AP

Giants coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning both stepped up to take the blame for the Giants’ botched clock management and execution of a third down play late in the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s loss to the Cowboys, but there were other miscues in the handling of the drive that ultimately set the Cowboys up with a chance to win the game in the final seconds.

Running back Rashad Jennings said Monday, via Dan Graziano of ESPN.com, that he was told in the huddle before runs on first and second down inside the Dallas five-yard line that he should not try to score a touchdown that would have put the Giants ahead 30-20. Jennings ran for three yards on the two plays, leaving the Giants with a third down from the one. They called a pass play and Manning threw it out of the end zone rather than giving himself up for a sack that would have allowed more time to run off the clock.

It’s a common approach to take when a team is trying to run out the clock at the end of a game that can be decided by one score, but it is difficult to understand why the Giants would have opted for that approach on Sunday night.

While stopping short of the goal line forced the Cowboys to use their final two timeouts, scoring a touchdown in that spot would have left the Cowboys in need of a touchdown, a successful onside kick and another score in the final 110 seconds if they were going to win or tie the game. It’s even harder to understand in light of the decision to throw the ball away and stop the clock on third down.

One explanation, per Graziano, is that the Giants thought the Cowboys were out of timeouts after Jennings’s run on first down. That lack of attention to detail may have cost them a victory.