Big Blue Meltdown: Giants Shutout by Falcons

FALCONS 34
GIANTS 0

The Giants playoff fate is now quickly falling out of their hands. Needing a victory over the Atlanta Falcons in order to stay ahead of the Washington Redskins and even the Dallas Cowboys, got clobbered by the Dirty Birds 34-0.

The shutout was the first time Big Blue had been blanked since the wild card playoff game against Carolina, 23-0, in 2005; and the first time in the regular season since December 1, 1996 against the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-0.

A week after scoring 52 points, the Giants were putrid offensively. Eli Manning couldn't get into a groove, and the Giants running game, which had been handicapped a bit with the injury to Ahmad Bradshaw, was nonexistent.

On the Giants second play from scrimmage, Manning set the tone for the afternoon when he was picked off by Asante Samuel, giving Atlanta the football inside the Giants 20. The Falcons responded by pounding the football with struggling tail-back Michael Turner, who bulled his way to 16-yards on four plays and a touchdown to make it 7-0 Atlanta.

After a nice Giants drive stalled at the Falcons 12, when Manning failed to convert a third down to Domenik Hixon, the Falcons took over and stuck it to Big Blue. Quarterback Matt Ryan hit a wide open Harry Douglas down the sideline for 37-yards to spot the ball at the Giants 11. Two plays later, Ryan found Tony Gonzalez in single coverage for the touchdown to extend the lead to 14-0. At that point, the competitive nature of the game was lost.

The Giants went into a collective funk and never again threatened the Atlanta lead. The Giants were able to get down to the Falcons red zone on a couple of occasions, but in each case, the Falcons defense stiffened and the Giants were unable to convert third-and-short and fourth-and-short opportunties.

After the Giants failed to convert on fourth and one at the Falcons 11-yard line, the Falcons once again took advantage of the Giants misfortune and turned it into points. Ryan orchestrated a crisp eight play 80-yard drive, highlighted by a 40-yard touchdown to Julio Jones to give Atlanta a commanding 24-0 lead.

With the loss the Giants have lost control of their playoff fate for the division title. With the Redskins victory over the Browns, the Giants are now in second place because Washington owns a head-to-head tie breaker over the Giants.  If the Giants are going to win this division they are going to have to win out against Baltimore and Philadelphia and get help. The Giants can still make the playoffs as a wild card if Chicago continues to fall apart in their own right. Either way, the Giants have made this season a total mess.