some yardage and conserve time.'
Stooge #2 (Thinking to himself - We haven't moved the ball since we started, but I don't want to get slapped) 'OK Moe, I mean Jim, I'll pass it on'. 'Hey Kerry (Stooge #3) Run a safe pass play and try to pick up some real yards. Keep it safe.'
Stooge #3 - 'What Larry, I mean Sean? OK don't slap me. I'll be careful. Kerry calls for the snap, holds the ball waiting for something real nice and safe to open up downfield, and with the clock winding down, tosses it to Tiki near the sidelines. It gets picked off and returned for a touchdown.
Stooge #1 - (Starts slapping himself silly and thinks) - 'I'll never make a mistake like that again. Hey, that's two weeks in a row I'm saying something like this."

You want us to print that?
"Sure. I probably shouldn't, but what the heck. Anyway, that was just one mistake. The game was even at that point and there was another half to make up for it. The Giants have a real problem. With all the offensive talent they have, they can't score points. The biggest threat right now is the Eagles, who have scored 140 points in four games, and the Giants have scored 55.
If the Giants want to win the division, they'd better figure this one out."

Giants scored on their opening drive, but that was it for the game.

Giants committed 10 penalties for 110 yards.

Kerry Collins tossed two interceptions and now has 1 TD pass and 6 INTs this season.

Cards defense held the Giants to just two first downs rushing.
That's the fewest the Cardinals have yielded since late 1999, when Detroit gained just two.

Next Game
Sun, Oct 6, Giants at Dallas, 1:00 PM ET

Game Previews and Reviews
Previews		Reviews
Preseason Games		Reviews
Game 1	Giants - San Francisco	L 16 - 13
Game 2	Giants - St. Louis	W 26 - 21
Game 3	Giants - Seahawks	W 9 - 6

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