December 6, 2015 - Jets vs Giants 23- 20

The Giants managed to once again snatch defeat from the claws of victory.

The biggest preventable mistake this time was Coughlin electing to go for it on 4th and 2 from the 4 yard line instead of taking the easy field goal, which would have required 2 touchdowns for the Jets to win.  Coughlin stood by his decision after the game which is not surprising as he stood by all his other stupid decisions this year. 

Coughlin has won two Superbowls. He is also organized, a good motivator, decent talent evaluator and had decent overall game plans.  What he is completely incapable of doing is using expected value calculations to help determine the best course of action.  Where this normally manifests itself is with poor clock management.  This time it was this wrong decision.  Ironically, his inability to calculate expected value generally leads him to him not being aggressive enough, particularly down at the goal line.  These were different circumstances.  Their offense was not able to move the ball at all.  Running the football was not a viable option, and the field was tight making it difficult to run real patterns for the receivers.

Manning to Beckham is amazing, and I’d love to see what that looks like with a real offensive line and a legitimate number 2 receiver (who may or may not turn out to be Victor Cruz next year).

Despite the mediocrity of the NFC East, given the remaining schedule it’s hard to see the Giants making it into the playoffs.