Jenkins: Got to use me the right way
Big Blue officially done, and sinking to bottom, after loss to Pack
Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins was justifiably upset after the Giants’ defense got whooped by the Packers offense in their 31-13 loss.
“You’ve got to use your weapons. I’m the only corner in the league that doesn’t travel (with the opposing team’s top wide receiver),” Jenkins said. “It’s common sense. I’m on the left side of the field all game. I get two passes thrown my way. All the top corners in the league travel. Rabbit doesn’t travel anymore.”
Jenkins might have a point.
Aaron Rodgers had 243 yards, 4 touchdowns, and produced a first down on 44% of his plays according to airyards.com. The Packers used play action early and often and the Giants simply had no answer for it. Green Bay consistently had receivers running wide open into the Giants’ secondary, especially in the first half.
Even if Jenkins following top receivers isn’t the exact fix that the Giants need, clearly something has gone horribly wrong with their defense this season.
Safety Michael Thomas said a lot of the team’s pass coverage problems can be contributed to their youth in the secondary. The Giants had three rookies getting heavy playing time with Deandre Baker, Julian Love, and Corey Ballantine playing against one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.
“It does take live game reps, unfortunately,” Thomas said. “It does take live game reps for you to see it and believe that you can do it right Monday through Saturday. Then when you get in the game it’s like, oh, they didn’t give you the exact same look. They motioned to it or they started in a stack, but ran the same. You just gotta trust and believe your tendencies and stuff and trust yourself.
“I mean, they got a good team. They got a good quarterback. We gotta get guys executing the defense. I mean, we had the right plays called. Guys just gotta execute.”
On one play-action in particular, Rodgers found wide receiver Allen Lazard wide open for a 37-yard touchdown pass toward the end of the first quarter. Safety Antoine Bethea said the Giants’ defensive playcall simply got beat.
“It was a blitz and basically like a Cover 0,” Bethea said. “Double move and one of those things where we didn’t all work in unison on the back end and it was a big play.” Bethea said that he ended up in man coverage on Lazard, but he wasn’t able to get close to Lazard before he scored.
“That’s something he does well,” defensive end Lorenzo Carter said when he was asked about Rodgers’ ability to torch the Giants on playaction passes. “Play action, throwing the ball outside the pocket, it’s tough. Play action, it’s going to suck you up… the defensive backs are going to have to respect the run. That’s why we gotta do a good job upfront.”
On Davante Adams’ touchdown that pushed the Packers’ lead to 24-13 in the fourth quarter, the Giants had 12 men on the field and Adams was still wide open in the end zone. It was a sloppy game for a Giants defense that’s been among the worst in the league this season.
The Giants did do a good job of slowing down the Packers’ two-headed rushing attack of Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams. Rookie defensive back Julian Love had a strong game, too, playing safety in place of Jabrill Peppers. Love had a forced fumble, drew a hold on a wouldbe touchdown run by Jones, and generally was sound in coverage all game long.
Those were the lone bright spots on what was a horrific day by the Giants’ defense.
Sunday’s 31-13 blowout home loss to the Packers has Pat Shurmur’s Giants on the cusp of history. And not the good kind. The Giants (2-10) have lost eight straight following Daniel Jones’ three interceptions and Aaron Rodgers’ easy, fourtouchdown day on a snowy MetLife Stadium track in front of plenty of empty seats.
That puts them one defeat shy of tying the franchise’s longest single-season losing streak ever, nine in a row in 1976, in the inaugural season at Giants Stadium.
“We’ll try to avoid being in that record book, obviously,” linebacker Alec Ogletree said.
Sunday’s loss officially eliminated them from the playoffs for the seventh time in eight years. Thousands of
Packers fans chanted “Go Pack Go!” and Giant fans streamed for the exits with seven minutes left.
The Giants and Cincinnati Bengals (1-11) now are the only two NFL teams with fewer than three wins entering Week 14. The Giants are in last place in the NFC East behind even
Washington (3-9).
The Giants have the most losses in the NFL since the start of the 2017 NFL season (10-34).
And they might end up with the No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft.
That was not part of “the plan.”
Shurmur, who has a 7-21 record (.250) as the Giants’ coach and a 17-44 (.278) career mark, said he is “well aware” he is judged by wins and losses.
“People will change what they think of us and me when we win games,” Shurmur said. “I’m a realist when it comes to that. And I get it. And you know what? When you don’t win, I expect what’s written and said and what people think. I expect fans to be upset, because we are, too. But we go about trying to fix it.”
It doesn’t matter what people think of Shurmur, though. And no one questions whether the coach wants to win. What’s up for debate is whether his and GM Dave Gettleman’s Giants are capable of doing it.