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I hate this team

OMG

Giants unexpectedly fire offensive line coach Marc Colombo, replace him with Dave DeGuglielmo, per report The former Cowboys and Giants OL coach is now seeking a new job By Patrik Walker 14 mins ago2 min read Corey Perrine / Contributor Things haven't gone as planned for Joe Judge in his inaugural season as the New York Giants head coach, and one of his position coaches just paid the price for it, albeit with curious timing. The team hired Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator this offseason after his divorce from the Dallas Cowboys, and the move suctioned in former Cowboys offensive line coach Marc Colombo -- the latter having been let go due to Mike McCarthy's want of longtime friend Joe Philbin. After a slow start to the year by a mostly talentless offensive front, the Giants o-line showed signs of improvement over the last three games and that culminated in a win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 10. Three days later, Colombo has reportedly been fired by Judge, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, ending a very abbreviated 10-game stretch in New York. He will be replaced by longtime NFL assistant Dave DeGuglielmo, who has history with Judge from their time together with the New England Patriots. The move on Colombo is one that's being met with a level of surprise around the league, considering both the short stay and the fact it comes after improvement on the o-line, but the latter is being attributed to more involvement by Judge, per Mike Garofolo of NFL Network. Garafolo reported that Judge had been working more closely with the offensive line in recent weeks and it has coincided with the improvement from the Giants up front. If true, it would at least stand to reason Judge might feel he no longer requires the services of Colombo, and would instead prefer to remain keenly involved but, going forward, with someone he's much more comfortable with. There's another twist to the tale, however, with additional reports stating Judge wanted DeGuglielmo to work alongside Colombo, but the latter's reaction to the idea led to the split. In other words, Colombo allegedly felt it was an insult, and didn't take it well. That of course now shifts comfort away from Garrett -- at least while he acclimates to his new position coach -- having spent several seasons with Colombo in Dallas, which included promoting him from OL assistant coach in the wake of firing Paul Alexander midway through the 2018 season. Colombo landed a contract extension for the cleanup he did post-Alexander, but was jettisoned then for a familiar face to the incoming head coach, and has now again suffered that fate in short order. A former first-round pick of the Chicago Bears, Colombo played several seasons in the NFL -- including for the Cowboys -- before entering the coaching ranks as an assistant OL coach in Dallas in 2016. He remains one of the most respected position coaches in the NFL, and it's expected he'll land on his feet fairly quickly, even if it's not until the offseason when teams begin their mission to improve for 2021.

How many games are we gonna give away??

I think you're drunk

The Giants have done the unthinkable By Paul Schwartz November 3, 2020 | 10:56am There is no doubt the Giants are getting better, improving, showing many of the earmarks of a stable, well-coached team capable of finding ways to stay just close enough to lose in agonizing fashion. This is either progress, madness or an extreme form of torture to a fan base that is punch-drunk woozy going on four years now. Breaking down failure, when a franchise is 13-43 since the start of the 2017 season, is akin to collecting and categorizing the leaves falling from the trees on your property. They are everywhere, some more colorful, some barely distinguishable. They sit there for a while, piled up in bunches, scattered around randomly before getting raked up or blown away. For an operation that is now known for winning about once a month – this is as enjoyable as paying the rent – the Giants under Joe Judge are not lovable as they continue to be losers, by the strict definition of the term. Call a player a loser and brace for impact. Call a team losers and brace for impact. But when recent history states the collection of players and coaches win 23 percent of the time and lose the other 77 percent of the time, what other description can be applied? Judge’s outfit is the best damn 1-7 team out there. They played better for longer stretches Monday night than Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, which means plenty in the big picture and not much in the here and now. When Daniel Jones threw too slow and too inside for Dion Lewis on a two-point conversion try with 28 seconds remaining, the door was opened for a penalty flag thrown and then picked up, opening the door even wider to add some controversy into another setback. The 25-23 loss meant the Giants’ most recent three losses – to the Cowboys, Eagles and Bucs – were decided by a total of six points. Their last four games – the lone victory, against Washington, is in there – were decided by a total of seven points. In Week 2, the Giants had the ball in the closing minute with chance to beat the Bears in Chicago. There was a one-score loss to the Rams in Inglewood. It is not easy to beat Judge’s Giants but, for now, almost impossible to get beat by them. hey are playing, there is little reason to believe it will be that bad. On the flip side, given the way they manufacture losing into an inevitability, there are no assurances they leave the field any day or night with more points than the opponent. It is understandable Judge, for public consumption, is taking an overwhelmingly positive view of all this. He spoke passionately in his introductory press conference about the need for the team to reflect the New York/New Jersey area and, as these losses mount, he is either reminded or on his own brings up this connection. “We’re not asking for moral victories,” he said after loss No. 7. “We understand the people of New York deserve better, so we got to keep working to be better for them.” The Giants have reached midseason accomplishing something that defies logic – falling by the wayside in the NFC East, a division where no one should be left behind. Asked what he sees out of his team at this mid-point, Judge forged ahead. “A lot of improvement, I see a lot of improvement,” he said. “So, if you’re going to ask me, the first year, how I’d classify it, I see an improving team that is developing in the division going forward.” The cynic will say without winning, these signs of improvement are not much to feel good about. The Giants are young, and that is a positive, and in the final eight games one reveal looms more crucial than the rest: What if all this improvement is taking place while Jones, the quarterback, is not progressing with the rest of the group? More that came out of a closely contested “Monday Night Football” encounter with the Bucs: — The Giants were ahead of the Eagles 21-10 in the fourth quarter and lost in Week 7. The Giants where ahead of the Bucs 17-15 in the fourth quarter and lost in Week 8. Blowing leads is not a good thing to have on a defensive coordinator’s resume. This should not stick to Patrick Graham, though. He is doing an excellent job mixing and matching his players, shuffling packages on and off the field, getting pressure despite not having a dominating pass rusher, getting coverage despite a glaring deficiency at the No. 2 cornerback spot. “In my opinion, Pat Graham is one of the best defensive coordinators out there,” linebacker Blake Martinez said. “His ability to design a game and understand and adjust throughout the game has been amazing throughout the whole season.” Graham had Tom Brady confused in the first half, which is an accomplishment. ys — The Giants are succeeding at a difficult assignment: Mixing in young offensive linemen during the flow of the game. Rookie Matt Peart got 24 snaps (out of 74) at right tackle, replacing veteran Cam Fleming for a few series. This is valuable experience for Peart, the third-round pick from UConn. Another rookie, Shane Lemieux, made his NFL starting debut, replacing Will Hernandez (reserve/COVID-19 list) and played all 74 snaps. Along with Andrew Thomas at left tackle, the Giants at times had three rookie offensive linemen on the field. The last time the Giants had three rookie offensive linemen start at least one game in the same season was 2003 (David Diehl, Wayne Lucifer and Jeff Roehl). The best moment for the youngsters: Wayne Gallman’s 2-yard touchdown run, with Thomas and Lemieux plowing ahead to allow Gallman to ease his way into the end zone. — As for Gallman, is anyone else out there a bit frustrated and confused why he does not get the ball more often? With Devonta Freeman (ankle) out, Gallman started but was only on the field 43 percent of the offensive snaps. He ran the ball 12 times for 44 yards. Alfred Morris, the 31-year old veteran elevated off the practice squad, got eight rushing attempts and gained 28 yards. Sure, Gallman received more of the workload but perhaps not enough of it. — How is this for production? Rookie outside linebacker Carter Coughlin got on the field for four defensive snaps. He came away with his first NFL sack, always a big deal. Some deals are bigger than others. Coughlin got future Hall of Famer Brady to the ground. Brady is 43. Coughlin is 23. One to remember, for sure.

Giants let so much more than a win slip through their fingers By Mike Vaccaro October 23, 2020 | 1:50am Everything the Giants worked for, everything they’d bled for, and now an entire football game was distilled to the most basic element: a ball in the air. Catch the ball, and the Giants win the game. Catch the ball and they close out a thrilling victory, an improbable climb within sight of first place. Catch the ball and honor the buzz of the week: Why not us? Even Engram didn’t catch the ball. Daniel Jones had lofted a beautiful throw. Engram had a step on safety Will Parks. He extended his arms. Just as his feet crossed the 30-yard line the ball fell out of the sky, into his hands … and through his hands. Fourth down instead of first. Eagles ball following a punt, just before the two-minute warning, instead of Giants ball and victory formation. Why us? Instead of Why not us? The Eagles still had to drive 71 yards with just 122 seconds left. Engram’s drop didn’t lose the game. But there wasn’t a Giants fan anywhere, from Freehold to Freeport and all precincts in between who didn’t know what was coming, who didn’t feel this shattering, 22-21 loss in their bones before they saw it on the scoreboard. “No excuses from us,” Giants coach Joe Judge would say. So you can add Engram’s name to Joe Pisarcik’s, and to Matt Dodge’s to the roster of Giants who’ve helped perpetrate this on-again, off-again nightmare against the Eagles across the decades. It shouldn’t all fall on his shoulders. He wasn’t on the field when the Giants defense — so stout all night, so resilient all year — allowed two Eagles touchdowns in the final five minutes. He didn’t turn the ball over twice, as Jones did, the 11th time in his 20 career starts in which he’s had multiple turnovers. But that image, that sequence — ball in the air, ball in his hands, ball through his hands — will be the haunting snapshot of the week and maybe the season, if the Giants aren’t able to crawl back into position to play another meaningful game the rest of the year (though, this being the NFC East, you never know). “We got the look we wanted,” Engram would say, his words heavy with hurt, his eyes fixed in a thousand-yard stare of disbelief. “D.J. threw a great ball. I didn’t finish the play.” A pause. A sigh. Frustration. Pain. “One hundred percent, I’ve got to make that,” he said. A thousand percent, the Giants should have won this game. The Eagles kept trying to hand it to them. Philly led 10-7 at the half, and it could’ve been 24-7. The quarterback, Carson Wentz, made terrible decisions. The coach, Doug Pederson, made puzzling choices. The Giants hung around, then Jones broke off an 80-yard run that was equal parts comic relief (since he stumbled yards shy of the goal line) and game-changing gem, then added a 97-yard drive that put them up 21-10 with 6:17 left. It was there. It was right there, even when the Eagles answered with a quick TD. The Giants ran two running plays, got two first downs, and only needed a third to run out the clock. Engram didn’t finish his play, but the Eagles still needed to go those 71 yards to finish the miracle. They went the 71 yards. Wentz connected with Boston Scott for an 18-yard touchdown. The Giants still had life. A field goal would’ve written a proper final chapter. They never got the field goal. Jones fumbled. The Eagles recovered. Ballgame. Why not us to Why us in about 10 easy steps. “This is a tough one to swallow,” Giants linebacker Blake Martinez admitted. “It’s the same thing all over again. Lapses. One guy here. One guy there.” Tough one to swallow. Tough one to accept. The Giants were in as good a position as a 1-5 team could ever be. They had a meaningful football game on the last Thursday of October, long past the point where a 1-5 team should have anything remotely meaningful to play for. They scratch. They claw. They bleed. They play hard every week. They are 1-6. “We’re not going to ask you to be patient,” Judge said, his message intended for Giants fans. Judge grew up an Eagles fan on the other side of this rivalry. He knows what losing a game like this means. He knows what 0-for-their-past-8 against a bitter foe means. And knows those fans probably didn’t sleep much, visions of a ball slipping through fingertips littering dreams all over town. Why us, indeed.

The NFC East should do the right thing and just give up Andy Nesbitt 2 hrs ago %7B This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. The Eagles hosted the Giants in a Thursday Night Football game last night that was so bad it had people flipping over to the presidential debate. I mean yikes, right? These two teams entered the game with one win each and were just a game back in the NFC East – in a WEEK 7 GAME. And, well, this one lived up to the bad hype leading up to it. Sure, Philly won with a Carson Wentz TD pass in the final minute and with the win the Eagles moved to 2-4-1 and are now slightly ahead of the 2-4 Cowboys. But this entire game was more proof that the NFC East is just embarrassingly bad this year and that the four teams that make up the division should do the right thing and just give up this season. They can play the rest of the season and have some fun and let some players get some reps but they should give up their playoff spot to a team that actually deserves it, because these four teams deserve to be like us and watch the playoffs from their couches. Would that ever happen? No, of course not. These are professional athletes playing a professional sport and the “winner” of this division will go to the playoffs and be a quick exit. But they won’t likely deserve a spot in the playoffs, even if seven teams will make it in each conference this year. One play from Thursday night perfectly summed up the NFC East. Giants QB Daniel Jones broke off an 80-yard run and had a clear path to the end zone when he suddenly tripped over his own feet and fell short of the TD. The Giants then had a chance to ice the game late but tight end Evan Engram somehow dropped an easy pass that would have locked things up. The Eagles’ game-winning drive was ugly, too. First the Giants were called for defensive holding on a third down play that gave the Eagles first and goal from the 3 yard line. Then on the next play Eagles OL Jason Kelce ripped off a Giants defensive lineman’s helmet and was called for a 15-yard penalty. Yes, Wenz then fired a nice TD pass to win the game but this whole night was bad – the Eagles needed to rally late to beat the 1-5 Giants! The Eagles are banged up and will be at best mediocre the rest of the way. The Cowboys have a lot of issues and won’t be good the rest of the way. The Giants are not going to be good at all. And Washington is just as bad. The NFC East is dreadful this year and it’s going to cost a better team a shot at the playoffs, which isn’t great. Classic NFC East.

Giants roster turns into confusing, never-ending shuffle By Paul Schwartz October 6, 2020 | 6:32pm | Updated Who? Him? No, the other guy. No, not that other guy. That other guy. If you are confused, do not feel bad. You are not alone. Welcome to the New York Giants roster shuffle. There was always going to be more player movement than usual this season, given there is a new coaching regime. Joe Judge and his staff were going to sort through bodies until they came up with a group that fits the mold they want. There is plenty of truth to a head coach wanting “his players” and Judge is not there yet. Throw in injuries (they always happen) coronavirus opt-outs (unprecedented) and expanded practice squads (new this year), and the front door at the Giants practice and training facility might as well be replaced by a turnstile. In, out, out, in. Just look at what is going on at cornerback. The Giants opened the coffers in free agency to sign James Bradberry to solve one problem. At the other starting spot, the Giants figured they had DeAndre Baker (2019 first-round pick), Sam Beal (2018 third-round supplemental pick), Corey Ballentine (2019 sixth-round pick) and Darnay Holmes (2020 fourth-round pick). Not perfect, but enough young talent to perhaps make it work. Then it unraveled. Baker is facing a mountain of legal troubles and is gone. Beal opted out. Holmes is a rookie operating out of the slot and experiencing predictable ups and downs. There was a trade with the Broncos for Isaac Yiadom, a disappointment in his two years in Denver. Ryan Lewis, who played for Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham with the Dolphins, was signed. So was Madre Harper, off the Raiders practice squad. Ballentine got the first crack and failed. Yiadom got second crack and failed. Just like that, Lewis got 74 percent of the snaps on defense in the 17-9 loss to the Rams. Got it? “To me, the whole label on starter isn’t really the most critical thing,’’ Judge said. “It’s more about who’s finishing the game for us, and a lot of that ties into how we have to play that game due to the flow of it or how we have to adjust.’’ Lewis finished the game in Inglewood, Calif., and it stands to reason he will start the game Sunday against the Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. “He showed a lot of positive things in terms of how he played on outside routes,’’ Judge said. “Look, there are other situations where [Yiadom] is going to have a predominant role based on how we’re trying to match certain things up and really get him worked in.’’ Lewis is a name and number (37) to those outside the Giants sphere, until he shows he can last or is merely passing through. He intercepted DeShaun Watson in college (Pittsburgh vs. Clemson) and intercepted Baker Mayfield in the NFL (Dolphins vs. Browns). He is the cousin of ESPN analyst (and one-time Giants general manager candidate) Louis Riddick. Maybe the Giants have something in a 26-year-old who was not drafted and bounced around practice squads and on the fringe of rosters with eight NFL teams in the past three years. This means more of safety Adrian Colbert, suddenly a starter (although he left the Rams game with a neck injury). This means more of Tae Crowder, the last (255th) pick in the 2020 draft and thus designated as Mr. Irrelevant. Think about what has transpired at the inside linebacker spot alongside Blake Martinez. Promising Ryan Connelly, coming off knee surgery, was waived. David Mayo got hurt and is now eligible to come off injured reserve. Devonte Downs caught the eyes of the coaching staff, moved in as the starter and made little impact. He played four snaps on defense against the Rams; Crowder played 33. Rookie Matt Peart last Sunday got his feet wet at right tackle. Shane Lemieux in at guard later this season for Kevin Zeitler makes sense. Harper or Jarren Williams off the practice squad at corner? Why not? There are a load of rookie receivers waiting in the wings as well. “I think we have a lot of young guys right now on the roster who are at least starting to come around,’’ Judge said. “You can kind of see a difference in their eyes.’’ If the light going on leads to some winning, great. At the very least, the Giants need to find out who is in and who should be out.

Pissed off’ Giants facing serious problem with offense By Ryan Dunleavy September 28, 2020 | 8:15pm | Updated Double- and triple-check the math in disbelief, but it all adds up correctly. Pro Bowl running back plus three playmaking receivers plus recent first-round draft picks at quarterback, tight end and left tackle plus offensive line three years in the making equals … 12.7 points per game. It seemed three weeks ago like winning shootouts to compensate for an underwhelming defense was the surest path to success for the Giants. Now? Only the Jets (12.3) boast a lower-scoring offense. “I wouldn’t have believed you if you said we’re only going to score 12 points a game,” center Nick Gates admitted. Corrections must start with the run-blocking: The Giants are last in the league in rushing yards per carry (3.2) and per game (56.7). Production was poor with five quarters of the elusive back Saquon Barkley and it’s bottomed out since he suffered a season-ending torn ACL and left the job to Devonta Freeman, Wayne Gallman and Dion Lewis. “We just have to make holes,” Gates said. “Even when Saquon was in there, holes weren’t there. There’s still guys falling off blocks and still guys making plays. Even if Saquon was in there, who knows what would happen. As an offensive line, we have to sustain and finish.” Quarterback Daniel Jones has led the Giants in rushing in two of the first three games, but his read-option-keeper ability is now on tape and no longer a surprise. The Giants had a run-block win rate of 66 percent — No. 26 in the league, according to ESPN — through two weeks and it’s only sinking after a 36-9 loss to the 49ers. “I like the urgency they come to work with every day,” coach Joe Judge said of his line. “There are things we have to improve on, and we have to get moving fast on that.” It’s not that offensive line coach Marc Colombo forgot how to teach since leaving the All-Pro-stacked line of Travis Frederick, Tyron Smith and Zack Martin with the Cowboys. The Giants are not executing. “We’re pissed off,’ Gates said. “We want to be better. We don’t want to go out there and lose. We don’t want to go out there and not run the ball. We put a lot of effort and a lot of work into learning the defense. It is frustrating when you can’t run the ball and you can’t protect well.” Without Barkley to bail out a sputtering offense with his home run ability — an NFL-best 10 runs of 40-plus yards over the past two seasons — the Giants face a serious problem. If this is the best they muster on the ground, defenses will jam receivers at the line of scrimmage and send blitzers at Jones, leaving him susceptible to stunted growth. “We have to work to be a balanced team,” Judge said. “There are a lot of times right now we have to make sure the yin and the yang factor out for each other.” NFL Network film analyst Brian Baldinger highlighted a specific breakdown of the missing fundamentals. Left tackle Andrew Thomas and left guard Will Hernandez’s failure to get foot-to-foot and shoulder-to-shoulder to execute a double-team block on an inside-zone run led to Gallman’s no gain on the first snap against the 49ers. “When the Giants do this on a consistent basis,” Baldinger said on Twitter, “I don’t care if it’s Gallman or whoever they’ve got there, they will gain yards. That’s what it comes down to.” Could the Giants make personnel changes? Inserting rookies Shane Lemieux or Matt Peart isn’t likely to provide an immediate boost. Moving Gates to right tackle to play center Spencer Pulley at the expense of the struggling Cam Fleming would undo months of developmental time invested in Gates learning a new position. We spent the day reviewing the tape as a staff,” Judge said. “We’ll go through the rest of this week in terms of how guys are implementing the plan we put ahead for the Rams, and we’ll see who the best guys are to put on the field.”

Giants’ feeble roster can’t meet John Mara’s lowest expectations By Ryan Dunleavy September 28, 2020 | 8:31am | Updated Co-owner John Mara didn’t mandate a division title, a playoff berth or a .500 record when asked earlier this month how he would define improvement in 2020. He set forth loose criteria so there would be room to bend to patience. And yet “playing meaningful games in December” – Mara’s words – feels like an impossible standard to reach after a 36-9 loss to the 49ers turned the Giants’ seventh 0-2 start in the last eight years into just their third 0-3 start since 1996. It seems the Giants once again have faded into irrelevance before the Yankees’ season is over. “There’s no magic formula to this. There’s no magic wand,” coach Joe Judge said. “You don’t go out there and just solve every problem in a day. It’s a day-by-day process of putting things together.” Judge has a lot of days left three games into his tenure, but Sunday was Gettleman’s 1,004th day as general manager. The Giants are 9-26 in that span – only the Bengals have fewer wins – and are searching for answers in all-too-familiar positions: An offensive line recently declared “fixed” is playing a big part in the NFL’s worst rushing offense by an astounding margin of 26 yards per game. And special teamers forced into secondary roles is the same old story, whether it’s Antonio Hamilton in 2019 or Nate Ebner in 2020. It’s easy to make a team younger: Gettleman turned over a roster that included fading stars with big contracts such as Eli Manning, Olivier Vernon, Jason Pierre-Paul, Damon Harrison and Janoris Jenkins and boosted his draft resources to 26 draft picks (21 remain) along the way. It’s much more difficult to make a team better – and where are the Giants notably better than they were on Dec. 28, 2017 when the roster included Pro Bowlers Odell Beckham and Landon Collins? Especially if blue-chip draft picks Saquon Barkley (injury-prone) and Daniel Jones (turnover-prone) don’t shake their concerning labels. The Giants are 12-39 in their last 51 games – a league-worst record during a span that includes an 0-16 record for the Browns. It’s déjà Blue with new names. “We can’t come to work each and every day not feeling confident about ourselves and not coming in with a clear mind towards getting better,” tight end Evan Engram said. “There is no feeling sorry for ourselves.” Giants defense was exposed by a bunch of nobodies Alec Ogletree, Kareem Martin, Patrick Omameh, Jonathan Stewart, Antoine Bethea have come and gone as failed veteran answers. Blake Martinez and James Bradberry are paying early dividends, but the Giants’ talent gap was exposed by a 49ers team playing without eight starters. Injuries to Barkley, Sterling Shepard and Jabrill Peppers highlight a devastating lack of depth. Barkley (2018), wide receiver Golden Tate (2014) and Leonard Williams (2016) are the only offensive or defensive players with a Pro Bowl selection to their name. “We have players,” Judge said. “We have players in a position right now on our roster, on our team, that were on that field today that can help us win games.” What else can he say without pointing a finger? Mara said plenty before the season. “I want to feel like when we walk off the field after the last game that we play, whenever that is, that we’re moving in the right direction,” Mara said. “That we have the pieces in place to compete for a Super Bowl.” Forget playing in February. Forget December. Focus on October. More thoughts after the Giants’ loss to the 49ers 1. The Giants opened as a double-digit road underdog to the Rams in Week 4. So, the first win of the Judge Era will be …? Week 6 or Week 9 against Washington (1-2), which beat the Eagles and had a fourth-quarter lead against the Browns? Week 7 or Week 10 against the Eagles (0-2-1), who have won 11 of their last 12 meetings with the Giants? Week 12 against the Bengals (0-2-1), whose point differential is just negative eight? Nearly half of the first 300 fans respondents to a Twitter poll listing four options choose no wins until 2021, expressing the pessimism of a fan base fooled into believing it could steal a win against the decimated 49ers. 2. You might not find two less-contested touchdowns in Week 3 than those scored by Brandon Aiyuk on a 19-yard end-around and Justin Wilson on a 19-yard screen pass against the Giants. Three blockers escorted Aiyuk. Two had no one to hit until inside the 7-yard line because the misdirection worked so well. Wilson wasn’t touched until the goal line as the Giants couldn’t shake downfield blocks. The biggest Giants concerns to emerge from nightmarish day “When we see it [on film], it’s just going to be a small, little fundamental thing,” Blake Martinez said when asked for a common thread. “Whether it’s being able to tell when you beat a block too cleanly on a screen play, having the forced presence, whatever it ends up being.” 3. Read-option plays for Daniel Jones were common in training camp, disappeared during the first two game plans, returned with success against the 49ers and need to become a playbook fixture. Jones rushed for 23, 19 and 16 yards on keepers, though the shortest was erased by penalty. Still, Jones was the Giants’ leading rusher (49 yards) in the game and for the season (92). “There is a lot of stuff that you put in over the course of training camp that you like,” offensive coordinator Jason Garrett said during the week. “Maybe you don’t like certain things each week. Some of those ‘deceptives’ that you are referring to, when they fit into the plan, we’ll certainly use them going forward.” 4. It was the fourth game since 2014 that the Giants did not run an offensive play in the red zone and the second time with Jones at the helm. It also happened in a 35-14 loss to the Patriots last season. “Comes down to execution,” Engram said. “Comes down to winning our situations.” The Giants aren’t winning enough. Period.

This fucking team sucks ass. There's not enough vodka to stop my eyes from seeing this

I fucking hate this team

What he said

What the actual fuck

Lmao

Mother fucker

Ugh

True that. I just bought a firestick and bypassed all that shit

Saquon Barkley was historically bad for Giants By Ryan Dunleavy September 14, 2020 | 11:28pm | Updated Daniel Jones was scrambling for his life and lateraled the ball to Saquon Barkley to salvage something positive on a busted play. Barkley’s 5-yard rush off a designed pass was his second-longest carry of the first half. It didn’t get any better from there. Yes, it was that kind of historically bad night for the Giants rushing attack in a 26-16 season-opening loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. How bad? Barkley rushed for 6 yards on 15 attempts — the lowest numbers of their kind in the NFL this century, behind LaDainian Tomlinson’s 7 yards in 2005 and Rudi Johnson’s 9 in 2007. Since 1970, only five others have run for fewer than 10 yards on at least 15 carries. “Not really too concerned about the stats,” Barkley said. “Got to give credit where it’s due: They have a great defensive front. I have to be better for the team.” With three new starters, the Giants offensive line had the same problems creating lanes for Barkley that last year’s unit did for a bulk of the season. As a result, the pass protection — which started off surprisingly effective against the fierce rush of T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree — weakened as the game progressed and the Steelers defense realized it was facing a one-dimensional offense. Barkley’s first nine carries went for a total of negative-3 yards and Dion Lewis (1 yard on one carry) and Jones (negative-1 yard on one carry) couldn’t save the Giants from finishing a first half in the red on the ground for the first time since Dec. 1, 2002, against the Titans. It took Barkley until his 14th carry — with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter — to break into positive yardage. He lowered his shoulder on a 7-yard run to get to the 4-yard line, but Jones threw an interception in the end zone on the next play to kill a 19-play, 87-yard drive that ate nearly nine minutes of clock. “We’re going to stay aggressive with the run game,” coach Joe Judge said. “Saquon is going to be a difference-maker in how good this team is going to be, and we’re going to stay with him. It’s not something we are going to shy away from. We have to improve on the run game.” It was reminiscent of when Barkley was held to 1 yard on 13 carries by the Jets. He was unselfishly playing through a high ankle sprain then. This time? Just a one-sided battle in the trenches, and television cameras caught the frustrations on Barkley’s face on the sideline. “I guess I probably showed emotion on my face,” Barkley said. “I’m human.” The Giants trailed by two scores within 41 seconds of the fourth and ran four offensive plays in the first 10 minutes of the quarter, so Jones was forced to go to the air more frequently. Barkley finished with six catches for 61 yards and Jones rushed for 22 yards.

DeAndre Baker charges a mess for Giants and Dave Gettleman By Steve Serby May 14, 2020 | 11:20pm You can make it out of a mean, unforgiving place rife with gun violence, such as the Liberty City section of Miami, and make something of yourself, because we have seen Teddy Bridgewater do it and we have seen Amari Cooper do it. For a while, we saw Antonio Brown do it. And until Thursday night, we saw DeAndre Baker do it. Then we were harshly reminded, and the Giants and Dave Gettleman and Joe Judge were harshly reminded, that some of them cannot escape whatever demons they dreamed they could leave behind. If the allegations are true, DeAndre Baker has revealed himself as a thug, who, at the mercy of the judicial system, may very well have shot his NFL career to hell and shot Gettleman’s scouting acumen and visions of a championship culture to hell along with it. The kid Gettleman traded up into the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft to be his lockdown corner now is in grave jeopardy of being destined to be his locked-up corner. How, with all the investigation into the backgrounds of these college prospects, were there no red flags on DeAndre Baker? And Gettleman thought Odell Beckham Jr. and Janoris Jenkins were problem children? The Miramar PD arrest warrant Thursday night for Baker — four counts of armed robbery with a firearm and four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm — is a black eye for Gettleman and the Giants and a debilitating blow to his rebuilding plan. So much for free-agent signing CB James Bradberry mentoring Baker. Sam Beal, anyone? Somebody get Logan Ryan on the phone pronto before Jets GM Joe Douglas does. And the disturbing details that have emerged — Baker and Seahawks pal Quinton Dunbar allegedly stealing $12,400 in cash and four watches valued at $61,100, according to the police report, while armed with semi-automatic weapons after allegedly losing 70G at a card game gone awry at a party two nights earlier, with one report alleging Baker instructed a different accomplice in a red mask to shoot someone, though thankfully he did not — put Gettleman back on the hot seat following John Mara’s edict that he improve his batting average in his third season on the job. Making Baker the first cornerback selected in that draft — zero interceptions as a rookie — is equivalent to Gettleman never even taking the bat off his shoulder and taking a called strike three in the bottom of the ninth with the tying run on third. Gettleman surrendered picks No. 37, 132 and 142 to make Baker the 30th pick of a draft that also delivered Daniel Jones and Dexter Lawrence. “The last guy we traded up for we feel is the best cover corner in the draft, the kid from Georgia, DeAndre Baker,” Gettleman said at the time. “We feel like we got three guys that are going to impact this franchise for a long time.” Wrong. It turns out there were indeed warning signs about Baker’s maturity that Gettleman and the Giants missed. Draft analyst Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network reported on several prior to the 2019 scouting combine. “Sources were telling me he was not taking combine training seriously,” Pauline told The Post. “He was kind of an entitled type of kid, he expected things to come very easy to him, he didn’t look good in drills. And then if you go back, and you look at his 2019 combine, he was a huge disappointment. Giants’ DeAndre Baker, Seahawks’ Quinton Dunbar charged with armed robbery “This year when I was at the Senior Bowl practices, the last day of practice, I was talking to some of the Giant people, they didn’t tell me he was a bad guy or anything, they said he’s dumb as dirt. He struggled taking instruction in coaching, he basically likes to do it his own way.” Baker was dressed down by teammates during his rookie season for his laissez-faire preparation. Pauline had Baker as his sixth-best corner. “I would have never taken that guy in the first round. Never,” Pauline said. Baker was coached at Northwestern High in Miami by Eddie Brown … Antonio Brown’s father. Baker after the draft described himself this way: “A guy whose teammates can always count on me to be there on Sundays and every other day of the week.” Now? NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will be the first judge and jury. After that, who knows? Innocent until proven guilty, yes, of course. But this isn’t the kind of behavior that Joe Judge will tolerate. Or any head coach. Or any franchise should. DeAndre Baker should only hope and pray that his next teammates are not inmates.

2020 NFL Draft Round 1 winners and losers: Dolphins land the right QB, Packers shock the world and more Bryan DeArdo Fans anticipated a highly-entertaining first round heading into the opening night of the 2020 NFL Draft. Those fans were not disappointed, as several teams made daring moves in order to help improve their rosters heading into the upcoming season. As expected, there were several teams that had highly successful nights, while a few teams did not do themselves any favors by making questionable picks on Thursday. With Day 1 of the 2020 NFL Draft in the books, let's take a look at the big winners and losers from Thursday night. Winner: Dolphins With speculation Miami had been eyeing Tua Tagovailoa for an entire year, not having to trade up to get their new franchise quarterback served as the first surprise of the night. While his health will certainly be an ongoing concern (until it isn't), Tagovailoa is the type of difference-maker you need to have at quarterback to compete for titles. At No. 18, the Dolphins were able to secure Austin Jackson, a promising tackle who Miami clearly believes will realize his potential sooner rather than later. Just as important as landing a franchise quarterback is protecting the new face of the franchise, so Miami had to leave Round 1 with a plan to shore up their protection up front. After trading back to No. 30 (and picking up the Packers' fourth-round pick), Miami bolstered their secondary by taking Noah Igbinoghene, who was in the mix to be the third-best cornerback in the draft. With newly-signed Byron Jones, Xavien Howard and Igbinoghene, Miami now boasts one of the most talented cornerback trios in the NFL, which bodes well for a team that likes to play man coverage. The pick may have looked questionable on paper considering the investment in Jones, but Dolphins coach Brian Flores sure found out in New England how successful a team can be with an excellent cornerback depth chart. Video by NFL Loser: Packers Jordan Love may end up being a quality NFL quarterback, but with Aaron Rodgers still just 36 and coming off an NFC title game appearance, the Packers would have been better served using this pick to pick to select either linebacker Patrick Queen or receiver Denzel Mims. Instead, Green Bay takes a player that won't be in their immediate plans, assuming Rodgers stays healthy in 2020. And they paid an extra fourth-round pick to move up for the privilege to move up. While fourth-round picks rarely make an immediate impact, that's another potential player who could have helped the Packers in 2020 that won't get the chance. Winner: Cowboys While they had other needs, particularly at cornerback and on the defensive line, the Cowboys weren't going to pass on the chance at taking receiver CeeDee Lamb with the 17th overall pick. In Lamb, the Cowboys are getting a prolific college receiver who can replace Randall Cobb in the slot and give the offense one of the best wide receiver trios in the league. Dallas' offense, already loaded with Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott, and Amari Cooper, should be one of the league's most explosive units in 2020. Maybe it won't matter how the defense plays if the Cowboys can score at will. Dallas now has to go find solid players to strengthen their defensive unit on Friday and Saturday. Loser: Saints Cesar Ruiz is certainly a good prospect, but the Saints desperately need a playmaker at inside linebacker, and LSU's Patrick Queen was available when New Orleans was on the board with the 24th pick. If Ruiz turns into a lineup mainstay for the team over the next decade, it won't matter, but he wasn't the most logical fit for a team looking to win a Super Bowl title this year. The Saints will now have to wait until the 88th pick to find a linebacker if they don't engineer a trade up -- and it's important to note that they started draft weekend tied for the fewest number of draft picks in their possession. Oregon's Troy Dye, Mississippi State's Willie Gay Jr., and Ohio State's Malik Harrison may be available at that point in the draft, but Sean Payton will have to keep his fingers crossed for a long part of Friday in hopes of landing one. Winner: 49ers The defending NFC champions pulled off an impressive first round, selecting defensive lineman Javon Kinlaw -- the second-ranked defensive line prospect in the draft -- after trading back one spot and picking up a fourth-round pick. Getting a fourth-rounder for free and selecting the player you would have taken anyway is always a fine move, and Kinlaw gives the team a quality player to step into the DeForest Buckner-sized hole in the middle of their defense. The 49ers then used that pick as part of a trade with the Vikings, moving up six spots to select receiver Brandon Aiyuk. While the team had indicated they could trade down from both their first-round picks, the 49ers probably didn't believe the Arizona State receiver would still be on the board late in the first round, considering he had been linked to the Eagles at No. 21. For a team in win-now mode, landing difference-makers on both sides of the ball has to be seen as a success for a day's work. Loser: Giants Andrew Thomas is one of the top-rated offensive tackles in this class, and the Giants did need an upgrade at that position heading into the draft. So the pick makes sense, right? Not so fast. By taking Thomas, New York passed on the chance at selecting Isaiah Simmons, the fastest linebacker in the draft and a player that would have fit perfectly into new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham's scheme. It will be interesting to see if Simmons blossoms in Arizona, the team that ultimately selected him with the eighth pick. Winner: Raiders The Raiders stayed true to their brand by selecting receiver Henry Ruggs III, the fastest player in the NFL Draft. The addition of Ruggs should significantly improve a Raiders offense that already includes Josh Jacobs, Tyrell Williams, Hunter Renfrow, Trent Brown, Rodney Hudson, Darren Waller, and Derek Carr. Las Vegas then acquired Damon Arnette, a talented cornerback whose draft stock continued to climb in the days leading up to the draft. Arnette, despite playing with a broken wrist last season, earned All-Big-10 honors during his senior season. He also did not allow more than one touchdown in each of his four seasons with the Buckeyes, according to the Raiders' team website. While many saw the selection as a reach at No. 19, the reality is that he would have been long gone by the team's next selection in the third round, so if they couldn't find a worthwhile trade to move down, the play is to take the guy you like rather than listen to the masses. Loser: Seahawks Linebacker wasn't considered a major need for the Seahawks heading into draft weekend, but even if they really wanted to add to the position, the one they chose with the 27th pick -- Texas Tech's Jordyn Brooks -- is a head-scratcher. Instead of taking LSU's Patrick Queen (the highest-ranked inside linebacker in the draft), the Seahawks instead went with Brooks, the 11th best linebacker and the 139th-best prospect in CBS Sports' pre-draft rankings, though to be fair buzz had built for Brooks as a possible Round 1 pick over the last week. While he was a solid tackler during his time at Texas Tech, Brooks leaves something to be desire as it relates to pass defense. His size (6-foot-4, 240 pounds) and speed (his recorded time in the 40-yard-dash is 4.54 seconds) would suggest that he fits best as a weak side linebacker, a position that is currently occupied by K.J. Wright. That being said, Wright, 31, is entering the final year of his contract, which helps somewhat justify the Seahawks' decision to take Brooks with this pick. Winner: Vikings While many people expected the Vikings to take a receiver and a cornerback with their two first-round picks, not many people predicted how Minnesota would be able to fill these spots on Thursday night. With the 22nd pick, the Vikings fell into selecting former LSU receiver Justin Jefferson, an extremely prolific college receiver who caught 111 passes for 1,540 yards and 18 touchdowns during his final season in Baton Rouge. The acquisition of Jefferson should help replace the loss of Stefon Diggs, who was traded to Buffalo earlier this offseason, and it comes after many people projected the talented receiver to be gone in the teens, and certainly after the Eagles had made their pick at No. 21. Minnesota was then able trade their 25th pick to the 49ers in exchange for the 31st, 117th and 176th picks. With the 31st pick, the Vikings were able to select TCU's Jeff Gladney, the sixth-best cornerback in CBS Sports' prospect rankings. A first-team All-Big 12 selection last season, Gladney paced the conference with 14 pass breakups in 2019. He would have been a fine fit for the Vikings at No. 25, so to get him plus two extra picks is a coup. Minnesota will likely use at least one of the extra picks they acquired on Thursday night to further address their secondary, a unit that lost Xavier Rhodes, Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander during free agency.

Giants re-sign upstart linebacker David Mayo By Ryan Dunleavy March 14, 2020 | 12:41am Not many members of the 2019 Giants outperformed expectations. One of the few re-signed Friday, just three days before NFL free agency opens. Inside linebacker David Mayo is back, The Post confirmed, after he made 82 tackles in 16 games (13 starts) and became one of the team’s highest-rated defensive players by Pro Football Focus. He totaled 61 tackles in 59 games (four starts) during four previous seasons with the Panthers. Mayo signed with the 49ers last offseason but was released just before the regular season began and earned his stripes with the Giants on special teams. The Giants still are expected to prioritize inside linebacker in free agency and the NFL Draft, after cutting starter Alec Ogletree to save $8.25 million against the salary cap. Mayo signed a three-year deal, according to The Athletic.