Brandon Jacobs believes these 2-10 Giants are more talented than the two Super Bowl teams he was on
Giants running back Brandon Jacobs reacts before a game against the Rams on Sept. 19, 2011. Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Bill Kostroun
Brandon Jacobs won two Super Bowl rings with the Giants, but the former running back believes those 2007 and 2011 championship teams didn’t have as much talent as the 2019 team.
That’s right, the 2019 team. The one that's 2-10.
“If you ask me, talent-wise in this locker room, they’re better than we were,” said Jacobs, who lives in Atlanta but made a trip to see his former team in Sunday’s 31-13 loss to the Packers at snow-swept MetLife Stadium. “Player for player, they have more talent. You have to understand, when we won Super Bowls, we didn’t have these amazing seasons.”
The Giants were 10-6 in 2007 and got into the playoffs as a wild card before Eli Manning went on a four-game run, upsetting the previously unbeaten Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Four years later, they won the NFC East title at 9-7 and again beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.
“We had heart, we had leaders, and we also had some guys who plain old didn’t give a [expletive],” said Jacobs, a fourth-round pick in 2005 who played through the 2011 season before returning in 2013. He played for the 49ers in 2012.
Jacobs sees plenty of talent on this year’s Giants team, just not enough wins.
“You’ve got Saquon [Barkley], the best draft pick the Giants have ever had at the [running back] position,” Jacobs said. “They’re bigger. They’re more athletic than what we were all across the board.”
Jacobs can’t put his finger on all that’s wrong, but he doesn’t believe it’s Pat Shurmur’s coaching.
“Everybody wants to point the thing at the coach, but I don’t think you can do that,” he said. “You can’t tell me the guys aren’t coming to work trying every day. Everybody says the team’s young. This isn’t college, bro. This is the NFL. Are we supposed to be terrible until everybody gets to six, seven years [in the NFL]? We always told the rookies, ‘Week 2, Week 3, it’s over. Ain’t no more rookies.’ ”
Jacobs remains passionate about his former team and is willing to do whatever he can to help.
“I would move back up here in a heartbeat if I knew I had an opportunity to help this team,” he said. “In a heartbeat.”
Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”
