Perspectives: Giants Get a Hard Kick in the Teeth

In retrospect, it's easy to see why New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen wasn't willing to puff out his chest about the roster the franchise was about to put on the field had closed the talent gap with the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles.

"We haven't played a game yet. So, we'll see," Schoen said. "I think I said it last year at the same press conference: It takes a few weeks into the regular season to figure out who the team is, how we're going to react when adversity strikes, and how we're going to handle if there's success, or if you're down at halftime.

"We still have a lot to learn about this team. We’ll see when it comes to Sunday against the Cowboys, how they will come together as a team and gel and how they will react in those situations."

Well, after one game--a rather embarrassing game at that, in which the Dallas Cowboys schooled the Giants to 40-0, the Giants seem no closer to having closed any talent gaps now than they were at this time last year.

The optimists will point out that it's just one game, one loss. But it's hard to get past the fact that this loss was as ugly as it gets, a complete failure by the offense, defense, special teams, and, yes, coaching, to come out and stand toe-to-toe with a division competitor.

But while losses are going to happen when it involves a complete team meltdown in which multiple leaks spring in the ship, that's concerning.

As for what's next, well, there's nowhere to go but up, and it's up to Daboll to make sure that the team believes its words issued last night in the locker room about not giving up after such a deflating performance.

"It's a humbling league," Daboll said. "I've said this many a time: it's the same thing as if you have a big win, not getting too high. This is an emotional game; guys put everything they have into it.

"They prepared well, we practiced well, and we didn't put it together today in every area from like I said, offense, defense, coaching, special teams, whatever. You name it, and you get 40 to nothing; there's a lot of blame to go around, and I'll take the head of it."

Some more thoughts...

The Offensive Line

Forget about trading for Bucs receiver Mike Evans. If anything, the Giants might be best served finding themselves another offensive tackle, especially if left Andrew Thomas, who injured his hamstring chasing down the blocked field goal attempt that went for a touchdown, has to miss any extensive playing time.

New York plugged Matt Peart in at left tackle when Thomas could no longer gut it out. When Peart suffered an arm injury, the team was forced to insert Joshua Ezeudu, who, while having played tackle in college at North Carolina, isn't believed to have played it for the Giants, had to go in there to finish the game.

Hopefully, Thomas's injury isn't serious enough to keep him out of action, though remember the Giants have a Sunday game in the desert followed by a Thursday Night game in San Francisco. But one of the biggest roster concerns many people had coming out of training camp seems to be rearing its ugly head.

Speaking of which, right tackle Evan Neal picked up where he left off last year--and that's not good, by the way. At an initial glance, Neal was responsible for at least a half dozen hits and pressures on passing downs, and he looked to be playing top-heavy with heavy feet and little flexibility.

While there are still 16 more games to be played, Neal's performance isn't going to quell the whispers of him possibly shifting inside to guard. The problem, though, is the Giants have no one else to play right tackle, especially if Thomas and Peart both must miss any time.

Coaching Debacle

While I give Daboll credit for taking the blame for last night's disaster, there are two points I need to make about the recent job done by this staff that reminds me of the Joe Judge days.

The first is the offensive line. While I understand the need for competition and ensuring you find the five best guys to play, I expressed concern over the summer about how long it took them to decide on guards. I wondered how that might affect the line going forward regarding chemistry and communication.

There was at least one blown protection against a stunt by the interior line that was cringeworthy in the first quarter. One might say the right side of the line had far more issues with stunts than the left.

As for the guards themselves, Ben Bredeson, the winner of the left guard competition, was beaten in one-on-ones too often by the faster, more athletic Cowboys front. And Mark Glowinski, who was always going to be the starting right guard barring injury, looked complexly over-matched out there from start to finish, particularly in one-on-one situations.

Again, at first glance, it seemed that most of the pressure Daniel Jones faced came from the right side of the offensive line, and that's a problem.

Then there was the decision to leave Daniel Jones in the game until the last series. Why? "Try to get something positive going there. We didn't have much going, just wanted to try to get, you know, a positive drive and try to punch the ball into the end zone, but that didn’t happen," Daboll said.

While miraculous comebacks have happened in the past, given the struggles of the offensive line, the injury to Andrew Thomas, and the fact that Jones was taking a beating like none other, Daboll and the Giants are darn lucky that Jones emerged unscathed.

Another decision that reminds me of a decision Judge made that ended up backfiring was the amount of age reps the starters got in the preseason. This year, Daboll, to keep guys healthy, pretty much kept the bulk of the starters in a controlled practice environment where the game's physicality just cannot be replicated.

So, what happened? The Giants starters, many of whom barely played this summer, looked ill-prepared, the same as with Judge’s Giants in 2021.

Daboll's intentions were good but head-scratching, considering he's never been one to coach with any hesitancy. Perhaps the Giants will bounce back against the Cardinals next week, but if they struggle and end up going 0-3 out of the gate, that decision not to play the starters much in the preseason will look a bit larger.

Lastly, can we talk about special teams? I get it that the players must execute, but every week, it seems as though something goes wrong on special teams, sometimes the miscue costing them a game. While the blocked field goal returned for a touchdown was just one of many plays that cost this team the game, the fact that these breakdowns continue to happen nearly every week is concerning.

Daniel Jones

Already, the critics are out in full force, mocking the Giants' decision to give quarterback Daniel Jones a contract that pays him $40 million per year.

Was Jones perfect and blameless in the loss? No. There were times when he broke the pocket too quickly, but then again, given how poor his protection was, who could blame him?

The pick-6 on the second possession was not his fault, though his other interception was a forced throw. That all being said, Jones was unable to raise the level of play around him despite being tossed into adverse conditions in which he was running for his life in most of the plays.

"I think there were plenty of situations where I didn’t make a good decision, didn’t make an accurate throw, didn’t make the right read, and I’m going to be very critical of myself and those situations and look to correct that going forward," Jones said.

At least he's being honest.

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