Giants center David Baas said Big Blue’s problems were not talent, but consistently being on the same page each week. Photo by Peter Wodarczyk contrast photography.com

EAST RUTHERFORD: The New York Football Giants put 42 points on the scoreboard against the hapless Eagles in the last game of the 2012 regular season.

The Birds (4-12) were the definition of going through the motions, knowing their coach Andy Reid was already history. The final was 42-7.

The win meant about as much to the Giants (9-7) as the loss did for their opponent. Nothing.

When the Chicago Bears knocked off the Detroit Lions at about the same time the Eagles/Giants game concluded, Big Blue was eliminated.

Players on both teams talked about their feelings about the season.

“The season was a disappointment overall,” guard Evan Mathis said in a quiet Eagles locker room at Met Life Stadium after the game. “We were slow to start in many aspects in most of the games. We didn’t win the turnover battle over the course of the year.”

Mathis was asked about the effort some players gave in the Giants loss. “Terrible,” he said. “The score indicates that something was terribly wrong and that is surprising to me.”

Mathis was also asked what the team must do to get back on the winning track. “We obviously have to look ourselves in the mirror and be accountable for our mistakes,” said Mathis, the only starting offensive lineman not to get hit with a serious injury. “We need to focus on doing our jobs and work everyday to improve.”

Giants center David Bass said he thought the Giants may not have adapted well enough from the changes the team made with its roster in the offseason, most notably the loss of wide receiver Mario Manningham to free agency and the release of running back Brandon Jacobs, but offered no excuses.

“With every season there are always changes,” said Bass, who started his career with the San Francisco 49ers who drafted him in the second round of the 2005 draft out of Michigan, joining the Giants before the 2011 season. “You have to be able to adapt to those changes. I feel like though, it doesn’t matter. We have a very good team. We have good guys that are able to go out there and give it their all every single week. We just have to get back to work…that is all you can really say.”

Bass agreed with the idea that there was no one area that went wrong consistently with the Giants season. It was a true team disappointment.

“It was like a combo of things…one week it was this, the next week it was something else,” Baas said. “That is where the consistency needs to kick in each and every week. If the offense isn’t working, defense is picking us up and vice-versa. Last year it was a little better in terms of that. You saw today when the offense is going and the defense is going too, plus special teams, when we do it altogether, nobody can stop us. We have to take that confidence into the offseason and know that we could have done this better, not dwell on it and get better…just work.”

Giants Pro Bowl guard Chris Snee said he thought the Giants sealed their fate over the previous two weeks.

“With the talent we have we should be in the playoffs,” Snee said. “But the way we played in Atlanta and Baltimore we don’t deserve to be in the playoffs and we are not. I said four weeks ago that the only way to secure our spot in the playoffs was to win out and we didn’t do that.”

To get to the NFL level, most players, you would think love to play football regardless of their record. With the firing of their coach, the revolt of the fans and the general disgust with the team’s overall effort, did Mathis have any feelings of relief that the Eagles season was finally over?

“Not really,” he said. “Because things were going so bad, you could say that. But you get so few opportunities in your life to do this, you should cherish each one. So it’s not a relief, I wish we were still playing.”

Both quarterbacks were as underwhelming as the result of their seasons. Eli Manning was 13 of 21 for just 208 yards but threw five TD passes; Mike Vick was 19 of 35 for 197 yards with a TD pass and an interception. Some may believe that with the level of incompetence the coverage of Nnamdi Asomugha, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and the rest of the Eagles secondary displayed in the game, Manning could have made most of those passes blindfolded.

LeSean McCoy led the Eagles with 45 yards on 10 carries. Giants’ running back Ahmad Bradshaw carried the ball 16 times for 107 yards and a touchdown.

Mathis said there was hope for Eagles fans. Lost in all the fire-the-coach hysteria was the staggering amount of starters lost for the season due to injury.

The Eagles lost their three best offensive linemen for the season. Jason Peters, who many thought was the best tackle in the game, was lost in the offseason, rising star Jason Kelce was lost in game two and Todd Herremans was lost for the season in week nine.

“We have a lot of really good players who got hurt,” Mathis said. “When you lose guys like that, it’s going to have an impact. Getting them back will have an even greater impact.”

So does losing your coach. Time will tell what kind of impact that decision will have on the Eagles.