ANTRELL ROLLE: GIANTS TOOK A BUNCH OF [STUFF] ON SUNDAY NIGHT

If this didn't work for you see detailed instructions

Close this window

Given the up-and-down nature of just about every team in the NFC East, I don't think anyone would call the Philadelphia Eagles win over the New York Giants on Sunday night shocking. Surprising, maybe, and certainly an upset, but nothing in that division's going to floor me.

It was a little surprising how the Giants lost, though. They were just so ... lifeless. It was like Eli Manning saw Vince Young on the other sideline and thought to himself, "Well, that's just not fair. I better take my game down a few notches, too."

They just sort of went through the motions. No intensity, no fire. Giants safety Antrell Rolle elaborated on his team's "We take a lot of [stuff] from everybody" attitude. From NJ.com:

"There's a lot of things that rubbed me the wrong way and I don't like the way we responded to it," Rolle said.

"At the end of the day, you play within the lines, you play within the rules, but you don't take [stuff] from nobody at the end of the day. And that's my attitude. You don't take [stuff] from anybody and last night I felt like we took a little bit.

"I don't think we're playing soft," he said. "I think guys are out there flying around and we're playing extremely hard. I don't think we played to the standards that we know we could play. I don't think we played with as much toughness as I know we can play. I didn't see that same intensity as when we went out there and played the Patriots. I didn't see that."

That's really hard to figure from a team that had so much on the line. Instead of leading their division now, they're tied with the Dallas Cowboys, and would lose a tiebreaker with them. It's a Week 11, Sunday night game against a hated division rival. If there's no fire for that game, when is there fire?

It's not a loss they could afford. Their next two games are at New Orleans and then at home against Green Bay, while Dallas plays Miami and Arizona. It was not a loss they could afford. When the playoffs roll around, if the Giants aren't invited, that loss against the Eagles on Sunday night is the one they're going to point to and say, "We shouldn't have taken so much [stuff]."

Next » Good effort from Mark Sanchez, no effort from Norv Turner

Shutdown Corner is an NFL blog edited by Doug Farrar. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.