Brian Daboll better hope not
The New York Giants have admitted that they embarrassed themselves on Sunday in a 30-7 loss at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they put forth an inept, listless effort that had Dexter Lawrence and Malik Nabers calling the performance “soft.”
Can they do anything on Thursday against the Dallas Cowboys to erase the impression they left that they have given up and might be steamrolling toward the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft?
Head coach Brian Daboll, whose job might be hanging by a thread as the miserable play of the 2-9 Giants once again tests the patience of the famously impatient John Mara, had better hope so.
If the Giants embarrass themselves — and Mara — again on Sunday with another terrible, non-competitive performance it shouldn’t surprise anyone if Daboll loses his job when the Giants’ plane touches down in New Jersey after the game.
That’s not a guarantee. Mara has preached, and wants desperately to be able to have, patience. But, it might be a reality.
“Nobody in this locker room is happy with how the season’s gone,” guard Jon Runyan Jr. said on Monday. “We all do this because we’ve played the sport for a long time, we enjoy it, and we want to win at the end of the day. That’s what we do this for because winning is great and we bust our butts every week trying to prepare for these games and just not getting the results that hurts us just as much as it hurts all these fans.
“We’re disappointed in ourselves and we’re disappointed for them that we’re making them watch these games. But like I said, there’s no quit in this team. We’re doing everything we can to get this thing going.”
Can they?
Who’s at tackle?
Evan Neal has had two horrible seasons with the New York Giants, with some of his worst moments as an NFL player coming against the Cowboys. Giants fans, and more importantly quarterback Tommy DeVito, should be praying that Neal is healthy enough to play on Thursday afternoon.
The Giants are without left tackle Andrew Thomas (season-ending Lisfranc surgery). Neither Neal, the newly-installed starting right tackle, nor current left tackle Jermaine Eluemunor practiced on Monday.
Eluemunor left Sunday’s game after four plays with a quad injury. He insisted after the game Sunday that he was alright, but the guess here is that he probably won’t be ready to play on a short week.
Neal was listed with a hip injury. If neither tackle can play, the Giants are likely looking at Chris Hubbard and Joshua Ezeudu as their starting tackles. Yikes! Unless Tyre Phillips, signed to the practice squad last week, is ready for full-time duty. That is unknown.
Neal, for what it’s worth, has played reasonably well in his two starts. It is a small sample size, but his 73.4 overall Pro Football Focus grade is the best of any offensive lineman on the current roster. Thomas had a 75.4 before being lost for the year. Neal’s 86.3 run-blocking grade is a team-best, and nearly elite. His 97.6 pass blocking efficiency rating is, again, the best of any lineman on the current roster.
Tommy DeVito vs. Cooper Rush
This can’t be what TV executives at FOX were hoping for when they scheduled this game. The Giants being 2-9 with a six-game losing streak, the Cowboys being 4-7, and neither team having the quarterback they started the year with.
Oh, well. The 4:30 slot puts the game in turkey time for a lot of folks, so maybe they won’t subject themselves to it. Or, if they ate earlier, maybe they will be sleeping off stuffing with themselves with turkey.
