Are Giants in free-fall again? Tom Coughlin’s forceful response

Giants coach Tom CoughlinThe checklist was under control.

“We hadn’t carelessly given the ball away, we hadn’t really had an outbreak of the kind of penalties that took place,’’ Tom Coughlin said Tuesday, assessing the first five games this season.

Reducing turnovers and limiting penalties is a sure-fire way for any team to trade losing for winning and Coughlin believed the Giants had purged their system of these failings.

“I felt like we were on our way and we were growing into the type of team that can handle those things and those situations in very important games,’’ he said.

Coughlin was wrong.

“So it was a disappointment to me, no doubt,’’ he said. “The number of things that occurred in…