The trick now for the Giants is not to let what took place Sunday night — a positively humiliating 40-0 loss to NFC East rival Dallas in the season (and home) opener — bleed into tomorrow and, more specifically, next Sunday or the Thursday following that.
Because this thing is coming fast and furious at the Giants, who play at Arizona next Sunday and at San Francisco four days after that. This can get away from them quickly if what went down Sunday night isn’t curbed and corrected quickly.
If you witnessed the slop the Giants put on display Sunday night at MetLife, it would be understandable if you were to look at the upcoming schedule and mark 0-3 down for them.
This is where Giants head coach Brian Daboll comes in. It’s on him to get his players to purge Sunday night from their collective systems and move on.
And, whether or not you’re in the mood to hear this after his team’s putrid performance, the Giants are in good hands with Daboll because he’s as accountable and honest as anyone — as evidenced by his constant references to the coaching not being good enough during his seven-minute postgame press conference.
- “We got beat all the way around — coaching to playing and I accept that,’’ Daboll said.
- “I’d say we got a lot of work to do in every area, not just the offensive line, every area on the field, from coaching to offense to defense to the kicking game and that’s what we’ll do,’’ Daboll said.
- “It’s one game,’’ Daboll said. “It was a bad game and that’s on me and we’ll work to get the things we need to get fixed, which is certainly plenty of things.’’
- “We just got skunked here, 40 to nothing,’’ Daboll said. “When you play a game like that and coach a game like that, there’s nothing that’s good enough.’’
- “This league is humbling,’’ Daboll said. “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 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.’’
- “Everything wasn’t good enough from the get-go,’’ Daboll said. “That’s why you get beat 40 to nothing. That’s my responsibility.’’
Last year at this time, Daboll was the darling of New York, winning his first game as a head coach, 21-20 in Tennessee, when he went for a two-point conversion in the waning moments instead of playing for a tie and overtime. That proved to be a catalyst to a surprising 9-7-1 season and a playoff berth.
After Sunday’s proceedings, Daboll needs to make sure this game doesn’t prove to be a catalyst to what turns out to be a disappointing season.
Sure, this was just one of 17, but the way this game unfolded was jarring, because the Giants looked like a team that’s not close to the same level as the Cowboys — and one that’s regressed from a year ago.
“The danger is we can come in and listen to the media and listen everyone and let those ‘poor me’s’ creep in and they can trickle down and have an effect on our season,’’ Giants running back and captain Saquon Barkley said. “That’s the reality of it, but at the end of the day, it’s on the coaches, it’s on us, the leaders, to come in (Monday), watch film, learn from it, put it in the past and move on.
“It sucks, but sometimes you need an opener like this. You never want it to be this way, 40-0, home, to Dallas, but you’ve got to hold each other a little more accountable and that starts with meetings on Monday and then come to practice, raise your level and push each other.’’
Quarterback Daniel Jones said: “We’ve got to own it, own what happened out there. We didn’t play well enough, didn’t give ourselves a chance to win the game. We’ve got to own that, and then we got to attack the process this week of correcting it. This wasn’t who we are capable of being. We’ve got to show that, we’ve got to put that on the field and play that way.’’
Tight end Darren Waller, in first season with the Giants, talked after the game about how critical the bounce-back is from something like this.
“In this league, it’s more about how you respond to things than what happens to you out on the field,’’ Waller said. “Because you could be on the other side of that win and come into the week and have your head in the clouds and go into the next game feeling yourself too much, and you get brought back down to earth.
“It’s all about how you respond. I’ve been on the losing end of games like this before, and it’s (about) how you come in. Is your head high, and are you picking guys up? Are you making sure you’re not pointing the finger at other people, (but) knowing your part and taking personal accountability? That’s how you move forward.’’
And Daboll, facing the most precarious pressure point of his Giants career to date, is the proper leader to help this group be honest with itself and move on.
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