Venturing down the Rabbit hole, Jenkins’ gripes not a real concern
JANORIS Jenkins is not for everyone.
His “Jackrabbit don’t travel no more” complaint not long after the Giants fell to the Packers, 31-13, can be viewed as selfish and ripping the coaching staff, but it is actually more team-oriented than it appears. At least he has a pulse. Jenkins is assigned to the left side of the f ield and does not travel from side to side to work against the top receiver on the other team. This simplified system was put in place earlier this season by defensive coordinator James Bettcher to help ease the transition for rookie DeAndre Baker. Moving from one side of the field to the other was too much for Baker to handle.
Jenkins could easily keep quiet, collect his weekly game check of $597,058.82 and cover whichever receiver comes to his side. He is sick and tired of losing and wants to be more involved. Is this selfish? Don’t think so.
Sure, it would be cleaner if he voiced his displeasure directly to Bettcher, but Jackrabbit does things his own way, like it or not. He watched Davante Adams catch touchdown passes on Baker and Sam Beal and knows he could have done better. Aaron Rodgers threw in Jenkins’ direct i on four t i mes, and Je nki ns allowed one catch for 4 yards. Jenkins was called for defensive holding in the second quarter, a penalty on third down that kept the Packers on the field but did not lead to any points.
Jenkins whiffed badly when “traveling” to cover Mike Evans in Tampa in Week 3. A week earlier, after a loss to the Bills, Jenkins lamented it is impossible to cover ad inf initum when there is no pressure on the quarterback. His comment — “I can’t cover nobody for 10 seconds” — prompted a conversation instigated by head coach Pat Shurmur.
This is what you get with Jackrabbit. But he is easily the top cornerback on the roster and his job description has been dumbed down to accommodate the youngsters all around him.
“There’s reasons for [having a cornerback travel with a certain receiver] at times,” Shurmur said Monday. “We did it earlier in the season, and we felt with some of the guys we had out there playing, to settle down the whole unit we just felt it was best not to do that.”
Shurmur did not see this latest Jenkins salvo as undermining Bettcher.
“I’m not sure that’s what he was doing,’’ Shurmur said. “That may be the impression. I think coaches and players talk about a lot of things behind the scenes, but obviously anything that we do we should do behind the scenes.’’
The only real issue Shurmur had, it seems, is Jenkins saying all top cornerbacks travel with top receivers. Shurmur pointed out that was not the defensive approach in Minnesota when he was with the Vikings.
“You guys have gotten to know him and I know Rabbit real well.
He’s a spirited guy and he wants to have an impact on the game,’’ Shurmur said. “He’s a competitive guy. I’m sure those are just immediately-after-the- game comments.’’
Jenkins and Shurmur did not speak about this Monday as Jenkins had to attend to an illness in his family.
“I’m sure I’m gonna have a conversation with him when he gets back,” Shurmur said.
Keeping Jenkins on one side makes it easy for offenses to take him out of the game and go after weak links. How many times can the Giants allow Grant Haley to line up in the slot across from the top receiver and expect that matchup to work out in their favor? It is not even Haley’s fault; he should not be asked to deal with the top target. The same for Beal and rookie Corey Ballentine.
It is well within the rights of a head coach to call a player in and tell him to pipe down. But any additional consequences would be overkill. The team is terrible and the losing is an addiction. Within a team that is 2-10 and on an eight-game losing streak, a little cage-rattling is not a bad thing. Subdued acceptance of failure is more alarming than an emotional player sounding off about his usage and wanting to do more.