In Mistake-Filled Year, Giants Are Eliminated From Playoff Race in Fitting Fashion SAN DIEGO - The Giants, after losing their first six games, have long been in need of a miracle to rescue their season, and the way their day began Sunday, they needed all the divine intervention they could get when Eli Manning, on the last play before halftime, launched a long, arcing pass from midfield. Receiver Hakeem Nicks leapt high, soaring above several players, and landed with the ball. But his elation quickly gave way to pause. I was thinking, why isn't anyone celebrating? Nicks said. Instead of landing in the end zone, Nicks was on the turf at the 6, the throw from Manning another in the long list of Giants efforts that have fallen short this season. The flickering playoff hopes the Giants harbored as the day began expired in a hail of mistakes and misfortune in a 37-14 trouncing by San Diego. The loss, in conjunction with victories by Philadelphia and Arizona, eliminated the Giants from playoff contention with three weeks to play. "We created our situation here," Giants Coach Tom Coughlin said. This is no fun for anybody. The Giants had gamely given life to their season by winning five of their previous six games, but it was not so much a transformation as it was a case study in resiliency. They still were guilty of turnovers and mental errors, but they mostly overcame them. And rediscovering the sort of physical line play that had given birth to a pair of Super Bowl runs added to their rejuvenation. But on Sunday, the Giants put themselves in an early hole, and kept on digging. A tipped pass was intercepted - one of three turnovers - and three plays later, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw a touchdown pass to the rookie Keenan Allen. Nick Novak missed a field goal for the Chargers, but the Giants were offside - one of four such penalties for them - and he did not miss the reprieve. By the time Nicks landed short of the goal line, the Giants trailed, 24-0. "We couldn't get out of that funk," linebacker Jon Beason said. It was demoralizing. Nobody had more reason to be demoralized than Manning. The two interceptions pushed his season total to 20, tying him with the Jets rookie Geno Smith for the most in the N.F.L. He was also sacked twice, hit on five other occasions and outplayed by Rivers, with whom he has been linked since their 2004 draft day trade. The image of Manning standing glumly on the stage at Radio City Music Hall, held hostage by a team he did not want to play for, has never been forgotten by Chargers fan, who booed him nearly as vociferously as they did in 2006 when a much-better Chargers team walloped the Giants. Manning also lost to San Diego in 2009, when Rivers led a last-minute scoring drive in a 21-20 win. Fans in the upper deck serenaded Manning with an off-color chant, and a poster of Manning with earrings, makeup and woman's haircut was shown on the video board. Stay classy, San Diego, it wasn't. But neither did it seem to bother Manning. He was more bothered by the loss of playoff hope. "To know that three games to go is disappointing," Manning said. It's not an ideal situation, but we've got to be strong about it, be men about it and do our job. Manning was not the only one with regrets. When the Giants caught a rare break - Justin Tuck's poking the ball from Rivers's hand on the first play of the second half - it was short-lived. The Giants closed the gap to 24-7 on Peyton Hillis's 1-yard scoring plunge. But after sacking Rivers, they chose to rush only three, and Rivers picked out Antonio Gates for 15 yards to convert third-and-12. Then linebacker Spencer Paysinger, who was caught matched up with receiver Vincent Brown on Rivers's long heave into the end zone, reached out and grabbed Brown when the pass was underthrown. It turned out to be a 47-yard penalty, giving the Chargers the ball at the 1, which was close enough for Ryan Mathews to score with an off-tackle run, boosting San Diego's lead to 31-7 and ending any suspense. "It was frustrating today to have to be questioned where's our enthusiasm," Tuck said. Obviously, if you give yourself a 24-point deficit on the road against a good football team, it's wishful thinking you're going to come back from that most of the time. There was not much left for the Giants to do. They could not stop Mathews, who became the first opponent since September to rush for 100 yards. They could not get the Chargers" offense off the field very often, allowing it to convert on 10 of 15 third downs. And they could not force more than a single turnover. All that was left was to play out the rest of the game, something they will be forced to do from the start over the final three weeks. And all that is very likely to come from that is a few more signature moments like the one that occurred Sunday on a play that was inconsequential. Though it did not determine the Giants" fate, it epitomized it. Rivers, knowing that the Giants had jumped offside, chucked a pass downfield. In these situations in the past, he has had tall receivers like Gates, the injured Malcom Floyd or the departed Vincent Jackson. Now, he had the smallest player on the field, 5-foot-8 Danny Woodhead, streaking down the field. Giants cornerback Jayron Hosley, far down the depth chart at a depleted position, leapt twice to try to knock the ball away. Instead, it landed in the hands of Woodhead, just another moment that required the Giants to stand tall, and they could not.