At 0-2, reeling Giants must now travel to NFC East rival Philadelphia in search of first win
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie of the New York Giants reacts against Golden Tate of the Detroit Lions at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 18, 2017. Credit: Getty Images / Abbie Parr
The Giants did not play their Week 2 game until Monday night, which gave them a chance to catch other teams in action on Sunday. One of those teams was the Eagles, who lost to the Chiefs in a close matchup. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie came away impressed.
“They played with high intensity, a high velocity,” the Giants cornerback said.
Rodgers-Cromartie knew the Eagles would be the Giants’ next opponent. What he did not know at the time was that the Giants would be 0-2 heading to Philadelphia in search of a season-saving win this Sunday.
“It don’t get no easier,” he told Newsday after Monday night’s 24-10 loss to the Lions. “Especially when you know where you’re going this week. If we don’t get it right, Philly’s gonna put 90 on our [expletive].”
Last week Ben McAdoo said the Giants were “blessed” with a long week to work through their mistakes from the opener. This time they are cursed with a short week and heading to a place that has not been kind to them in recent years. The Giants are 1-4 in their last five games in Philadelphia, where they are winless since 2013, and have been outscored 112-40. This is where they will attempt to salvage their 2017 season.
“The game is here. It’s here. You’re playing ball. It’s the NFL. The season is here,” safety Landon Collins said after Monday’s game, trying to rouse his team. “We can’t take no steps back. This is another [division] game, so it counts as two. We need this. Especially 0-2, we need this big time.”
They have shown no indication of being able to earn one. While the defense has been good, the offense has been historically bad. The Giants’ 13 points through the first two games of the season are the fewest since being held to seven in 1947. They have gone eight consecutive games without scoring at least 20 points. It’s the first time the Giants lost each of their first two by at least 14 points.
“We’ve got to learn to get out of our own way,” Ben McAdoo said on a Tuesday conference call. “Failures aren’t fatal, but failure to learn from it might be.”
Rather ominous, though McAdoo later took a bit of a brighter tone.
“We’re not going to panic. We’re not the first good team to start 0-2,” he said. Pressed on whether he still thinks the Giants are a “good team,” McAdoo said: “Yes. I’m confident in this group of men.”
That does not preclude making changes.
“We can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again,” McAdoo said. “That’s insanity. It’s not working.”
He also hinted at a possible change in play-calling duties, something McAdoo has handled since he became head coach last year. “That’s something we will look at, that we’ll talk about,” he said.
Just in time for what may be the first true must-win of McAdoo’s tenure.
“We put ourselves in a hole and they only get tougher,” Rodgers-Cromartie said. “I definitely know where we’re going this week. We’re going into a real hostile environment, and that one’s going to be tough. You have to go down there and take that one.”
Beckham better. McAdoo said WR Odell Beckham Jr. came out of his 2017 debut without a setback in his sprained left ankle. “He’s still working hard to get back to his full self, but he made some progress getting some game snaps,” McAdoo said. He added it is too early to say what the availability of LB B.J. Goodson (shin) and CB Janoris Jenkins (ankle/hand) will be this week. Both starters were inactive Monday.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
