The New York Giants are faking out their fans. It’s like a cat chasing a laser pointer. What they want is right in front of them, but they can’t quite catch it.

On Sunday in Denver, the Giants committed one of the worst collapses in NFL history, losing 33-32 to the Denver Broncos despite starting the fourth quarter with a 19-0 lead. Before this, 1,602 consecutive games were won by teams leading by 18 points or more with at least six minutes remaining in a game.

The fourth quarter scores:

19-0 Giants at 15:00
19-8 Giants at 14:14
26-8 Giants at 10:22
26-16 Giants at 5:19
26-23 Giants at 3:55
26-30 Broncos at 1:56
32-30 Giants at 0:40
32-33 Broncos at 0:02

Had the Giants won this game, it might have been historic. But they made the wrong kind of history by losing.

“This one probably hurt more than the other losses,” Dexter Lawrence said.

“There’s no way in hell we’re supposed to lose that game,” Brian Burns cried.

There are many people to blame for this epic collapse, but let’s begin with the kicker, Jude McAtamney. He missed two extra points, including one with 37 seconds left that led to a game-winning Broncos field goal. The Giants acquired McAtamney from Ireland through the NFL’s International Pathway Program. For years, starting kicker Graham Gano has struggled to stay healthy, and this was the third game – arguably the fourth – in which the Giants’ inability to handle their placekicker cost them a win.

In this modern NFL era, kickers are one of the most important parts of a team’s offense. Across the league, teams are winning games with field goals from 50 yards and beyond, but not the Giants.

“It’s on me,” McAtamney said. “I missed vital points at vital times today. I’m not gonna shy away from that. The snap and the hold were good. It was my lack of execution on the kicks. I’m not gonna shy away from my mistakes and letting the team down.”

While the scoring breakdown would initially suggest McAtamney’s missed extra points were the main reason the Giants lost, consider the fact that they entered the fourth quarter with a 19-0 lead, and maybe reevaluate. McAtamney is not the main culprit here.

“We got put in a position where we could have taken the game, but we gave it back to them,” said Brian Burns, who led the Giants’ defense with two sacks. “I put that all on us. We’ve got to play better.”

Examining the defense, the Giants’ secondary was most responsible for this collapse. But was it the players, the defensive coordinator, or the head coach? Or a combination of the three? After Jevón Holland and Paulson Adebo left the game with injuries, the Giants turned to former first-round pick Deonte Banks and gave Dru Phillips more opportunities.

On Denver’s first drive of the fourth quarter, which led to a touchdown, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix tried to pass to Adam Prentice, and Roy Robertson-Harris nearly came up with an interception. But he didn’t and one play later, Banks failed to make a play against a deflected pass to Troy Franklin, allowing Denver to score. After a successful two-point conversion, they were on the board.

After a 41-yard touchdown pass from Jaxson Dart to Theo Johnson extended the Giants’ lead to 26-8, Denver found themselves in a fourth-and-three situation on their next drive. On Nix’s throw, Phillips was flagged for pass interference. Then Denver scored, and the Giants’ lead was cut to 10 points.

On the Giants’ next drive, on third down with 4:56 remaining, Dart fired the football through pressure and couldn’t complete his pass to Theo Johnson on target because he was being tugged from behind. As a result, Justin Strnad intercepted a low pass, flipping momentum entirely in Denver’s favor. The Broncos were able to turn the interception into a scoring drive, and suddenly the Giants’ lead was cut to three points.

“That’s just unacceptable,” Dart said. “I’ve got to be better.”

One argument here is that the Giants should have run the ball on third-and-five, and if they didn’t convert, then punting would have been the right call. However, given the extent to which offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and head coach Brian Daboll trust Dart, plus the blitz the Broncos ran, a passing play was probably the correct call.

I’m making this argument despite a convincing counterargument by Tiki Barber, who said on WFAN after the game, “I don’t know if this is Mike Kafka trying to be cute. I don’t know if this is Brian Daboll trying to be aggressive. I don’t know if this is Jaxson Dart trying to be a hero. This is on the play call, period. The only thing you do is force the Denver Broncos to use three timeouts, keep the clock running, and punt the ball away.”

Barber’s assessment is technically correct, but when you’re facing a defense as tough on the ground as Denver, and your quarterback has been hitting his targets all afternoon, then there is nothing inherently wrong with letting him throw, even though he’s a rookie. It shows the Giants believe in him, which has potential short-term and long-term benefits.

After Denver capitalized on Strnad’s interception to come within three points of tying the game, they completed another scoring drive in just 51 seconds, earning a 30-23 lead. On third-and-11, the Broncos had the ball at their own 31-yard line, and Phillips ran too far past Marvin Mims down the field, allowing him to make an easy 31-yard catch.

Two plays later, as Denver positioned at the Giants’ 38-yard line on second-and-10, the Giants dropped five defenders in coverage. As soon as the ball was snapped, Evan Engram moved to his left side, taking advantage of weak secondary coverage as Banks and Phillips were the only defenders in his way. After Engram caught the pass, Phillips failed to finish a play to push him to the sideline. Phillips thought Engram was going to run out of bounds, so he stopped applying pressure. Instead, Engram gained 20 yards, and the Broncos scored a touchdown two plays later.

Clearly, fatigue affected Phillips on this play, and that’s a major factor at Mile High. But it’s no excuse for a half-hearted tackle.

Somehow, the Giants responded to Denver’s go-ahead scoring drive with a touchdown of their own. On third down, because of a pass interference penalty and an unsportsmanlike conduct call, the Giants obtained first-and-goal at Denver’s one-yard line. With 40 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Dart scrambled up the middle for a touchdown. It almost felt miraculous that the Giants took a 32-30 lead, yet there was plenty to be concerned about with Denver still having 37 seconds left on the clock. Then, McAtamney shanked the extra point wide right, gifting Denver a massive opportunity to win the game with a field goal instead of merely tying it.

But the Giants wouldn’t have been in this position if their defense had done its job.

Denver had the ball at their own 23-yard line with 33 seconds remaining. On first down, the Giants dropped eight defenders in coverage, giving Bo Nix plenty of time in the pocket. He stepped up and fired a pass deep down the field for Mims, as two defenders surrounded Courtland Sutton. For the second time in two minutes, Phillips ran too far past Mims, and as he attempted to readjust, Mims turned around and hauled in the 29-yard pass. That put the Broncos in field goal range with plenty of time to spare.

“Outside leverage,” said Phillips. “If I had just kept my eyes on my man and looked back at the quarterback a second sooner. […] It just comes down to finishing. When it gets down to that fourth quarter, when it’s time to stand up and you need to stop, we’ve got to be better. I’ve got to be better.”

This decision to drop eight defenders in coverage without rushing the passer was the same play defensive coordinator Shane Bowen called that let the Dallas Cowboys kick a fourth-quarter game-tying field goal in Week 2. This play cannot succeed with an unreliable secondary, especially when a defensive unit is experiencing fatigue while running. This was an unacceptable play call by Bowen. I’d even say it was an offense worthy of Bowen’s dismissal.

And then it got worse. After Brian Burns was penalized five yards for a neutral zone infraction, Nix completed a 22-yard pass to a poorly defended Sutton. Banks couldn’t stop Sutton as he was running, and he couldn’t defend him when he leapt in the air to make the catch. Once again, the Giants didn’t pressure Nix at all.

“I put all that on us,” Burns said. “We have to play better. Maybe there might have been a sense of getting a little comfortable. We had a nice-sized lead, and we have to act like we’ve been there before. You can’t let up because you see what can happen.”

Everybody is to blame for this loss. The players didn’t play well enough. The front office failed to make an NFL-quality kicker available. The offensive coordinator crafted a play call that led to an interception. The defensive coordinator called an embarrassing fourth quarter. And the head coach failed to prevent everything from spiraling out of control.

After Will Lutz kicked a game-winning 39-yard field goal for the Broncos, head coach Brian Daboll slammed his headset on the ground and screamed at Shane Bowen. This reaction suggests Daboll is lost at sea with his team. He cannot coach effectively when things turn sour. Yet, after the game, he defended Bowen.

“We all have to do a better job,” said Daboll. “It starts with me.”

Whatever happens this season, unless the Giants somehow find their way into the playoffs (spoiler alert: that won’t happen), there is no reason for the Giants to retain Daboll and his coaching staff. The importance of the relationship between a head coach and his quarterback is not the most important factor for the Giants. Daboll cannot offer them long-term success, and he isn’t capable of hauling in the reins when things get ugly.

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