Another late-game lead. Another epic collapse. Another heartbreaking loss. This feels right on brand for a Giants team that has fallen to 2-10. While some will point fingers at the late-game decision-making from interim head coach Mike Kafka, the real issue — as it has been all season — fell on a defense that has been historically bad.
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After giving up over 200 rushing yards on the day, the defense had no answers for Detroit’s ground game. Former Giants linebacker and current play-by-play commentator Carl Banks sounded off on the unit’s late-game approach and the decisions made by defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who had already led this group to blow five games this season in which they held leads of 10 or more points.
Banks dropped this fiery response after the game:
“You don’t rotate when you need to close a game. The fact you don’t have your best players on the field when you need to close out a game says everything to me.”
This came after the Giants rolled out interior defenders Roy Robertson-Harris, DJ Davidson, and Rakeem Nunez-Roches in the fourth quarter — and to start overtime — while Dexter Lawrence watched from the sidelines. Banks has every right, as do the fans, to be furious with Bowen’s decision-making after yet another blown lead.
Interim coach Kafka said postgame that Lawrence had been “nicked up” and they were trying to use him sparingly. BUT with the game on the line — and with a defense that’s been dreadful all year — if you claim to have one of the best interior defenders in the NFL, he needs to be on the field. Nobody is 100% this time of year. Players fight through “nicks” all the time.
You can debate whether Kafka should’ve kicked a field goal all day. But with a historically bad defense, a defensive coordinator who already helped get one head coach fired, and a 2-10 team on the road with nothing to lose… Kafka showed guts going for it. Bowen’s late-game decision-making once again doomed a Giants team that played its heart out. They deserved better. So did the fans.
The Giants made the decision to part ways with Bowen on Monday morning — a move that was long overdue.