‘Brutally honest’ meeting
Ben McAdoo took the Giants to the movies and it was so scary even Alfred Hitchcock passed on buying the script. Anybody who has watched the Giants give up 51 points to the Rams and 31 to the 49ers the last two weeks can clearly identify quit in the defense. Janoris Jenkins put on a clinic in San Francisco how to run away from contact one week after Eli Apple made a business decision of his own to avoid getting dirty.
McAdoo’s horror movie – it was bring your own popcorn and treats – highlighted the lack of effort from the 49ers game and there was enough footage for a double feature.
“At the end of the day, you got to be accountable and to be called out on film in front of everybody, I think it does something to a player,” Dominique-Rodgers Cromartie said Wednesday. “You don’t want to be that player.”
Why did McAdoo do it? If he’s going down, he’s not going to let some lazy millionaires go unscathed. He embarrassed them Wednesday. It’s not standard procedure for a head coach to expose his players in front of all their teammates.
The dressing down may happen when one side of the ball meets with the coordinator or the position coach meets with his guys. When the head coach shows examples of players quitting… that’s about as bad as it gets in a season gone horribly wrong. He’s appealing to their pride.
This is serious business. McAdoo is desperate. He’s also about two months too late.
He tried to get tough after Odell Beckham invited everyone to his Philly Peeing Party. The new rules resulted in Jenkins and DRC each serving a one-game suspension for separate transgressions. McAdoo gave up the play calling in Week 6 and that worked for one game, but the Giants have lost their last three.
Now he’s gone to what is always the last resort for a coach. He is humiliating his players in front of the entire team after they humiliated the organization in front of the entire world. It either will produce great effort Sunday against Kansas City or convince players who are 50-50 on McAdoo to also quit.
No doubt Jenkins was the leading man i n Wednesday morning’s feature film, “The Jackrabbit Chronicles.”
“We had a long, hard, honest meeting,” McAdoo said.
Jenkins is a mystery. He was one of the best corners in the NFL last season but a source recently told me that he had a history with the Rams of being super competitive when the team was going well but when a season falls apart, so does he. He signed a five-year, $62.5 million free-agent contract last year and his $28.8 million in guaranteed money is up after this season.
After that, it’s a make gooddeal. He’s due to earn $10.9 million next year and unless he has an incredible explanation for turning down tackles against TE Garrett Celek and RB Carlos Hyde last week or takes a big pay cut, he is a candidate to be gone. Jenkins didn’t talk after the game in San Francisco and was not in the locker room during the media period Wednesday. No accountability.
McAdoo indicated changes are coming in Sunday’s lineup. If he doesn’t bench Jenkins for at least a couple of series, if not longer, then his threats will be empty and players will know there are no repercussions for putrid effort.
It took McAdoo nine games into