McAdoo, G-Men begin critical 9-game stretch after bye week
EAST RUTHERFORD » This 1-6 Giants season has reached the stage of platitudes. The excuses are dwindling, the criticism is intensifying and Ben McAdoo could be coaching for his job these last nine games.
“We had a spirited practice,” the second-year head coach said earlier this week. “Guys were flying around. We got better out here today.”
New York leads the league in those since training camp. Asked Friday why good practices have not yet translated into games, McAdoo replied, “That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
That is unlikely to inspire much faith in the fan base as the Giants get set to host the upstart Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, where New York has yet to win this season in three tries.
After all that went wrong in the first seven games, a bye week gave the Giants a chance to refresh mentally before playing every week from now until New Year’s Eve.
“Gave us a lot of rest. Gave us a lot of time off,” strong safety Landon Collins said. “Getting away from the game kind of just eased our mind and eased our bodies. Took time off and just coming back and just going full speed from that point on.”
Except even that part of the equation didn’t quite materialize ideally for the Giants.
New York has more players listed on its injury report than it did before the bye week. Six players have been ruled out for Sunday, including five starters and two key offensive linemen in Justin Pugh and Weston Richburg.
A sixth starter, cornerback Janoris Jenkins, was suspended indefinitely Tuesday after failing to notify the coaching staff that he would not make it back to team facilities on time Monday. Receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall have been on season-ending injured reserve since Week 6.
And with cornerback Donte Deayon questionable to play with an ankle injury, the Giants have only three healthy players at the position. Eli Apple and Dominique RodgersCromartie will likely be the outside corners, with Ross Cockrell manning the slot. But depth is such a problem that the Giants could need to get creative with both their personnel and formations.
“We cross-train some of our safeties inside, so that’s certainly an option, yes. It’s not ideal, but it’s an option,” McAdoo said. “We flushed the first half. We’re going to play with the players who are available. We can’t control who’s not available for the game.”
Still, it makes the task of containing the Rams’ high-powered offense all the more arduous. Led by former Washington Redskins offensive coordinator Sean McVay, the youngest head coach in NFL history, Los Angeles is second in the league with 30.3 points per game after finishing dead last with 14 points per game last season under defensive-minded coach Jeff Fisher.
Former No. 1 pick Jared Goff has had a resurgent sophomore season with a 90.3 passer rating, 1,719 yards and nine touchdowns, while running back Todd Gurley has bounced back from a sophomore slump to currently sit fifth overall in rushing (627 yards).
Keys for the Giants’ defense to keep the game manageable will be stopping the run and preventing thirddown conversions, where New York respectively ranks 20th and 29th in the league. But it will be easier said than done without at least one key starter from each level of the unit including defensive end Olivier Vernon, who is set to miss his fourth straight game.
Offensively, wide receiver Sterling Shepard practiced fully this week after missing the last two games with an ankle injury and is good to go. But generating sufficient offense is still a major question mark for the Giants, especially without Pugh’s presence as New York works to contain Pro Football Focus’ top-graded interior lineman in Aaron Donald.
Urgency remains for the Giants entering the second half of the season, where they hope for some different outcomes.
“We’re going to fight. That’s what we’re here to do,” Goodson said. “I don’t want to put anything out there or say anything out there because that’ll be discrediting the way that we fought this first half. I don’t want to do that. I do think that we didn’t finish a certain amount of games that we feel like we were capable of, but I definitely feel like we’ve fought.”