GREEN BAY, Wis. _ The inability to score points, an issue for the Giants all year, finally doomed their season.
The Giants had to settle for two early field goals after Odell Beckham Jr. and Sterling Shepard dropped potential touchdowns and Beckham dropped another for a sure first down in the first half while their vaunted defense was unable to contain the red-hot Aaron Rodgers in a 38-13 loss at Lambeau Field in Sunday's NFC wild-card playoff.
A series of poor decisions both on the field and from the sideline put the Giants' defense in bad positions, as did the loss of starting cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie with a bruised thigh on the opening drive.
Rodgers threw four touchdowns to improve his streak over the last eight games to 22 touchdowns and zero interceptions. The Giants secondary, known as the NYPD or New York Pass Defense, was out of its jurisdiction against Rodgers, who finished with 362 yards on 25-for-40 passing. The Giants had not allowed more than 29 points or more than 347 passing yards in any game during the regular season.
Beckham, who had raised eyebrows for taking part in a wide receiver field trip to dance clubs and a party yacht in Miami after last week's win over Washington in the regular-season finale, then drew attention to himself in the locker room by wearing a wrestling mask during media availability, was essentially a non-factor. He had just four catches for 28 yards and had four plays that can be called drops based on the acrobatic catches he normally makes.
The Giants' offense failed to score 30 points in any game this season and did not score 20 or more in the final six.
The game ended with some ugly fourth-quarter optics, including Rodgers' 34-yard pass to Ty Montgomery to convert a third-and-11 and prolong a drive that resulted in a 16-yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb, his third score of the game. And Eli Manning fumbled a ball he was trying to pass when Clay Matthews got in the backfield to knock it away from him. Rookie running back Paul Perkins, believing it was an incompletion, stood over the loose ball until Matthews knocked him out of the way and recovered it. The Packers turned that lone Giants turnover into their final touchdown, a 1-yard run by fullback Aaron Ripkowski, with 2:43 remaining.
The Giants (11-6) had what most will consider a successful season. They won 11 games for rookie coach Ben McAdoo, revamped their defense from the worst in the league a season ago to one of the best this season, and made the playoffs for the first time since the 2011 season. The disappointment of this loss will mute those accomplishments a bit.
The Packers (11-6) will face the top-seeded Cowboys (13-3) in an NFC divisional-round game in Dallas next Sunday.
Other than losing an All-Pro cornerback to injury on the first drive and dropping a pair of potential touchdown passes, the first half was moving along just as the Giants wanted it to. They were controlling the time of possession, getting to Rodgers with four sacks, and leading 6-0 on a pair of field goals through the first 27:40.
All of that good work evaporated in the final 2:20 of the half, though. Actually, it probably began with 4:56 left because that's when Dwayne Harris made a questionable decision to field a punt over his shoulder and pin the Giants at their own 8. Forced to punt, Brad Wing kicked a terrible ball that Micah Hyde returned to the Giants' 38. Rodgers hit Davante Adams for 31 yards and then two plays later hit Adams for a 5-yard TD with 2:20 remaining. Rodgers bought about eight seconds of time in the pocket before firing the pass in the direction of Adams and cornerback Coty Sensabaugh, one of the players replacing the injured Rodgers-Cromartie (thigh bruise).
That could have been it, a 7-6 game at halftime, but the Giants mistakes continued. Green Bay called a timeout after a Giants' first-down run to stop the clock with 2:04 left, indicating they wanted one more shot at the end zone in the half. On third-and-1 from the 41, coming out of the two-minute warning, the Giants handed the ball off to seldom-used running back Bobby Rainey for no gain rather than try to pick up the first with Perkins or Rashad Jennings. The Packers called their final timeout and the Giants punted.
At their own 20 with 1:38 remaining, the Packers drove 80 yards to take a 14-6 lead on a 42-yard Hail Mary pass in the back of the end zone. Rodgers lofted the ball over the scrum in the end zone and Cobb slipped behind defensive backs Eli Apple, Landon Collins and Leon Hall to catch the ball. It was the same end zone where Hakeem Nicks caught a Hail Mary at the end of the first half of the 2012 divisional game between the two teams, a game the Giants won.
The Packers, without a timeout, would have run out of time on the previous play had tight end Jared Cook caught a pass at the Giants' 25 with time dwindling away. Instead linebacker Keenan Robinson delivered a big hit to dislodge the pass and stop the clock with :06 remaining, just enough for the desperation heave from Rodgers.
The Packers returned the favor with a questionable coaching decision in the third quarter when Mike McCarthy decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Packers' 42. The Giants' defense stuffed Montgomery and took over at the 41. Two plays later Manning hit Tavarres King for a 41-yard touchdown to close the gap to 14-13 and get back in the game.
That change in momentum did not last long. The Packers drove 63 yards on three straight passes, the last two of them targeting cornerback Trevin Wade, another DRC replacement, to go ahead 21-13. Rainey, back to receive the ensuing kickoff, inexplicable caught it as it was about to go out of bounds at the 3 and then went out of bounds himself. That pinned the Giants deep in their own territory and they eventually punted. A 23-yard return on the punt by Micah Hyde set up a 32-yard field goal by Mason Crosby that made it 24-13 with 21 seconds left in the third quarter.
