ALBANY, N.Y. -- Tom Coughlin didn't see a Super Bowl team in the New York Giants preseason opener.
Far from it.
In a conference call Saturday less than 24 hours after a 32-31 preseason loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Coughlin said he was upset about losing a game in which New York blew leads of 17 and 10 points.
However, there were also 11 penalties, a weak opening series by the defense, some shoddy play on both sides of the ball on third down and losing a game in which the Giants won the turnover battle.
"We have no illusions of the improvement that needs to be made, and I am talking about from the top of our team to the bottom," Coughlin said.
If there was a positive for Coughlin there was no sign that this team was living off its Super Bowl laurels. For the most part, the Giants played hard on a night they just made too many mistakes.
"I thought the guys played hard when they were in the game," Coughlin said. "It wasn't a great performance but we did play hard and we do know where we are at and we do understand what preseason is about."
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press
