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New York Giants D-backs Coach on Missed Plays: "It Just Stings"

Giants defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson was upfront about the mistakes by the Giants defensive secondary and what they could have done better; says they can't continue hurting the effort.

Giants safety Jabrill Peppers gave up the game-winning touchdown to Eagles running back Boston Scott last Thursday night. 

For Peppers, one of the Giants' key defensive players and a team leader, the failed coverage on Scott epitomized the worst-case scenario. But it was only the kicker in a drive that was littered with mistakes by key players.

Early in that drive, veteran cornerbacks James Bradberry and Logan Ryan committed costly penalties that gave the Eagles' offense 30 free yards, which ultimately went a long way to aid the two-minute drive that sunk the Giants to a 22-21 defeat.

The drive was especially painful for Giants defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson, who had to watch his top players blow a strong defensive effort. 

"It just stings," Henderson said. "When you look at that game, we played hard, did a lot of good things, and couldn't finish the drive. It didn't matter who did it; it was still going to sting that we couldn't finish the game.

"No matter who it is, whether it's the young guy or the veteran guy who's playing well, we got to be able to not have those penalties in those big moments."

The blown play by Peppers, in particular, is one the Giants can't have happen, certainly not by a veteran.

“I expect every guy to make that play in our secondary. I expect every guy to go with the left hand and try to be hand to hand and play that ball out of it,” Henderson said. “Those guys are out there making split-second decisions under stress and it doesn’t always work that way, but we would like to make that play 10 out of 10 times with our left hand.”

So what should have happened?

Henderson explained that Peppers got the wrong hand--his right hand--into the play and ended up missing the breakup because by sticking the wrong hand into the play, his body was out of position to allow for recovery from a mistake.

“if I miss with my right hand I’ve got nothing else to make the play with, I’ve actually kind of turned my body from the play, where if I go with my left hand there I’m into his body, I’m into his face, I’m into his hands and I get to fight all the way to the ground for the ball,” Henderson explained.

The Giants' simply can't expect to come up with big defensive stops and win games if their top players are blowing assignments like that, and it's been the case in a number of their losses this year already, whether it was the 55-yard late touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp in the Giants' 17-9 loss to the Rams or the big passes to Michael Gallup in the 37-34 loss to the Dallas Cowboys

Those are the kinds of missed opportunities that have caused Henderson angst.  

"We got to be able to make that play and play one more play," Henderson said. "That's been our mentality as a defense is, we want to play one more play.

"In that moment we want those guys to play one more play."