New York Giants: Time to give lady luck a kick in the pants

We can run through the game film and point out all the mistakes that the New York Giants made Sunday in Charlotte. But what good would that do?

Plain and simple , the New York Giants deserved a better fate on Sunday in North Carolina. And by writing this, I’m not absolving the New York Giants of their mistakes. But then again, I have never seen a perfect NFL game. Perhaps, that’s because that animal doesn’t exist. Maybe the closest we ever saw, or will see, happened in Super Bowl XLII.

Hopefully, Carolina Panthers fans understand that they received some serious serendipity on Oct. 7. If someone those fans believe that kicker Graham Gano’s 63-yard prayer was predestined, then they better have their collective heads examined.

The game itself was nip and tuck. Both quarterbacks were intercepted twice, and both teams gave up a sack and didn’t create many running lanes. In the fourth quarter, it was one comeback, followed by another comeback. Statistically, the New York Giants actually outgained the Carolina Panthers by 82 yards. To help matters along, the Panthers were gifted a touchdown on a special teams breakdown by Odell Beckham.

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More on him at another time.

At the end of the day, you can say all you want about Gano practicing that kick all the time. If that’s the case, tell me if Panthers head coach Ron Rivera goes for the same field goal attempt in the first quarter.

Of course he doesn’t try the exact same kick because the odds are probably 75 percent against making it.

Generally, in the NFL, someone has to lose, and someone has to win. In this case, in some respects, both teams deserved to win, and both deserved to lose.

Shooting yourself in the foot

Now, Carolina may choose to puff their collective chests that they held the Giants to 0-7 on third-down conversions. Yet some of those plays were misfires by the G-Men, as was a Beckham fourth-down drop.

No doubt that those errors have to be cleaned up, as do most of the eight penalties enforced against the G-Men. But at least a couple of those penalty calls didn’t pass the smell test. Now before you cry of an officials’ conspiracy, let me be the one to tell you it’s not the case. Similar to NFL football teams, NFL officiating needs to improve each week. Truthfully, Jerome Boger’s crew laid an egg at Bank of America Stadium.

You just hope the “bad” calls even out over time.

Expect an NFL mea culpa letter on the Landon Collins personal foul call. Crumple it up or throw it in the file cabinet, it means nothing.

As an NFL head coach, Pat Shurmur has to toe the line in his post game commentary. In addition, he cannot let penalties become the excuse for losing.

Per the team’s official website:

"“Listen, I’m not going to talk about calls. What I am going to say is what I saw was a guy going for the ball, making an effort. I think he touched the ball if I’m not mistaken. I saw that with my own eyes. So a guy is making a play on the ball with no attempt to target the receiver, so that’s how I saw it. I’m sure somebody will see it in slow mo HD and somebody will tell me what they think.”"

Many times, players and coaches get it wrong when it comes to penalties. In fact, most times players and coaches get it absolutely wrong, but not in this case. Officials’ judgement or not, the personal foul against Collins was an inaccurate call for a number of reasons.

Having said that, the Giants still had an opportunity to win the game. They didn’t do enough, and then lady luck intervened on behalf of the Panthers. There’s nothing they can do about divine intervention, so everyone better raise their effort level and simply remove her from the equation.

Personally, I’m sick of lady luck always wearing the opposition colors. It’s time to kick her in the shins, and leave nothing to chance. Of course, lady luck is the mascot of the Philadelphia Eagles, especially against the New York Giants. That means Thursday night’s game becomes a test of wills, and the perfect time to take down two foes in one game.