Troubled Giants will try to snap skid in Tampa
TAMPA, Fla. — No season advances as quickly as the NFL, where the games come week by week and a team that opens up after Labor Day can be on fumes by Columbus Day, glumly looking ahead on a lost year by Halloween and irrelevant long before Thanksgiving.
The Giants did not make it out of September. They have crammed so much losing and angst into a three-week span. Baseball teams have yet to set their postseason pitching rotations as the Giants drone on about getting that first victory.
“If somebody would have told me in the offseason we’re gonna start out 0-3, I would have said ‘Yeah, right,’ ” linebacker Devon Kennard told The Post. “It’s definitely a sense of surprise. We’ve got to take ownership. It’s our fault and got to make sure we fix it.’’
There might not be a fix, if history is a guide: Teams starting 0-3 rarely finish with a playoff appearance (five of 168 teams did it since 1980, 2.9 percent). The season is in danger of closing down prematurely, but it is open season on the Giants. They cannot run the ball worth a darn, all of a sudden their run defense is shabby and even when they score touchdowns, they cannot celebrate without breaking the rules of the NFL and good taste (thanks, Odell Beckham Jr.).
At 0-2, the Giants stood up and said no more, and the result was a 27-24 loss in Philadelphia after blowing not one, but two, fourth-quarter leads. Is there any way to predict what will transpire Sunday afternoon against the Buccaneers (1-1) at Raymond James Stadium, other than heat (88 degrees) and humidity (60 percent chance of thunderstorms)?
Coach Ben McAdoo said the Giants have “our noise blockers on” to muffle the harsh and deserved scorn directed at his team. The Bucs have a strong-armed quarterback (Jameis Winston) who will make big plays for his team throwing to Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson and, possibly, give up big plays to the Giants, who have yet to intercept a pass this season.
The Bucs have a rugged defense — though they will play without their top two linebackers — and will present problems to a Giants offensive line that is always on the verge of breaking down.
McAdoo says his team “needs to quit learning the same lessons over and over again.’’ At some point, the Giants have to learn from their mistakes, don’t they? If not, they are simply a bad team with a bad record.
“Absolutely not,’’ Kennard said. “I definitely think we have the talent on this team to turn things around. That’s what we need to do, starting this week. We got a lot to prove and we got to get our first win. Our backs are against the wall and I think we’re gonna come out swinging.’’