Two years ago, on the backs of a dominant defense, the Giants shocked the world by holding the New England Patriots to just 14 points. Today, I doubt the Giants could hold a peewee team, to two scores.

The most consistent identify of the team is a shadow of its former self, getting torched in a 45-38 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last night. The offense did its best to keep the team in the game, erasing an early 14-0 deficit to taking a 31-30 lead. But the lead lasted for all of 15 seconds before the defense allowed a one-play, 60-yard touchdown drive by the Eagles.

Tom Coughlin and the players are defending defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, laying the blame on themselves and giving Sherdan a free pass. But when the real only change from last season to this is the defensive coordinator, it’s impossible not to look to him as the source of your problems.

I would be extremely surprised to see Sheridan on the sidelines next season, and I think if he does return, it will signal another disastrous defense.

On offense, there has been a lot of talk about Eli Manning’s fumble. Manning ran for the first down after a Goff interception, but dove headfirst into the ground instead of going feet first. The impact jarred the ball free, and since Eli went down on his own, it was a live ball. But it really was a non-issue. The Giants’ offense quickly got the ball back, and proceeded to take the lead on a 61-yard catch and run by Dominick Hixon.

While the offensive playcalling was solid throughout, there was one play that was very troublesome. Facing a third and five at the Eagles’ 43-yard line and trailing 37-31, the Giants tried a shotgun draw. Apparently with the Eagles’ linebackers stacked to the right, offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride thought a counter left was ingenious. Eli Manning thought it was the perfect call. There was only one problem with this… it didn’t work. Ahmad Bradshaw got pulled down by an ankle for no gain, and the Giants had to punt. The defense then proceeded to allow a 91-yard touchdown drive that essentially ended the game.

Listen, I don’t care that it was the perfect call. You have a $100 million quarterback who was on fire, and an Eagles’ secondary that couldn’t tackle. Go with what works. Instead, the Giants tried to get fancy, and now their hopes for a second-consecutive NFC East title are dead. With three games to play, the Giants are two games behind Philadelphia, who owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The focus now has to turn to the wild card. The Packers appear to be running away with the fifth spot, leaving the Giants and Cowboys to battle for the sixth spot. The Cowboys are going down to New Orleans for a Saturday night game, and they’re gonna get smoked. The Giants have three very winnable games remaining against the Redskins, the Panthers, and a Vikings team that will probably have nothing left to play for in Week 17.

Apparently the New York Giants were not happy about playing on Thanksgiving night. They tried to get out of it. They complained about it. It showed on the field. The Giants must have eaten a bunch of turkey before the game. The tryptophan would hopefully provide an explanatuion why the Giants slept through the game.

The short end is this. The defense couldn’t stop the Broncos from marching down the field. The offense couldn’t run the ball. The Giants lost 26-6, yet the score doesn’t convey how thoroughly they got spanked by a team that hadn’t won a game in a month.

I’m at a lost to find any positives about the game. The only one I can find is that kicker Lawrence Tynes was 2-for-2 on field goals, including a 52-yard kick. But let’s go down the list, shall we?

Quarterback (D): Eli Manning was not impressive. He had a number of throws that landed at the receivers’ feet, or over the receivers’ heads. Andre’ Goodman had three interceptions in his grasp, but failed to pull two of them in. Eli also fumbled in the fourth quarter, but when the defense knows you’re going to pass every down in a position of desperation, that’s not a big deal.

Running Backs (C): When you’re supposedly elite running game carries the ball just 16 times and averages 3.6 yards per carry, you’re in trouble. Brandon Jacobs continued his transition into the last Giant player to wear #27. Ron Dayne has returned the Giants’ backfield, ladies and gentlemen! I don’t understand why Jacobs isn’t just exploding in the line and using his built to push the pile. It seems to take him so long to reach the line of scrimmage, and he’s going down as soon as someone tries to take out his legs. Jacobs’ biggest run of the game was for seven freakin’ yards.

Danny Ware…I mean, DJ Ware (as he insisted to be called now; it stands for Danny Jr.) was decent. He only carried the ball six times, but averaged an impressive 6.8 yards per carry. Of course, he also fumbled early in the second quarter, allowing a turnover which the Broncos converted into a Knowshon Moreno touchdown. He left the game with a concussion.

Receivers (C): You’re kind of limited when your quarterback is struggling to get the ball to you. But the receiving corp didn’t help. The Broncos were playing a lot of man-to-man, yet Manning was having trouble finding an open receiver. Kevin Boss was coming off a career game, yet Manning only threw his way twice. Considering Boss caught both passes that came at him, I have to believe that he just wasn’t getting open often enough. Steve Smith and Hakeem Nicks were the Giants’ two best receivers on the field, but both caught long balls that inflated their numbers.

Offensive Line (D): Last year, the Giants’ offensive line was one of the best in the NFL. Yet this season, with the EXACT SAME LINE, they allow way too much pressure on passing games, and don’t open any holes in the running game. Manning got sacked three times and got hit six times in all. Although some of the blame lies with Jacobs, the line’s inability to open any holes for him doesn’t give Jacobs a chance to build any momentum with his runs. I hate when the Giants run outside with Jacobs, as he’s a north-south runner, not an east-west. But I can understand the reasoning. The big hitters on defense are generally the linemen, the linebackers, and the safeties. If you can successfully get outside, you have a 264-pound back going against cornerbacks. It’s a dream matchup. But it’s useless if the offensive line isn’t allowing you to get any positive yardage on those plays.

I’ll be back with the defensive assessments later on.