Next step: Get another win
THE COACH still is finding his way.
Pat Shumur’s Giants are 1-5, and the perception outside of their locker room is that the sky is falling and his first season as their head coach already is unfixable.
He knows these things because he’d have to be living in a dark cave somewhere far away not to.
His veteran quarterback has been attacked from many more places than simply opposing defenses; his star receiver has rattled the team-first foundation with bizarre, self-serving rants; his rebuilt offensive line can’t block; and his high-priced defense has vastly underperformed.
Other than that, Shurmur’s first season with the Giants, who play at 2-4 Atlanta on Monday night, has been smooth and uneventful.
When it was suggested to Shurmur on Thursday that maybe his team just needs one win to ignite something positive to this season, he said, “We’ve got one.’’
“But,’’ he continued, “to get the next one and the next one and the next one … that’s the goal. Listen, teams fight through adversity and it’s in the Giants’ DNA to pull this thing out. I’ve seen it, I’ve studied the history of it and I like the locker room that we’ve assembled. I’m impressed with the guys we have in the locker room, and I know they’re going to fight.’’
Whether these were words of conviction from something he really sees in his players or whether they were words of hope from a man whistling past a graveyard is difficult to truly measure. The reality is they were probably a little of both.
Much like his flatlining 37-yearold quarterback, Eli Manning, Shurmur owns a very evenkeeled personality.
The one exception came after Odell Beckham Jr.’s ESPN interview while sitting next to rapper Lil Wayne, during which Beckham threw Manning and the coaching staff under the bus. It was not for public consumption, but Beckham’s lack-of-self-awareness moment elicited some necessary behind-closed-doors fire from Shurmur, who fined him and demanded that he address his teammates.
Asked on Thursday if he needs to show more emotion in front of his players to fire them up, Shur- mur said, “My team knows my true personality. For me to rant and rave or say something that can be written and reported about and me making it about me … I don’t think that makes you strong, and I don’t think that makes anybody think that I care any more than the players in the locker room. They know my true feelings, and that’s what I care about.
“I’m well aware of competition and how this works. I played in the trenches. I was an overachiever [as a center at Michigan State]. I get that, but I also know that as adults, sometimes, you don’t just do it and just say whatever the heck you want. This is about team-building and trying to do this the right way and along the way we’ve got to win more games, and I am aware of that.”
Manning called the state of the team “a tough situation for everybody, but I think [Shurmur] has handled it well.’’
“He’s leading this team and pushing guys every day to get better — to stay the course and keep fighting,’’ Manning said. “You see the passion. He’s not throwing chairs, he’s not screaming and yelling at everybody. He has his own way of motivating guys. I think he’s done a good job of just kind of handling the pulse of this team and keeping us together.’’
Nate Solder, who’s struggled since signing a free-agent contract making him the highest-paid left tackle in the league, said the Giants have “got everything we need in this locker room’’ to succeed.
Safety Landon Collins was asked, “Do you still believe?’’ “Yes, of course I do,’’ he said. “In what respect?’’ “That we still can be one of those contenders,’’ Collins said. “Once we put one [win] in the bucket I think we’re going to keep it going from there. You still see smiles on people’s faces when they come in here. Nobody is saying the season’s over. Everybody’s just staying positive.’’
Yes, but how long will that last unless the team starts winning?
Shurmur is well aware this thing is teetering on the edge of spiraling into something much worse than it’s been for the first six weeks unless his team starts “to get the next one and the next one and the next one.’’
Beginning Monday in Atlanta.