Eli Manning has been leading fourth-quarter comebacks all season long, which is something that has earned him a lot of praise. The praise is well-deserved, but oftentimes people forget that your team needs to be losing in order to lead a fourth-quarter comeback. Players like Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees haven’t had as many opportunities to play the hero this season as Eli has, and part of the reason for that is the poor play of the Giants secondary. The unit was torched several times on Sunday night, which led to criticism from color commentator Cris Collinsworth. Giants safety Antrel Rolle says Collinsworth and others don’t know what they’re talking about.
“Whenever there’s a big play and you’re the safeties, you’re always the one who gets blamed and gets finger-pointed,” Rolle told WFAN on Tuesday according to the NY Daily News. “At the end of the day, it’s wrong because the commentators don’t know what coverage we’re in. They don’t know how we’re playing our defense. They don’t know that I’m disguising, showing a Cover 2, but I’m really supposed to drop down and play a cover 3. So they don’t know, and it drives me crazy.”
Rolle added that he was “pissed off” he was blamed for a 50-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Dez Bryant late in the fourth quarter. If not for a 12-point comeback by Manning and company, that particular play could have cost the G-Men their season. There was obvious confusion on the play among Rolle and other defensive backs.
If it is a schematic issue that is causing the Giants to give up big plays and has resulted in their pass defense being ranked 29th in the NFL, they may want to consider a change. Rolle was quick to guarantee that the Giants will make the playoffs a couple of weeks ago. It’s about time he and his teammates on defense do their part in making it happen.
