The New York Giants are a team that continues to slide down a hill each week, and after losing to one rival on Monday Night Football, they managed to blow another game that they had led at one point and cost themselves their chance at bouncing back and getting some redemption going into their bye week.
The Giants haven’t had a victory since week four against the Redskins, and at this point, they’re competing with Washington for the title of worst team in the NFC East rather than competing with Dallas and Philadelphia for the division lead. What do the players have to say to the fans about going into the bye week with a record like this?
Trust the process.
“First, I’m going to apologize to the Giants pride because I know how important this game is. I know we were expecting to come out and get a big-time win against another New York team and we didn’t. The only thing I can ask at this point is just be patient and trust the process,” wide receiver Golden Tate said following the loss.
The process so far hasn’t brought about results, but it is a step forward – it’s been rare this season for the players and staff to truly admit that there’s a problem, rather than just repeating buzzwords that haven’t resulted in an actual improvement of play. Now, changes are on the table and there’s no one that isn’t aware of it.
Everyone is aware of that, but it’s not enough to get Shurmur to change his disposition. Shurmur has still claimed to be taking everything week by week, and that the Giants are on the right path. What leads Shurmur to believe that, exactly?
“I think I’m seeing the things that will help us in the long run. Certainly, we haven’t done enough in the short run. We’re all going to get to see now, all of these young players, and we added a few more out there today, we’re going to get to see them develop as we go forward,” the head coach said, when asked about that.
How did Shurmur reply, though, when questioned about what exactly will help the Giants in the long run?
“That’s not for here,” Shurmur replied, in an answer that continues the recent trend of the Giants organization to keep the public out of the loop, despite a number of results that warrant more accountability and explanation.
Players are starting to acknowledge that there might be changes, and if Shurmur doesn’t turn out to be correct very soon about the Giants being on the right path right now, he could quickly find himself losing the locker room in addition to the support of the press and the fans, which he’s arguably already lost.
“I just worry about what I can control. We all know this league is a business and winning is everything in this league. When you don’t win, everything starts to look different. I’m worried about going out there each and every week and putting the best football I can on tape, do whatever I can to help my team win,” said Jabrill Peppers.
There’s no mutiny, but it’s a far cry from the players coming out to defend their head coach. From the point of view of a fan, there really is nothing to do but trust the process, but with the way things are going, there’s no guarantee that Shurmur will be a part of that process as the season continues.
The Giants ownership showed with Ben McAdoo that they aren’t afraid to quickly fire a head coach if the results get bad enough. Will Shurmur’s results pass that threshold? We’ll just have to wait and see what happens during the bye week.