Giants locked in battle to keep their positivity as predictable losses pile up

Hey, did you see what the Saints did to the Cowboys? Smacked them around, in Dallas. Scored 44 points. Did not see that coming. 

Check out the Vikings. They upset the 49ers and are now 2-0 with Sam Darnold at quarterback. Didn’t figure that would be the case.

Take a look at the AFC North. How can it be that the Ravens and Bengals are both 0-2? The Ravens lost, in Baltimore, to the Raiders? Weren’t the Raiders supposed to be lousy? 

There are these sorts of conversations and wonderments and factoids of disbelief practically every week in the NFL, which might as well stand for No Football Logic. There are games and scores and results that come across the television or our phones every weekend — or on Thursday or Monday nights — where you do a double take and say or think to yourself: Really? 

And then there are the Giants. 

The season is in its early stages and the Giants are doing what is expected of them. If you were out all day or purposely staying off social media or refraining from news sites and then you just could not resist and asked your buddy, “Tell me, what did the Giants do today?” and you got the response, “They scored three touchdowns and they did not give up a touchdown but, yeah, they lost,” your reaction would have been … what? 

It would not have been, “Can’t believe it.” If you have been keeping up with all this and paying attention, your retort might be, “OK, tell me how. Give me the sordid details.” And then you would have been regaled on the kicking hijinks and the absence of anyone trusted to attempt extra points and field goals and the imperfect 7-for-7 defensive-series-to-field-goals-allowed ratio that wove together to produce Commanders 21, Giants 18. 

You would have been disappointed or uninspired or plain old disgusted. But you would not have been shocked. 

There is a danger here. What is felt on the outside cannot infiltrate inside to the locker room. What is coursing through the veins of paying customers cannot flow into the bloodstream of the players and coaches. 

Back in 1996, when the Yankees were on the cusp of their dynasty, second baseman Mariano Duncan used to ask shortstop Derek Jeter, “We play today?” Jeter would come back with, “We win today,” and Duncan would put a bow on this simple declaration of a confident state of mind by saying, “Dassit.” 

What the heck would that back-and-forth be like with the Giants nowadays? Dexter Lawrence: “We play today?” Daniel Jones: “Yeah, let’s stick to the fundamentals and the game plan and our practice habits and hope for the best.” 

The Giants have never been 0-2 under Brian Daboll, until now. Thus, the added peril. Daboll embarked on his head coaching career in 2022 by going 2-0 with a pair of one-score victories that brought to mind, body and spirit that perhaps this indeed was the dawn of a new age, where things went more right than wrong for the Giants. In 2023, they were 1-1 after two games because of a rousing Week 2 comeback in Arizona. So, this represents a low-water mark, as far as tenuous early-season vibes for Daboll and the Giants. 

“I’ve been part of some 0-2 teams that ended up pretty well,” Daboll said. “I know they have here. So again, what really happened 10 years ago or last year, like I’ve always said, really has no bearing on anything this season.” 

Daboll was an assistant with the Patriots in 2001 when they started 0-2 and won the Super Bowl. The Giants in 2007 were 0-2 and went on to win the Super Bowl. It is very likely Daboll is not bringing any of that fairly ancient history up to his players. 

Quality teams glance ahead at the schedule to hunt victories. So too do teams like the Giants, in reverse. The inclination is to go week-to-week and try to figure out when the next win is available for consumption. Browns this week, on the road? Cowboys coming off a short week on Thursday Night Football? At Seattle? When it is a team that finds ways to lose, finding pathways to victory is not as simple as turning on the navigation device and following directions. 

The Giants were better the second time out of the gate. Jones, the running game, the offensive line. The pass rush was not where it needed to be, but better from the no-show opener. Malik Nabers looks like a star. But losing gets to everyone, one way or another. 

“It’s really easy when things aren’t going well to finger-point,” left tackle Andrew Thomas said. 

“We’re pointing the thumb, not the finger,” linebacker Bobby Okereke said, meaning players are looking at what they can improve individually. 

Edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux was better in Week 2 than he was in Week 1, but the end result was the same. He did not have much to offer afterwards. A few generic answers, and then this: “I’m just trying to stay positive.” 

Unless the Giants start flipping their same old script, that is going to get exceedingly more difficult to do.