McAdoo, Giants have ‘brutally’ honest review of 49ers loss

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. » Talking to the New York Giants hasn’t worked much for coach Ben McAdoo this season, so he took a new approach after an embarrassing loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

With his team sporting a 1-8 record, the second-year coach let the videotape do the talking Wednesday as the Giants started preparing for Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs (6-3).

McAdoo made the rare move of bringing the offense and defense into the same room to watch the video, and then showed everyone the mistakes. Linebacker Devon Kennard said the usual routine is for the offense and defense to watch separately.

No player was called out in the review of the 31-21 loss to the Niners, who had been winless until the Giants showed up on the West Coast. But everyone got to see the mistakes together: the missed tackles, dumb plays, miscommunications and, of course, the seeming lack of effort on some plays.

“We had a hard, tough, brutally honest meeting this morning,” said McAdoo, who was told by ownership Monday that he would not be fired midseason, but there was no guarantee for a 2018 return.

McAdoo refused to say what was said, but lineup changes are possible this weekend.

“I want us to play better,” the 40-year-old coach said. “Our desire to finish has to improve, and we need to see that.”

Players continued to voice support for the former offensive coordinator who took the Giants to the postseason in 2016 for the first time in five years. McAdoo insisted the greater the adversity, the better he will get, adding he remains confident in his ability.

Kennard said that no player wants his effort questioned.

“I can’t speak for everyone, but for me personally, it doesn’t get much worse than that,” he said. “Things happen in a football game, but effort’s something you can always control. So, I would personally never want to be called out for effort.”

Kennard, sidelined with a leg injury Sunday, said the effort of some players was questioned in the meeting.

“I mean, every man responds to that differently,” he said. “So, I guess we’ll see how everyone responds, but it’s definitely something that I would respond to, if that was me.”

Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who was suspended for a week earlier this month for violating team rules, said players can either pick up their play or go the other way, which would likely earn them a seat on the bench.

Rodgers-Cromartie said he would never approach a player he felt was not putting out maximum effort, saying that would be up to the team leaders on offense and defense. He also felt the clear-theair meeting probably should have been called earlier this season.

“I think it would put guys in a different attention span, put us on alert,” he said. “Nobody wants to get caught. I don’t care what you say, ain’t nobody want to have a play up there where you got to come back in the locker room and everybody is looking at you like you’re that guy. So I think it could have helped if it was done earlier or not, but at least it got done.”

The Giants have been outscored 82-38 in losing to the Rams and 49ers the past two weeks.