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 Tiki Barber and the Giants came up short all night against the Ravens.
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Jason Sehorn says the Giants could not turn things around in the second half.
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Kerry Collins gives the Ravens credit for taking him out of his game plan.
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| | Monday, January 29
Running game was grounded
By Peter Lawrence-Riddell
ESPN.com
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Giants were a fairly balanced team on offense during the regular season, finishing 12th in rushing offense and 13th in passing offense. That changed in the NFC championship game when they came out against the Vikings and aired it out to the tune of 380 yards passing.
|  | | Tiki Barber carried the ball 11 times for 49 yards. But 27 of them came on one run late in the second quarter. |
Facing the stingiest rush defense in the NFL, the Giants entered the Super Bowl with a game plan built around the passing game.
Maybe that was a mistake.
"We should have tried to run the ball a bit more and keep them honest," said wide receiver Amani Toomer. "They played real far off towards the end of the game, and it was hard to get anything going through the air."
Fellow wide receiver Ike Hilliard didn't blame it on the game plan, but rather on poor execution. "I wouldn't say we didn't try to run the football. It's just that we came in with a game plan to try to balance it out and mix it up ... and we didn't execute today."
The Giants ran only 16 times for 66 yards.
Turnovers turn out to be the key
The popular line all week was that with two teams that are mediocre on offense, the game would come down to a matter of turnovers. The popular line was correct and the Giants were the ones who paid dearly.
New York turned the ball over five times, while the Ravens failed to turn it over once.
"You can't turn the ball over against a team like that. When you get five turnovers, you can't get anything going. You put your defense in a hole," said coach Jim Fassel. "We needed to get some continuity and get our offense on the field. I didn't think we'd turn the ball over like that. Since I've been coaching here, giveaways for us ... we're one of the best teams in the league and we have been over our four years. For us to turn the ball over that many times, it takes away any ability you have to win."
Defensive end Michael Strahan demoaned the inability of the defense to make any big plays.
"We didn't go out and create turnovers. It was going to be a field position battle, it was going to be a turnover battle and we lost
both of those."
The big play that wasn't
The score was 7-0 and the Giants were still in the game when Jessie Armstead picked off a Trent Dilfer screen pass and ran 45 yards for what would have been the game-tying touchdown. But a holding penalty by defensive tackle Keith Hamilton negated the play.
"We needed a big play and that was a big play right there. That was the big play right there. It was the tempo setter. I made the play but it go called back. One or two plays can change the game but we lost the game so we have to move on."
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