NY Giants Mario Manninghan regrets not diving for ball against San Francisco 49ers
Mario Manningham admits it. He should have sprawled his body out on the turf.
The Giants’ wideout shook off a knee injury to catch six passes for 77 yards and a score in Sunday’s 27-20 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park. But he wished he had done a few things differently.
Chief among them: diving for what could have been the tying touchdown pass with 2:57 left. On that play from the Niners 42-yard line, Manningham had beaten his man and raced toward the end zone. Eli Manning lofted a pass to Manningham, just ahead of him.
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A touchdown and extra point would have tied the game at 27 and capped another dramatic Giants comeback. But Manningham could only get his fingertips on the ball and failed to make the catch.
“Should have came down with it,” Manningham said. “I should have laid out. I should have came down with it.”
Manning later said the pass had been slightly ahead of his receiver, that it was the kind of throw that “you’re going to look at the film and hate yourself for.” But to Manningham, it was his own fault, and it erased all the good things he had done.
Entering the afternoon, nobody was even sure if he would play. On Saturday, he had felt swelling in his knee and been a late addition to the Giants’ injury report. It was only after warming up on Sunday that he was cleared to play.
“It swelled up,” he said. “But I played today. I wasn’t worried.”
With fellow wideout Hakeem Nicks back in the lineup and drawing safety help, Manningham routinely found himself open. And with 2:25 to play in the third quarter, he ran straight up the field and toward the back of the end zone, caught a pinpoint pass from Manning and carefully tiptoed to stay in bounds for a touchdown that gave the Giants a 13-12 lead.
That was Manningham’s final highlight, before all those lowlights. Even before he bobbled that potential TD catch, he had miscommunicated with Manning early in the fourth quarter. Trailing 20-13, the Giants faced second-and-7 from their own 14. Manning had expected Manningham to be open over the middle, and that’s where he threw the ball. But Manningham had turned his route away from the middle, and Niners cornerback Carlos Rogers made an easy interception. The 49ers scored a touchdown on the next play to make it 27-13.
“He maybe thought I was scrambling,” Manning said . “He tried to bang it out (outside) and didn’t get open. The corner kept on the move and he caught it.”
Not that Manningham cared to remember that - or any of Sunday’s game. “I play wide receiver,” he said. “I have a short-term memory.”
