Monday night’s loss to the Seahawks was a special teams disaster for the Giants, compounding on the issues the unit had last time Big Blue played at home this season.
There was a muffed punt by Eric Gray that led to his benching, not to mention six penalties committed on special teams, including a running-into-the-kicker penalty on Gary Brightwell, who seemed to just take off straight for the punter, leap, and crash right into him and allow the Seahawks to continue a drive.
It was enough to infuriate Tiki, even if he believed the collective effort from the Giants wasn’t as bad as the final score indicated. And it wasn’t just about the penalties and fumbles on special teams.
“The lost yardage, the hidden yardage that special teams gave up is mind boggling,” Tiki said.
“When you let a ball hit on the 30 and it rolls to the 10, or you let it hit on the 22 and it rolls to the 3, that hidden yardage is impossible to overcome when you’re not executing on a high enough level offensively.”
Special teams was a disaster in Week 1 against the Cowboys, highlighted by a blocked kick returned for a touchdown, but no part of the Giants machine seems to be clicking right now. Still, Tiki has faith it will turn around.
“The one thing the Giants are not doing is playing complimentary football,” Tiki said. “They’re losing the hidden yardage battle, the turnover battle, they’re losing the ‘I have to make a damn play when I’m given the opportunity to make a play’ battle. That’s what’s wrong with this team. Is it easily fixable? No. But is it fixable? Yes, I believe so.”
