Give Eli Manning credit for owning his mistake. Because there's plenty of scrutiny for both Manning and the Giants to go around.
Manning admitted that he told running back Rashad Jennings not to score on New York's first two plays from the Dallas 1 during their late, fourth-quarter drive Sunday night against the Cowboys that could have all but iced the game, the New York Post reported.
Giants On Hot Seat After Rashad Jennings Says He Was Told Not To Score Vs. Cowboys
The Giants led 23-20 with less than two minutes remaining with a first-and-goal at the 1 and the Cowboys with only two timeouts left. New York failed to run down any significant time off the clock, only got a field goal out of the drive, and the Cowboys marched down the field and scored a touchdown for a 27-26 stunner over the Giants.
"I thought that they may let us score to get the ball back, so that's why I informed Rashad if they let you score, just go down at the 1-inch line. Don't score," Manning said on a conference call Monday afternoon. "I was wrong on that, so that's my miscommunication and my mistake on thinking that ... and expecting that from Rashad. So I've got to do a better job of not making those game-management situations."
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The problem stemmed from a penalty on the Cowboys earlier in the drive that the Giants declined. Even though they declined the penalty, the clock stopped. Manning thought the Cowboys had to use one of their two timeouts and had only one left. So he believed the Giants could run more time off the clock.
However, Manning also said he indicated to the Giants sideline before second down that he didn't think Jennings should score and was not corrected, the Post added.
"That was not instructed from the sidelines," Coughlin said Monday during the call, USA Today Sports reported. "In talking with Eli today, I think he was confused by the number of timeouts that were remaining. His intention was, with one timeout, that we would milk the clock as best we could. However, they had two timeouts left."
Coughlin later added: "My intent was to be up 10."
Even if there was miscommunication, the Giants deserve blame because they should have overruled Manning's first-down request not to score. The Cowboys would have had to score twice in under two minutes with two timeouts left. They would've been forced to try an onsides kick, regardless.
Only two onsides kicks in 47 attempts were successful in the 2014 regular season, according to Pro Football Reference.
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