The New York Giants lost an overtime thriller in Week 2, falling to the Dallas Cowboys, 40-37, in a game that was well within their reach.

In the aftermath of their defeat, Giants coaches and players gave flowers to the Cowboys, who made the plays when they needed to be made. There was no excuse-making, but everyone in the organization knows they shot themselves in the foot and were their own worst enemy on Sunday afternoon.

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The Giants were called for an unacceptable 21 penalties, 14 of which were accepted, totalling 160 yards. Left tackle James Hudson, starting in place of the injured Andrew Thomas, committed four of those on the same drive.

Hudson became the first player in a century to be called for four penalties on a single drive, which also featured him surrendering a sack of Russell Wilson.

“He had a number of them,” head coach Brian Daboll said of Hudson. “It’s not like he wants to go out there and commit these penalties. . . Hudson’s a competitor. He’s a competitive kid.”

After that series, Daboll benched an angry Hudson and replaced him with rookie Marcus Mbow.

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Later in the game, the Giants were called for three different infractions on the same play, but avoided being penalized as a Cowboys penalty resulted in them being offset.

“We just can’t do it,” linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux told the New York Post. “A lot of lack of discipline out there on the defensive side, and a few times on offense. We have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. We have to stop making mistakes. We have to grow up all the way around.”

Cornerback Dru Phillips, who was called for defensive pass interference and unnecessary roughness, felt some of the penalties were ticky-tack.

“I think a lot of the pass interferences were bogus,” he told The Post. “I shouldn’t have slammed [CeeDee Lamb] down. I was just making a tackle.”

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Nose tackle Dexter Lawrence doesn’t believe there’s a team-wide lack of discipline, calling some of the penalties “questionable.”

And perhaps some were. But when a team is called for 21 penalties, that can’t be washed away by claiming the officials had it all wrong. Not even in Dallas with Jerry Jones looking on.

Lawrence may not want to believe it, but the Giants have a problem with discipline. It’s an issue that showed up throughout the summer and one that persists two weeks into the regular season.

The 14 penalties were the seventh-most against the Giants in their history.

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants showed an unprecedented lack of discipline in Week 2 loss