It will be fashionable today to blame yesterday’s loss on the distractions caused by a certain Giants wide receiver, however it would be inaccurate to do so. Let us not forget the Giants took out the Redskins just 48 hours after the incident. While Dominek Hixon and Steve Smith both missed out on big plays by not holding on to very catchable passes, the blame should be placed on a variety of shoulders.

Defense

The Giants defense had contained Brian Westbrook in their previous match up. Could it be the case that he was simply more healthy this time around, or perhaps the Eagles made the right adjustments and the Giants were not prepared for them. I tend to believe the latter. In addition, Antonio Pierce was beat on a number of plays, two of them by Westbrook that led to touchdowns. Kenny Phillips failed to wrap up a receiver that was able to secure a vital first down, and there were many other instances where the Giants simply missed tackles. The focus and intensity of the defense did not seem to be at the level we are accustomed to seeing from the Giants, and that must change quickly.

Receiving Core

As I already mentioned, they had their opportunities and failed to cash in. You can bet that Coach Coughlin will be making sure Hixon, Smith and company are properly prepared next time to reel in any pass that Eli Manning puts in their wheelhouse.

Rushing Core

I can’t really put too much blame here. Brandon Jacobs was doing a pretty fine job until he aggrevated his knee injury. If anything I might have liked to have seen Coughlin mix in his other backs earlier in the game to throw off the defense. I don’t think Jacobs’ injury was due to overuse though, he simply was tackled in a way that made it awkward to replant his feet and resulted in twisting his leg in a way that tweaked his knee. Jacobs said he feels fine but we won’t know for sure until we hear the results of the MRI.

Passing

Eli Manning had a tough day weather wise to contend with, however McNabb found a way when Eli could not. Donovan McNabb was successful for two reasons, he had the line off guard with Westbrook being so effective, and he was not afraid to leave the pocket if necessary. Eli doesn’t have anywhere near the mobility as McNabb does, so he was handicapped by the weather. Once Jacobs left the game, Eli had the deck stacked against him along with the wind in his face in the fourth quarter. It was the perfect storm that led to Eli’s worst performance this season. One bright spot was that he did not throw a single interception.

As you can see there was a lot of blame to go around. Mike Lupica sums it up nicely in today’s NY Daily News.

Here were the distractions for the Giants Sunday, in no particular order: Donovan McNabb. Brian Westbrook. All the Eagle receivers who made third-down catches in front of soft Giants defensive backs all day long. And that huge Eagles offensive line was a distraction, because it kept the Giants’ defense off McNabb in every moment of the game that counted. So were offensive and defensive schemes for the Giants that seemed to have come from the moon.

Domenik Hixon dropped what would have been an 85-yard touchdown pass Sunday. Pierce played a lousy, listless game that even included dumb penalties. So of course this all played into the worst fears of Giants fans about the fallout of Burress being gone for the season and maybe forever. But it is only a calamity if it happens again, especially if it happens next Sunday night in Dallas.

Lets hope Coughlin can right the ship and address these deficiencies in time for the Cowboys.