Who's to blame for the fading New York Giants?

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The Giants have faded worse than a pair of your skinny jeans washed in bleach. With their playoff hopes a longshot, who, or what, is to blame after a 6-2 start?

Strange, but true: in the not so distant past, the reigning Super Bowl champs were once known for defense.

And an elite quarterback, and relentlessness. They seemed to simply run out of gas mentally and physically.

They're 30th in yards allowed, 28th against the pass and 25th against the run. What explains the Giants' disappearing pass rush? Teams are running the ball down their collective throat.

Inconsistency on offense, which ties a lot to nagging injuries for Hakeem Nicks and Ahmad Bradshaw - and teams scheming to take away their big plays hurt.

And Eli Manning failed to play up to last season's level.

You want to rush the passer? You need some passing downs. You can't rush the passer unless you stop the rush.

Eli had four games in the final eight without a TD pass and four games in the final eight with sub-53 percent completions. Some were drops, but he didn't get his receivers to step up.

Excellent piece by Sam Borden in the New York Times. It notes that, going into the Ravens game, the Giants were allowing an average of 4.3 yards a carry on first down, and 5.1 on second down. 

So much for third and long.  

That's brutal. Eli completed 14 of 28 for 150 yards, a TD and a pick vs. Baltimore. The Giants scored 14 points a week after hanging a donut in a 34-0 beat down by Atlanta.

So what did the Giants do against Baltimore? They allowed not one hundred yard rusher, but two: Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce. Goodnight.

Let Tony Romo and the Cowboys' offense play as poorly as Eli and the Giants have over the back half of the season. They'd be getting crushed.