Before they could break a sweat, the Giants had already turned the ball over once and allowed a touchdown to start the game against Atlanta. But Lawrence Tynes, the NFL's leading scorer, was going to begin to right the ship on the ensuing possession with a makeable field goal, capping a 10-play, 68-yard drive.

However, Tynes' 30-yard attempt went off course – wide left – and Atlanta drove for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

If there was a team to do it, the resilient Giants have proven they could climb out of such a hole. But it wouldn't be the case in Atlanta. Not this week.

"I mean, we've come out of worse than 14-nothing," said linebacker Chase Blackburn, who finished with seven tackles (one for a loss) and broke up a pass. "But at the same point, you don't want to start that way. It's a big strike to the team when things start happening that way, things start to snowball. But we've got to find a way. We've got a lot of character, a lot of leaders, a lot of veteran players on this team, and we've got to find a way to dig out and finish the game and play right the rest of the way."

With two games remaining in the season, the Giants will have a lot to look over this week, especially how they allowed the Falcons to convert 9 of 13 third downs and control the ball for more than 38 minutes.

"Definitely not the game we were looking to come out here and put on display today," Blackburn said. "They had three turnovers, we didn't have any -- defensively, we didn't create any. On third downs, we just couldn't get off the field."