New faces on ailing Blue ‘D’

OAKLAND, Calif. — It never is a good thing when the defensive coordinator in Week 13 of the season says: “I thought I was in rookie mini-camp, you know, with learning the names. That’s normally when we have a sheet of paper with everybody’s face on it, but we got to work through that.’’

Yes, Steve Spagnuolo and the Giants have to work through this. This week, the Giants signed five new defensive players. In the month of November, they signed a total of eight players for their injury-ravaged defense. Guys are coming in off the streets to put on a Giants uniform.

“You generally don’t see that many new faces like that,’’ cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said. “The season is long and there are guys coming in, but they’re coming in from everywhere so all you can do is just worry about yourself at this point, man, as far as just going out there and trying to finish.’’

Rodgers-Cromartie said he introduced himself to every one of the newcomers, and it was suggested to him he put on a wristband with the names of the new players to limit the confusion.

“No, no, no, that’ll change every week, too, so it don’t matter, man,’’ he said. “It’s been a tough one.’’

The Giants catch a break as the Raiders will be without their top two wide receivers. Michael Crabtree (42-502, six TDs) is sitting out a one-game suspension for fighting last week with Denver’s Aqib Talib, and Amari Cooper (42-499, five TDs) is in the concussion protocol.

TE Evan Engram nearly has as many dropped passes (three) the past two weeks as receptions (four), and he is struggling down the stretch of his first NFL season. Has he hit a rookie wall?

“I believe he needs to catch the damn ball,” Ben McAdoo said. “And I believe he will catch the ball.”