My “non-emotional” thoughts from yesterday’s game. As always, feel free to argue with mine, add your own, etc…
Overview:
Giants 3, Bengals 28: Giants fall to 2-5 with a 0-3 mark in their division to pair with it. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be hearing “look at our division records, we’re still in it” as substantiation for decision that will be made. Why do I know this? We hear it every year… Right now, we should be looking at needing to make up 4 games in our division with 10 to play, it isn’t going to happen, and the franchise would be better served by accepting this right now.
As for yesterday’s game, this was our worst outing of the year, I have no issue saying that. The 25pt margin of defeat confirms this but so did the game tape. Where we’ve managed to lose games while still physically playing with the other team, we were bullied and pushed around in this one. The stat lines read very much like a 2023 offensive output with 8 sacks and Jones passing for under 100 yards. My thoughts and prayers go out to Sy’ who’s going to have to watch this at least one more time. It was a rough one.
Offense:
1 – Today’s theme is going to be “things the fans can see but the team can’t”. Starting with an overall philosophy issue going into yesterday’s game. Andrew Thomas was hurt, Josh Ezeudu was slated to be starting at LT, everyone in the world knew this was going to be an issue. Typically, whenever you have a new lineman coming in or a weak line, you ease them into the game by running the football and working off that. Despite this, we threw ball 7 of the first 8 plays leading to only one first down on our first two drives, which came from the first play a slant to Nabers. Even more confusing from this “air it out” gameplan was the fact that Daboll’s post-game comments (for weeks now) seem to point a lot of fingers at Jones for not making plays that are there. Our offense is better when we commit to the run, why not commit to it?
2 – Sticking with the “things the fans can see” theme, did anyone think Ezeudu was going to play well or even be playing left tackle at all? I’m not even going to fault the kid for this, the coaching staff is the one charged with putting people in the position to succeed and they aren’t doing it with him. For the life of me I don’t know why they’re so adamant that he plays the left tackle position. You ask why our offensive line has been so bad for so long and here is a good example of a kid that was drafted with a second day pick and forced into a position he clearly can’t play. Again, it’s concerning that the fans and the BBI message board have a better handle on the evaluation than the team.
3 – I try and say at least one positive when I write these reviews, but for the offense I’m really struggling to find anything that I can say we did well. I could mention that I don’t think all 8 sacks should be charged to the OL, a couple were coverage sacks and at least one was on a back. I guess Ezeudu improved a little bit after the second sack he gave up, but I’m still not okay trotting him out there next week. Maybe Tracy turning a couple negative runs into positives is all I can find that was good? I’m not sure. It was just a bad game, the team seemed deflated and never looked like it believed it could move the ball.
Defense:
1 – After the offense I need to get to positives for my own sanity. Dexter Lawrence is a beast, and I really think Andru Phillips is a rising star on this team. Dex now leads the league with 9 sacks which is unheard of from a nose tackle and Dru Phillips continues to make strong plays in run support behind the line of scrimmage, you also don’t see much as far as guys catching balls on him either. Aside from yesterday, the defense has been good this year, let’s hope that the Andrew Thomas injury doesn’t cause them to spiral as well.
2 – Back to normal conversations, you can’t get pushed around as badly as they did at the line of scrimmage and expect to win a game. While Saquon Barkley fans are celebrating what a great game he had, you need to give credit to the Eagles offensive line for his production. On his two longest runs he had enormous holes and on the 55 yarder around the left edge he wasn’t even touched until he was pushed out of bounds. Not to take any credit away from him, but that was just an example of a team out executing the defense that they were playing. Not good for us at all, the run game continues to be a weakness as does open field tackling.
3 – I didn’t know where to put this in my review so its going in the defense section. For starters, lets try not to get Nick McCloud lined up one on one on A.J. Brown again… Moving to the main point I’m making, how was the A.J. Brown play not a push off and the Theo Johnson one in the end zone was? I try to steer away from the refs because we lose games on our own and I don’t want to make it seem like I’m using them as an excuse, but we’ve been on the wrong side of some very weird calls this year and as a fan, its annoying to see the only touchdown your team scores pulled off the board for something the refs were okay with the other team doing. I’m done with talking about the refs, lets try not to get McCloud in that situation moving forward…
Coaching:
Everyone gets a failing grade on this however I’m grading Daboll the hardest. Knowing that Andrew Thomas, an injury prone player, going down would change the complexion of your already poor offense, there needed to be a better plan that Josh Ezeudu at LT. Back to poor personnel decisions impacting games which is another thing that needs to be put on the head coach.
For a while I would look at Jones and just say Positive, Negative or Neutral to judge his performance, I need to start doing the same with Daboll as the conversations about
him leaving after this season are valid.
Within Daboll’s post-game presser I came away with a couple of big takeaways. First is that he’s getting to the point where he’s done with Jones. While many of us beat him to this punch, it’s telling when you are starting to hear a lot of pointed comments during the press conferences, yesterday wasn’t the first time either. One thing not shown during Hard Knocks was Daboll’s true feelings on going into the season with a Jones/Lock tandem. We know he was very, very conscious about cameras and microphones in the offices and spoke very carefully around them or took evasive tactics (music). Did Daboll push harder for a new QB than the show let on? He sure has made a lot of comments this season expressing frustration about his QB. The other thing from the presser was his comments about trying to get a spark for the team because it tells two things: That he acknowledges the team was flat and he felt that Jones was the cause. In my experience you see things like this go on before you start hearing “lost locker-room” from beat reporters. It will be worth watching the player interviews closely in the coming weeks.
Conclusion:
A few years ago, Eric changed the front-page pictures to the Groundhog Day graphics alluding to the fact that nothing seems to change, and this team has been in a vicious cycle of failure. Right now, we’re at another crossroads where the team can take a left turn and start a new route, however in past years they keep taking the same right turn and going in a circle. We’re 2 and 5 and 0-3 in the division, we aren’t going to the playoffs this year. Please, have some respect for the fans intelligence and don’t try and sell us that you think we’re still in it because the Cowboys aren’t as good as you thought they’d be… Its time to start having conversations like “how can we ensure we get a QB in the draft we’re happy with?” and “can we get assets for players that we know aren’t going to be here next year?”. The first step in recovery is admitting that you have a problem, and this is where the Giants have failed in past seasons, accept that you’re not winning anything this year and put together a plan to make sure it doesn’t happen again next year.
As far as I’m concerned players and coaches are playing (coaching) the next 10 games for their jobs. If you play hard the fans will respect it and keep watching. We fully understand if we trade some players, it will affect the team, but we know it’s the right move in the long run. Just start making the right decisions as a franchise, it’s all we ask.
Nobody in the Giants offices will be able to explain to John Mara that this team is cooked until they are mathematically eliminated, and then his mindset will switch to “who is working hard at the end of the year” to determine who should be here next year. That bar is not who produces…it is who is still showing up early to the facility and working really hard.
This is how you end up with 7 years of a Daniel Jones level QB that can only happen with the New York Giants.
Interesting take. Could be something to this.
This isn't right, just like people blaming only Schoen for the Jones choice/contract.
Whole point of the Buffalo Bros. hiring was they would be tandem decision makers even if core responsibilities were different and by all means and measures they appear to directly work together on player scouting, development, roster decisions.
Schoen gets a ton of heat for the QB situation but if you fire Schoen for that, Daboll gets canned just as much.
Daboll is intimately involved in pushing and selecting players for his schemes and guys he sees as "dawgs". In fact, my one criticism of Schoen right now, is he's come off as a bit too much "committee" and "parliamentary" process with player selection.
I don't buy that Joe Schoen wanted to keep Jones more than Daboll - he was absolutely deferential to Daboll and his staff given the offense minded regime/leadership in 2022.
Schoen also didn't force the OL problems last year - he lets the HC and OL coach make decisions on who stays on roster, plays where, changes/backups etc.
Right now - this is 90 percent Daboll's mess. A few lazy wins against equally putrid teams isn't going to save his job. He needs to fight to at least 7 wins and fight to get a QB he wants and better hope he is in playoff contention in December 2025. That's his only hope to stay as an NFL HC, otherwise Daniel Jones gets another "coach" pelt for his wall.
After 2022, Schoen and Daboll both knew they couldn't simply make a QB change, deciding to let their QB walk after making the playoffs would have been a PR nightmare, especially given how there was no succession plan in place.
I don't want to read TOO much into the HK stuff, so much of it was stage managed, but Daboll could barely hide his disappointment a couple of times. He nearly jumped out of his seat when Schoen asked if he was on board with drafting Daniels. And he was equally incredulous when asking Schoen "so this is our QB room?" I just do not agree that Lock was his choice.
Their hands were tied with Jones this year (thanks to the contract SCHOEN NEGOTIATED), but going into the season with Drew Lock is the backup was an egregious mistake. Even if Daboll signed off on it, it was Schoen's idea and his responsibility. I'm all for putting the blame where it belongs. No one can convince me that Daboll has more power in this org than Schoen, which would be the case if they were "equal" partners in personnel acquisition.
This is year 3, and at the beginning of each season of their term, we've heard crowing about how good Schoen's drafts were, none stronger than winning 2 in a row earlier this year. But each year ends with us realizing that hose draftees may not be as good as we thought. Nabers is a stud, and Dru Phillips looks like a keeper, but I'm going to withhold judgement on these guys until we see a full season.
I fully plan to come out, when the time is right, and do a "BiteyMax's Next Day I've Completely F'ing Had It, Screw This Team Emotional as Hell Thoughts".
I'm trying to perfectly time rock bottom for this and unfortunately, I don't think we're there yet.
Now, if you think Daboll is trying to get it through John's stubborn, thick skull, that they need a new QB, I could buy that. Only if it doesn't cost Daboll his job, because as things are trending, he's gone at year end.
as an example...just look at the way the Browns perked up after Watson was out. In his own way, Watson has been the drag on the Browns. When he went out, they seemed like a different team, there was life in them. I mean, they still lost, but they weren't just flat and going through the motions.
I am not a fan of JOe Schoen's job here at all, but even I refuse to believe he is that stupid. I do believe that John Mara is that stupid and it is possible he is telling Schoen something like the idiotic posts we saw on BBI ahead of the draft - "you can't use pick #6 on QB4."
Exactly,
Who are the best QBs in the game today? Where were they drafted? Enuf said.
Schoen and Daboll should be getting a blunt and straightforward assessment from Mara this year, benefit of the doubts should be thrown aside unless the plan was honest to god a soft tank, which I don't see Mara signing off on.
John Mara can't provide this. He doesn't know what he is looking at. His take away from what we have seen so far is very likely "The Seattle game showed me that we can win with Jones. Nabers looks good, but Daniel still needs more weapons!"
I know he will be involved in the evaluation, but that is part of the problem, not the solution.
Look at Josh Ezeudu's UNC work.
"In 3 seasons at UNC, Ezeudu played in 36 games with 28 starts – 20 at left guard, 6 at left tackle and 2 at right tackle"
They immediately push him as a swing LT in rookie mini camp. He split reps there with LG where he played a bit early in 2022 until he got injured. Ever since then, he's been pushed between LG and LT and never once at a settled position. No kid is going to be David Diehl and it's obviously been tough on the kid including dealing with injuries. Daboll specifically spoke about this transitioning for his lineman whenever he was hired. But maybe they should've picked a player who's been a productive LT in college rather than one who spent 8 starts there prior to joining the pros. It's frustrating for him, and it is for us watching his offense. This doesn't even talk about the continuous errors by the players like OL getting downfield. This is Daboll and his discipline, or lack thereof.
I can see Daboll caving to pressure from Schoen and Mara, but I can't see both Schoen and Daboll caving. I think a main factor in whether Daboll is retained is how much he backed, or resisted, DJ after 2022, and how much he pushed for drafting a replacement last year after the top 3 were gone.
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Schoen and Daboll should be getting a blunt and straightforward assessment from Mara this year, benefit of the doubts should be thrown aside unless the plan was honest to god a soft tank, which I don't see Mara signing off on.
John Mara can't provide this. He doesn't know what he is looking at. His take away from what we have seen so far is very likely "The Seattle game showed me that we can win with Jones. Nabers looks good, but Daniel still needs more weapons!"
I know he will be involved in the evaluation, but that is part of the problem, not the solution.
It's a hideous thought but I will not be surprised if they run Jones back out there for 2025 and don't get a QB in the draft. Mara's like the head of the Daniel Jones Fan Club and I can very much see him saying they just need more weapons and a better O-Line for Danny Boy.
This is bad. Really bad.
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In comment 16655749 Biteymax22 said:
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Schoen and Daboll should be getting a blunt and straightforward assessment from Mara this year, benefit of the doubts should be thrown aside unless the plan was honest to god a soft tank, which I don't see Mara signing off on.
John Mara can't provide this. He doesn't know what he is looking at. His take away from what we have seen so far is very likely "The Seattle game showed me that we can win with Jones. Nabers looks good, but Daniel still needs more weapons!"
I know he will be involved in the evaluation, but that is part of the problem, not the solution.
It's a hideous thought but I will not be surprised if they run Jones back out there for 2025 and don't get a QB in the draft. Mara's like the head of the Daniel Jones Fan Club and I can very much see him saying they just need more weapons and a better O-Line for Danny Boy.
That isn't happening..
Jones is the iceberg
Schoen is the ship designer
The Maras are the musicians who played while the ship sinks
Amd there are not enough lifeboats for fans.
And Eric and John are making the award-winning docudrama to capture it all.
Can we get Kate Winslet on-board?
Outside of Tracy and Nabers there is not much on this offense. But an average qb would be able to work with Wandale, Slayton, Nabers and the Tracy/Singletary combo with the improved play we've gotten from the o line. Jones is crippling this team and it's causing the defensive side to quit. Disaster all around.
I can see Daboll caving to pressure from Schoen and Mara, but I can't see both Schoen and Daboll caving. I think a main factor in whether Daboll is retained is how much he backed, or resisted, DJ after 2022, and how much he pushed for drafting a replacement last year after the top 3 were gone.
The three of them are equally inept. Unfortunately, only two of them can be fired and that is pretty much what is going to happen. Since Jawn likes to try and create past glories and is bereft of any other ideas, you can bet he will reach out to Little Bill and promise to stay out of the way and give him control because Little Bill isn't coming otherwise.
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Daboll is the captain
Jones is the iceberg
Schoen is the ship designer
The Maras are the musicians who played while the ship sinks
Amd there are not enough lifeboats for fans.
Ha! Excellent metaphor
I think Mara on the bridge of the Titanic should be the new cover picture, replacing (or supplementing) the Clown picture from the Judge era.
I can see Daboll caving to pressure from Schoen and Mara, but I can't see both Schoen and Daboll caving. I think a main factor in whether Daboll is retained is how much he backed, or resisted, DJ after 2022, and how much he pushed for drafting a replacement last year after the top 3 were gone.
actually the 5th year option would have been the smart thing to do. make him prove it over 2 yrs. they would not had to react to 2022, and could have been out after 2023.
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In comment 16655559 kelly said:
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Daboll is the captain
Jones is the iceberg
Schoen is the ship designer
The Maras are the musicians who played while the ship sinks
Amd there are not enough lifeboats for fans.
Ha! Excellent metaphor
I think Mara on the bridge of the Titanic should be the new cover picture, replacing (or supplementing) the Clown picture from the Judge era.
Are we sure that Mara isn't the iceberg?
Dex comes out and this line gets pushed around pretty good, but gap discipline is another part of it.
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...like "hey, if you stick me with this chump, then I am going to make him throw."
No sock-puppet asshats will ever convince me that Jones wasn't forced on Schoen and Dabol by the Mara clan.
It does almost seem like it, doesn't it?
I'm starting to feel like both Schoen and Daboll are trolling the Mara's. I remember in Hard Knocks when Schoen talked to Mara about looking to trade up for one of the top 3 QB's and he said if we couldn't, then we'll get this QB a weapon and see what he can do. I think Dabs is doing the same thing. Showing ownership that Jones is not capable of getting the job done. I doubt either of them thought it would be this bad.
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...like "hey, if you stick me with this chump, then I am going to make him throw."
No sock-puppet asshats will ever convince me that Jones wasn't forced on Schoen and Dabol by the Mara clan.
It does almost seem like it, doesn't it?
I agree with this completely. I've stated repeatedly that there is no way Schoen and Daboll analized Jones' body of work and said "Oh,yeah! This is our guy!". Absolutely no fricken' way.
The receivers are open a lot, especially Nabers and Robinson. Jones just sucks.
Barkley should be sending Schoen a gift basket on Christmas for letting him walk this offseason.
Do we miss Leo Williams more than we thought we would?
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wrong with this team other than QB. Jones needs to go but anyone being honest and watching the team yesterday should realize there are still way too many holes. The LT is not an NFL player. Plain and simple. Belinger a TE is a waste and can't block. There were a couple of times he was supposed to help the LT and both whiffed. Pathetic. Once and for all put Neal in and if he still stinks we can end the conversation. The WRs still have an issue getting open and Robinson drops too many passes for my liking. I can go on and on but merely bringing in a new QB may help but won't solve the other 99 issues we have.
The receivers are open a lot, especially Nabers and Robinson. Jones just sucks.
Do you ever watch the all 22 film?
You'll regularly see WRs open the Jones doesn't see.
Enough with the "The QB sucks, but..."
The QB fucking sucks. That is everything.
Wondering what you think of this: it seems to me that Daboll is not personally invested in the performance of HIS offensive line. He’s the head coach, he needs to get his hands dirty with whatever part of the team needs help. As a head coach you can’t always delegate and hope. I think he needs to watch every practice rep of the oline and start coaching them up. His job is on the line.