Fans ride an emotional rollercoaster with their teams. Highs like the New York Giants victory over the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks bring euphoria. Lows like Sunday’s collapse vs. the Denver Broncos bring misery, a hunt for blame, and the thought that everyone involved should be fired or cut.
Fans can debate those highs and lows as emotionally as they want. Media can return to asking or writing about those things for as long and as often as they desire.
Players don’t have that luxury.
“If you don’t put it away, it’s going to steamroll to another one and be a snowball effect,” said veteran defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches. “Just like any other game, there’s good, there’s bad, but you still got to flush it because within six days you’re going to play another one. Unless you want that same thing to repeat, you got to learn from it, rinse, and apply for the next.”
So, how are the Giants moving on from Sunday’s historic collapse in a game that saw wounds both self-inflicted and unfortunate, the defensive coordinator come under fire again, and the play-calling and clock management of the final few minutes be questioned?
There were the usual Cam Skattebo “woooooo” from Cam Skattebo heard during Brian Daboll’s pre-practice press conference as players filtered on to the field. After practice, there were a dozen or so players — including quarterback Jaxson Dart and wide receivers Wan’Dale Robinson — doing a little bit of extra work before they left the field.
The locker room was lively rather than somber during the 45-minute media availability. There was the usual competitive, raucous activity around the pool and ping pong tables. There were a number of disgusted onlookers when Tyrone Tracy scratched to lose in pool.
The room was lively, not quiet and sullen as can sometimes happen during a season in which things go south.
“It [losing like the Giants did on Sunday] stings for a little bit, but we’ve got to move on,” Dart said when he came off the field. “We can’t let it affect the next game and next moment so we’ve got to be present, we’ve got to learn from our mistakes, acknowledge some of the good things that we did and just try to perfect our craft in any way that we can.”
Though he has only started four games, Dart has become the face of the Giants franchise. With their energy, passion and enthusiasm, Dart and Skattebo have become the engine that drives Giants’ bus.
“These rookies don’t really act like rookies. They act like seasoned vets,” said right tackle Jermaine Eleumunor. “Dart’s out there, he way he carries himself is really impressive. Same with Skatt, Abdul [Carter]. Three of the rookies we have right now really make an impact on this team. They don’t carry themselves like rookies, which is a really cool thing to see.”
With that in mind, as the face of the team and the first Giants player to speak to media every Wednesday, Dart’s response when things to wrong becomes an important tone-setter.
“I pride myself on trying not to let things in the past effect what I’m going to do in the future,” Dart said. “As a team, we can’t let that happen. We’ve got to find ways to finish games, we’ve got to find ways to win games and get on a roll. We have to be very present in each moment that we have, we have to play each game individually as hard as we can to make sure that things like last week didn’t happen, don’t happen.
“I think for me, I think it’s just a sign that we all need to work harder. We need to pay attention more to the little details as we go about our business and I think that way myself. What can I do to improve each day and to make sure things like that or little things during the game don’t slip. I think that’s just kind of been the message around the locker room.”
Dexter Lawrence said the Giants talked about the Denver game on Monday, said what they had to say to each other, and moved on.
“After that, you flush it,” he said. “t’s hard. It’s hard. But as a professional, that’s what you have to do. As a leader, you’ve got to flip the page and get ready to prepare to beat the Eagles.
“If you want to be great, you can’t let things linger. You’ve got to flush it and you’ve got to move on. The quicker you do that and the quicker you respond in a positive way, it’s better for everybody.”
Eluemunor said all he and his teammates can do is “put your head down and see how you can make sure that never happens again.”
Eluemunor said the Giants have shown what they are capable of. The trick is being able to do it more consistently.
“Put 32 [points] up on the best defense in the NFL, but it just wasn’t a complete game,” Eluemunor said. “The complete game was the Eagles game, the Chargers game.
“When we lose, one part of the team isn’t operating how they need to. In order to win in the NFL, a lot of these teams are the best teams in the league right now, with the best records. It’s because every single aspect of the team is functioning as one. Every unit is connected and they feed off each other. We just have to do a better job of that and play a complete game. Teams that win are there in January and February are the complete ones.
“That’s what it takes to win.”
Brian Burns tried to take defensive coordinator Shane Bowen off the hook for the rush three, drop eight call on the Broncos’ final drive that has been heavily criticized. He said the call was “perfect” and that the Giants were “unlucky” because the pass from Bo Nix wasn’t even intended for Marvin Mims, who caught it for a 29-yard gain.
Burns said the Giants just have to be better.
“Executing the play, being in the right area, being body to body,” Burns said. “That just comes down to executing the play. Being more detail oriented. Everybody can improve in that realm. We found where we could have been better at in that situation. Next time we get in that situation, be more on our details.”
Nunez-Roches agreed that the blame falls on the players.
“Players play, coaches coach,” Nunez-Roches said. “Whatever he calls, I’m going to go and apply pressure 100 percent regardless of what the situation is. Whatever steam they want to give him, at some point everybody want to point fingers at somebody.
Nunez-Roches said he could feel the attitude become “a little more lax” with the Giants up 19-0.
“I wouldn’t say we felt like we got it in the bag, but just our whole demeanor of the game. Instead of just being all pressure, just starting to be a little more lax or giving them more room to do things that they weren’t doing in the beginning. And they made plays off of it.
“We all want to find somebody to blame. At the end of the day, sometimes we just ain’t doing what we need to do.”
It felt on Wednesday as though the Giants had moved on. That they were, as linebacker Bobby Okereke said on Monday, pointing the thumb rather than the finger.
We find out over the next 10 games if they can actually do something about it.
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