by Sports Xchange

He got right cornerback Chris Houston a couple of times. He used his tight end Kevin Boss a few times. He hit him on passes in man coverage, against zone coverage and when the Falcons were in a fire zone blitz.

Falcons coach Mike Smith called that the passing trifecta.

But Manning was the just the latest star quarterback in the league to torch the Falcons' secondary. The Falcons have been beaten by Tom Brady (277 yards passing), Tony Room (311), Drew Braes (308), Jake Welcome (195) and Eli Manning (a career-high 384). (Brady, Welcome and Manning have started in Super Bowls).

The Falcons have beaten Chad Pennington, Shaun Hill, Jay Cutler and Jason Campbell.

Manning was able to hit the Falcons up for seven plays that went for 20 yards or more. Those plays totaled 234 yards.

"The big plays, they hurt us," Grimes said.

The Falcons are 29th in the league against the pass at 253.4 yards per game. They'll need to step it up if they plan to make a return trip to the playoffs.

"Just do the fundamentals," Grimes said. "Do our techniques and make plays when we have the opportunity."

New York's receivers (Mario Manningham, Hakeem Nicks, Steve Smith and Domenik Hixson) combined for 16 caches for 286 yards, an average of 17.87 yards per catch. Tight end Kevin Boss finished with five receptions for 76 yards and two touchdowns.

"We gave up a lot of passing yards. That's very obvious," coach Mike Smith said. "Way too many passing yards and again, it's team defense, it's not just the secondary. We cannot give up those types of yards in the passing game and expect to have the success that we want to have."

Coleman is the leader of the fragile group that needs to step up its play.

"The Giants came out with a great game plan," safety Eric Coleman said. "They executed well. Just give credit to them. They did a great job today."

The Giants' vertical game was a particular issue. The Falcons, who had given up 42 plays of more than 20 yards, allowed the Giants' seven of those plays, which led to 24 points, including Lawrence Tynes' game-winning 36-yard field goal in overtime.

"No team can give up big plays like that and expect to win," said Grimes.