He ended the sentence with a three-letter word that is sure to send a shiver down the spine of Giants fans, even the ones fortunate enough to have power restored to their homes.
Justin Tuck said losing one game does not mean the Giants are embarking on one of their familiar second-half swoons.
“I don’t think it’s a trend,’’ Tuck said yesterday. “Yet.’’
Of course by “yet’’ he did not mean losing 24-20 to the Steelers to end a four-game winning streak is the start of another slide. The Giants never think that way, despite the evidence it often is that way.
“I guess you keep talking about our history, I’m trying not to but you can’t hide it, it’s been there,’’ Tuck said. “I wish I could sit here and say this team is going to be different from that, but I can’t tell the future. All I can tell is we’re aware of it and we’re trying our darndest to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’’
This is either a here-we-go-again warning or a single loss after a rough week of post-Hurricane Sandy fallout. The Giants in October are 30-6 in coach Tom Coughlin’s eight-plus seasons, but the trick is on them after Halloween, when the Giants in the regular season are 32-40. Tucked into the second-half losing are also two rousing Super Bowl triumphs, achievements Coughlin is quick to point out whenever this late-Autumn and early Winter chill is mentioned.
“I didn’t see any problems at the end of the last season,’’ Coughlin said. “You can talk about it all you want. ‘Ohhh, the second half of the season.’ I don’t know what the numbers are. I’m not defending anything. I’m just telling you that the facts are the facts.’’
The Giants have only lost one game here, but Eli Manning’s demise is a month in the making. After five games he had 10 touchdown passes, five interceptions and was completing 68 percent of his passes. In the last four games, he has only two scoring passes, four interceptions and is hitting a meager 55 percent of his throws. If it looks like a slump, is it a slump?
“Whatever you want to call it, we’re not playing good football,’’ Manning said. “That’s what it is.’’
That’s sure what it looks like it is. Manning’s effectiveness has taken a noticeable dive in the past four games, but in the first three the Giants were able to navigate their way to victories over the 49ers, Redskins and Cowboys. It didn’t happen against the Steelers, as Manning played one of his worst games, completing only 10 of 24 passes for 125 yards and one interception. The 125 yards was his lowest total since he threw for 119 yards at Minnesota on Dec. 28, 2008 — when he played only the first half. It was his lowest total in a full game since he passed for 111 yards at Buffalo on Dec. 23 — a game played at times during a driving snowstorm.
In three of the past four games, Manning has thrown for fewer than 200 yards after he had thrown for at least 200 yards in 24 consecutive games — the second-longest streak in NFL history.
“Obviously, I didn’t play well last night,’’ Manning said. “There’s no hiding it. I didn’t play my best football and I’ve got to play better. That’s all I’m worried about. You go from week-to-week, you go from game-to-game, you see where you need to make improvements and you make those improvements. I’ve gone through stretches where I haven’t played great football, and I’ve been able to bounce back and start playing better.’’
The first attempt at a bounce-back comes Sunday in Cincinnati against the 3-5 Bengals, which is followed, at long last, by the bye week.
“To be 7-3 heading into that bye is going to be huge for us,’’ Tuck said, “7-3 and 6-4, that’s a huge swing.’’