How Giants defense became season-killing weakness

The hangover factor is always worth monitoring. Coaches and players warn against it and vow it will not happen on their watch. Do something bad one week, make sure it does not carry over into the next. Learn from it, correct it and move on.

Blah, blah, blah.

The Giants made all the requisite proclamations after their historic fourth-quarter meltdown in Denver — allowing 33 points in the final 14:08 is seriously hard to do unless you are trying to give it away — and then proceeded to turn bad into worse.

Seven days later, the second snap on defense resulted in a gaping hole on the right side and a fairly untouched 65-yard touchdown run for Saquon Barkley. That was a sign of things to come. The Eagles played without their top wide receiver and starting center and still had little difficulty piling on the points in a 38-20 victory in Philadelphia that further exposed a side of the ball for the Giants that is not coming close to performing to the expected level.