Maybe it was asking too much for the Giants’ defense to be immovable or at least resolute, as their game versus the Carolina Panthers, a 38-35 loss, wound down to its final seconds this past Sunday.
Maybe it was beyond the Giants’ offense’s collective capability to execute early in the game and establish a lead instead of falling into a 21-7 deficit by halftime and a 35-14 shortfall by the start of the third quarter.
Maybe it was too much to ask the Giants’ 23-year-old star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to conduct himself as a composed adult as opposed to comporting himself like an impulsive toddler, throwing one temper tantrum after another in the process of accumulating an incomprehensible three personal foul penalties, recklessly delivering head slaps and an intentionally dangerous helmet-to-helmet blow to the Panthers’ outstanding cornerback Josh Norman.
The consequence for Beckham is a one-game suspension by the NFL, to be served this Sunday night (8:30 p.m.) against the Minnesota Vikings on the road. His looming absence is monumental. By the time the Giants face the Philadelphia Eagles in their regular season finale Jan. 3 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, they may already be eliminated from postseason contention.
All of the aforementioned failings add up to the Giants now being pressed to win their remaining two games—an unlikely result—to have a chance to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2011 season. At 6-8, they are a game behind 7-7 Washington and tied with the 6-8 Eagles in pursuit of the NFC East title. The last place 4-10 Cowboys are out of the race. Washington can clinch the division with a win over the Eagles in Philadelphia this Saturday (8:30 p.m.).
Beckham and head coach Tom Coughlin are rightfully at the center of the Giants’ fragile playoff prospects. The officials could have solved Beckham’s total loss of control by tossing him out of the game, but they negligently didn’t, so it was incumbent on Coughlin to pull him for a series or two to help the fiery pass catcher regain his poise, which he would have done with almost any other player. However, Beckham was the recipient of superstar treatment by Coughlin and the officials.