Coughlin Fumes About What Giants Did, and Didn't Do, in Washington There was little chance that Coach Tom Coughlin would be in a good mood Tuesday after the Giants took a train ride through the night to return home following Monday's disappointing 17-16 defeat against the Washington Redskins. But even considering the inherent crankiness that comes with a quick turnaround in a short week, Coughlin's demeanor - which rarely conjures images of gumdrops and rainbows anyway - was particularly prickly in a conference call with reporters. Coach Tom Coughlin was unhappy that Linval Joseph, left, retaliated Monday by kicking Washington's Will Montgomery. Coughlin's grumpiness had several layers. Part of it was surely because of the gruesome knee injury that tackle Sean Locklear sustained Monday, in a sequence that is sickening to watch on instant replay (Locklear's leg bends in the wrong direction). Coughlin snapped at a reporter who asked about whether Locklear would be placed on injured reserve - he will need surgery, Coughlin said - though Coughlin eventually allowed that the lineman's season is over. Disappointed as he is for Locklear, however, that was hardly all of it for Coughlin. The Giants had an opportunity to seize control of the N.F.C. East - a victory would have essentially knocked out the Redskins and pushed Dallas two games behind with four to play - but faltered, bringing Washington and the Cowboys squarely back into contention. Even more maddening, Coughlin said, was the manner in which the loss happened: sloppy play, a slew of mental mistakes and poor finishing. Most notably, Coughlin was angry about the Giants" penalties. Despite coming into the game as one of the least penalized teams in the league (only Atlanta had fewer), the Giants were called for nine that crippled their drives on offense and erased their good plays on special teams. "As a coach, that flat-out eats away at your gut," Coughlin said. How can a team with something this important on the line be this careless? Coughlin added that all the penalties "made the game appear as if we were sloppy and careless." Several players, including guard Chris Snee, said after the game that teams had to adjust to the way the officials were calling penalties on a particular night. There was also some grumbling about the officials" calls, but Coughlin refused to directly address the officiating. He did note his apparent surprise at the surface circumstances: that is, the Redskins being one of the most penalized teams in the league, the Giants being one of the least penalized, and the game ending with the Giants having nine penalties and the Redskins four. "They're out of character to me, for how we're playing," Coughlin said of the penalties. The Giants" struggle to come away with touchdowns on strong drives, on the other hand, is not altogether unfamiliar. Often this tendency manifests itself in a poor red-zone conversion rate, though the Giants were 1 for 2 in that area Monday. Still, that one miss ate at Coughlin overnight: late in the third quarter, with a first-and-10 at the Washington 17 and a chance to take a 10-point lead with a touchdown, the Giants recorded two incompletions and a 1-yard run before kicking a field goal that put them ahead by only 16-10. That left the game open for Redskins to seize - which they did on their next drive, as the Giants blew a fourth-quarter lead for the second time in their last three defeats. "That's not something that our goal is," Coughlin said. We talk about finishing. And we didn't. Then there was the issue of composure. Some of the Giants" defensive players seemed frustrated as Robert Griffin III thrived in the option offense, and defensive tackle Linval Joseph boiled over during a fumble scrum, yanking on a Redskins player and retaliating - or at least appearing to - after the player, Will Montgomery, looked to kick Joseph in the groin. For his part, Joseph said he stopped himself from retaliating - replays showed he started to stamp on Montgomery but slowed up and made minimal contact - though the officials tagged Joseph and another Redskins player for offsetting personal fouls. That still irked Coughlin, who said Joseph could have not reacted at all, which would have given the Giants 15 extra yards. "I would like for Linval to not retaliate," Coughlin said. Am I happy about it?