Tom Coughlin (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) and Antrel Rolle (Photo by Ron Antonelli/Getty Images) Tom Coughlin (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) and Antrel Rolle (Photo by Ron Antonelli/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — After the Giants’ 23-0 loss to the Seahawks on Sunday, head coach Tom Coughlin began to shoulder the blame for the shutout defeat during a closed-door locker room speech.

But safety Antrel Rolle interrupted Coughlin’s postgame speech, according to WFAN’s Paul Dottino. The veteran safety said “Coach, I got this” and proceeded to passionately defend Coughlin.

“Coach Coughlin can’t take any of this blame. I won’t allow that,” Rolle told reporters. “He can’t take any of this blame. Coaches coach, and they did a phenomenal job getting us prepared for this. We had a great week of practice, everything that we saw out there from their offense we went over with our coaches, defensive coordinator. They did an exceptional job preparing us. Coach Coughlin, he’s the coach — but he can’t coach heart. He can’t make a player have heart, he can’t make a player have passion about this game and that’s what we were lacking out there today. Coach can say what he wants but personally I won’t allow him to take that.”

As a team, the Giants only ran for 25 yards on 14 rushing attempts. Quarterback Eli Manning threw five interceptions. Manning holds the NFL lead for interceptions at 25.

“I told the players that prepared that I appreciated what they did,” Coughlin said during his postgame press conference. “I told those that are obvious that they had not, and I felt sorry for them because they are missing the whole thing.”

Coughlin said that the Giants got the right level of effort from their defense and special teams, though he stated his dissatisfaction with the offense.

“I expected a great effort today. On defense and special teams we got it,” Coughlin said. “Offensively, we did not. It was a pathetic offensive performance. There’s no way to sugar coat it. We didn’t block anybody. We didn’t make any plays. We didn’t create any opportunity for ourselves.”

New York was a dreadful 1 for 10 on third downs. The eliminated Giants are now 5-9.

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