4 demoralizing NY Giants takeaways from the Christmas Day loss to Eagles

Talk about coal in your stocking. While it was always a long shot for the NY Giants to take down the Eagles on Christmas Day, Big Blue supporters were hoping for a close game and that ended up being the case in the second half. While NY had Philly fans nervous, they couldn't close it out.

The first half was a nightmare, but NY indeed made things interesting late in the second 30 minutes of action, especially after Darius Slayton's 70-yard touchdown. In the end, though, Brian Daboll and Co. have fallen to 5-10 on the season and Eagles fans will be drinking spiked egg nog following the 33-25 Philadelphia victory. Here are our takeaways from the action, with Giants Nation down in the dumps right now:

4. Jamie Gillan, injured or not, isn't getting the job done

As has been throughout the season, special teams was a disappointment for the Giants. Yes, Mason Crosby drilled a 52-yard field goal in the first quarter, but everything else was a mess. In particular, punting was a disaster, with Jamie Gillan having a contest to forget. Gillan's punts in the first half in particular were a joke.

We understand that Gillan is dealing with a groin issue, but he's simply got to be better. His first punt was a line drive, setting up a huge return for the Eagles. Then his second punt wasn't much better, as it barely made its way down the field and it put Philly in business to put more points on the scoreboard. What the heck?

The Scottish Hammer was pretty impressive last year, but he has been way too inconsistent this fall. Gillan has people calling for him to lose his job this offseason, as there's now a good chance general manager Joe Schoen could end up looking for his replacement.