New York Giants players such as rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers and team captain Dexter Lawrence used the word “soft” to describe the club’s effort after Sunday’s embarrassing 30-7 home loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that dropped Big Blue to 2-9 on the season.
Head coach Brian Daboll spoke with reporters on Monday and addressed whether or not he’s lost the locker room amid rumors he could be shown the door this coming Friday if his club suffers a humiliating defeat at the 4-7 Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving.
“I feel good about our communication with the players, with the coaches,” Daboll said, as shared by Ryan Novozinsky of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. “Certainly not happy about the results, but I expect a lot from those guys and they should expect a lot from me. There’s a good communication process, but when you lose like that, it’s a frustrating thing.”
Lawrence was among the team leaders who publicly stated last week they weren’t thrilled with how Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen treated quarterback Daniel Jones coming off the club’s bye. The Giants benched Jones so they could keep him healthy and then release him this coming offseason, but the two sides decided to part ways ahead of the weekend.
With 2023 undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito serving as their starting quarterback, the Giants only scored against Tampa Bay after the visitors built a 30-0 lead across three quarters of play.
“When you lose a game like that, there’s frustration,” Daboll said. “Certainly, you’d like to keep it in house. But you understand. I’ve been doing this for a while. There’s conversations that you have to have if comments like that are made. I respect the opinions of the players and of the coaches. And we’ll work as hard as we can to get this fixed.”
Following Sunday’s contest, Nabers expressed frustration over a lack of targets throughout the game’s first half. According to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, Daboll revealed on Monday that he’s since spoken with the first-year pro about those comments.
“He’s a very competitive individual,” Daboll said. “Again, you want to get the ball in his hands and I’ve got to do a better job of getting the ball in his hands early. He’s a smart young guy that’s very competitive. When you lose like that, it’s a very frustrating thing, but we’ve good communication as we always have.”
As of late Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Giants as four-point underdogs against the Cowboys. It could be fascinating to see just how hard Daboll’s players compete at AT&T Stadium knowing his job could be on the line.
