Second Thoughts About Giants 2-0 Start

BY LESLIE MONTEIRO

(Photo credit: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

Trying to make sense of the Giants’ 2-0 start while wondering if it’s sustainable:

• The Giants won both games in spite of Daniel Jones. Yes, he is 2-0, so that should count for something because it’s hard to win games in the NFL as a quarterback. He has not done anything to lose games, but he hasn’t exactly done anything to win, either. If Giants coach Brian Daboll is punting or letting Graham Gano kick rather than letting his quarterback go for a first down, how can anyone take Jones seriously as a quarterback that is going to lead the Giants to the promised land?
• The Giants are 2-0 because of Brian Daboll’s coaching. It hasn’t been pretty, but a mark of good coaching is finding a way to win ugly. They have been prepared, organized, disciplined and inspired. They have played smart football by not taking penalties that would have them lose games. He has gotten the players’ attention. He has had them paying attention to detail, and it shows by how the Giants pounced on other team’s mistakes. There has to be something to say about his coaching. This is why no one can take the Giants lightly. They have taken on his identity as a smart, hard-working team.
• When do we admit Saquon Barkley is a bust? He ran for 72 yards on 21 carries. This is certainly not worthy of being a first-round pick, let alone a second-round pick. It was stupid back then to draft a running back as a top 3 pick, and it’s even stupid now. This is why failed Giants general manager Dave Gettleman is out of a job and why he left the Giants in disgrace. Yes, the quarterbacks in the draft were really nothing to write home, but drafting a running back as a high pick is not something a franchise would do in a era where the running game is nonexistent. There’s no way the Giants should pick up his option next year. Let him go as a free agent rather than double down on signing him just to show Gettleman got it right.
• I sometimes wonder if most of the Giants players are playing for themselves in a sense they are auditioning for other teams next year. No one can blame them because they are not Giants general manager Joe Schoen’s players. He plans on weeding them out and get his own guys in. Look at the release of Blake Martinez and Davis Webb. Darius Slayton and Leonard Williams almost got cut but they took less money just to hang on. I will be shocked a year or two now that this is going to be the same roster.
• Baker Mayfield is not an NFL quarterback. He does not have the arm and height to be like one. He can’t throw or inspire. Watching him play against the Minnesota Vikings in the Panthers’ 14-7 victory last season, he was so bad that he begged the Vikings to beat them. He couldn’t generate anything much offensively in that game. It’s similar to what happened Sunday against the Giants, which is why the Giants won this game. This is why the Panthers lost this game more than the Giants won this game.
• The Giants targeted Panthers head coach Matt Rhule to be their head coach after they fired Pat Shurmur. Rhule decided to take the job at Carolina and the Giants settled for Joe Judge, who lasted only two years with a forgettable 10-23 record. It’s not like Rhule has been any better. He’s 10-25 in his three years as Panthers head coach, and he could be a candidate to be fired soone rather than later if things don’t turn around soon. At this point, he should be looking for head coaching job in college because he does not have the quarterback that can save his NFL coaching career.
• My guess is Ben McAdoo won’t be an offensive coordinator for an NFL team again after he flames out with the Panthers this season. He will likely be gone along with Rhule. Oh, and you can say good-bye to his head coaching chances ever. Too bad because McAdoo can coach as we saw in his first season as the Giants head coach. He led them to the playoffs with a 11-5 record. Unfortunately for him, Eli Manning was washed and Odell Beckham Jr. behaved like a 10-year-old rather than an adult.
• Don “Wink” Martindale could be another great defensive coordinator, but he sure sounds like a self-promoting blowhard, doesn’t he?
• Giants fans can talk about their team as the team to beat in the NFC East, but the team to beat in the division is the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles boast a dynamic offense and an underrated defense. They have a good young head coach in Nick Sirianni, who did a great job rallying the Eagles to a playoff appearance as a wild-card team after a 3-6 start. Most importantly, they have a quarterback who can throw in Jalen Hurts, who continues to get better each year.
• Don’t be surprised if the Giants lose to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night. The Cowboys are more talented than the Giants, and Cooper Rush is a better quarterback than Jones.
• I will say it again. If Gano is the Giants best player, how good the Giants are really?
• This 2-0 start is not sustainable. By Halloween, we will be talking about where the Giants will draft.
• I wonder if Gettleman watched the game on Sunday at Cape Cod. He was also the Panthers general manager before he damaged the Giants. He ran both franchises to the ground to the point they have yet to recover.
• If we are reading the tea leaves here, Daboll does not think much of Kadarius Toney’s and Kenny Golladay’s playmaking ability for him not to play them much. It’s hard to argue there.
• Let’s hope one day we expect the Giants be 2-0 every year instead of celebrating it as it if’s a big accomplishment.

This writer can be reached on Twitter at: @LeslieMonteiro6