New York Giants: Will Hernandez calls out team for poor week 1 performance

New York Giants, Will Hernandez

The New York Giants schedule doesn’t get any easier in week two against the Chicago Bears, as they face off against Khalil Mack on the defensive front and wide receiver Allen Robinson on offense. The Giants have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL, with elite defenses and individual players stacking up against them.

In week one against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Giants endured their fair share of struggles. Including a losing battle against Pittsburgh’s defensive line, the offensive line was thrashed consistently. Their run blocking was virtually nonexistent, and their pass-pro allowed 26 total pressures on Daniel Jones. Jones lead the NFL in pressures in week one, indicating an extremely poor performance from his protection. Success on offense starts up front, and while the Giants do have the talent to have a competitive unit, they didn’t show it in their first week together.

Third-year guard Will Hernandez had a tough time in the trenches against some of the best interior defenders in the NFL. He understands that their performances were unacceptable, and improvement is a necessity against Chicago.

“Anybody who put that on tape deserves to be called out,” Hernandez said, per Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. “We definitely learned from it. We had an attitude of, we’re going to practice hard, and we’re going to show it the next opportunity we get.”

When asked about their preparation for Chicago and the challenge ahead, Hernandez stated:

“Bring it on.”

“Give us the best,” Hernandez said. “We want to be challenged. We didn’t come out here to pick and choose our teams. We want to play the best guys, go out there, match up and kill it as an offensive line all together. We’re not ducking anybody. We’re not watching who we’re playing this week and not next week.”

The New York Giants are prepared:

There’s one thing we can rule out about Hernandez and his teammates; they don’t lack confidence. New head coach Joe Judge wants to face off against the best because that is ultimately how you become the best.

Attacking their opponents head-on and “punching them in the nose for 60 minutes” is the recipe to success, but as a new unit with 13 new starters across both sides of the ball, it was always going to be a tumultuous start for Big Blue. Hopefully, they can see drastic improvements against the Bears.