The New York Giants are 2-11 season after another winnable game slipped through their hands on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Their 14-11 defeat at the hands of the equally inept New Orleans Saints (and themselves) left head coach Brian Daboll devoid of any real answers or solutions.
His team had 10 points taken off the scoreboard due to penalties and another three points denied on a blocked field goal in the last minute. Daboll appeared as a defeated man after the game as he came out to meet the media.
“Disappointing game,” Daboll said. “Came down there to the end with the blocked field goal. Jumped over the guard, got the penalty. The other field goal that took three points away. And punt return called back. Had too many penalties, obviously.
“Disappointing, disappointing outcome. Thought the guys that played – a lot of the young guys – did some good stuff. They battled. It’s a disappointing outcome of the game. It’s a tough one.”
The fans have picked up on the vibe. Eight straight losses will do that. They decided to largely stay away from Sunday’s game which was illustrated by the blocks of empty seats throughout the stadium.
Daboll was asked if he saw the small plane that flew over the stadium before the game that pulled a banner saying, “Mr. Mara, enough. Please fix this dumpster fire.”
“No,” he said, although few believed him. “I’d say look, we’ve won two games. So, I’m not happy either.”
2-11 is not where this team expected to be after 14 weeks. This was supposed to be like 2022 when the Giants went 9-7-1, clinched a postseason berth, and even won a playoff game.
Instead, it’s more like 1978 when a frustrated fan first flew a banner over the stadium imploring ownership to make changes (“15 years of lousy football — We’ve had enough”).
Back then the Giants were a divided house. Wellington Mara, John’s father, owned half the team while his nephew, Tim, owned the other half. They had very different ideas on how the team should be run. As a result, they floundered in the wilderness and went without a playoff appearance from 1964-1980.
In 1979, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle had had enough of the embarrassment, too. He stepped in to assist one of the league’s flagship franchises get back on its feet. He suggested ownership step back and allow an outsider, George Young, to come in and rearrange and modernize the organization. You know the rest.
This time around, ownership will be less inclined to concede that they are a failure. They have constantly been making changes since dismissing Tom Coughlin as head coach in 2016 and are still searching to fill that leadership void.
Is it fair to Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen to blow this whole thing up again? It doesn’t seem fair but this is a business and the changes have to start at the top and roll downhill.
Schoen has had some hits and some misses as most general managers do. Daboll initially brought life back into the organization but now has had that life pretty much snuffed out of him.
Again, he had little to offer fans when it came to reasons for the losing and any light at the end of the tunnel.
“Just disappointed after this game,” he said. “I thought they battled their tails off. I was proud of the way they competed. And we came up short, and it’s tough. You put everything into it, and you lose a game there at the end. There’s plenty of plays that could’ve made a difference. But we came up short.”