Giants Q&A: What was with all the tension among the wide receivers?
Sterling Shepard of the Giants catches a touchdown pass during the fourth quarter against the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Sunday in Arlington, Texas. Credit: Getty Images/Ron Jenkins
What was the mood postgame?
In a word, tense.
On the sideline, wide receiver Darius Slayton was yelling at wide receivers coach Mike Groh.
Sterling Shepard and Slayton had a discussion on the sideline that spilled, to an extent, into the postgame locker room.
“I was just trying to motivate him to keep on going,” Shepard said. “It’s frustrating, obviously, you look at the scoreboard and see how the game went down. I was just trying to motivate him to keep going and keep fighting.”
Told that it appeared to be more than that, Shepard balked.
"Listen, that is my brother, like my mother’s kids,” Shepard said. “Never that. Never that. It was straight me motivating him to go out there and fight. That’s the honest truth.”
In the postgame locker room, Slayton admitted yelling at Groh on the sideline.
“Like I’ve always said, I think we have a strong-minded group, and that’s what it’s going to take, especially how the season’s been going,” Shepard said. “These are the times when you see who’s got the mental toughness.”
Shepard said he has confidence that the players will “stick together” during the trying season. “We’re all competitors,” Shepard said, “and we all want to win games.”
He does speak from experience.
“I’ve been here eight years, and I’ve seen a lot,” Shepard said. “I feel the [frustration]. Got to keep on fighting.”
What happened with Andrew Thomas?
The Giants have had lousy luck this season in keeping their offensive tackles healthy. Andrew Thomas left the season-opener against the Cowboys and didn’t return until seven weeks later, in last week’s game against the Raiders. He suffered a hamstring injury.
On Sunday, Thomas got his leg pinned underneath him on a running play in the first quarter.
Thomas stayed on the field for a short time, then limped off the field. The cart then took him to the Giants locker room. He did return to the game in the second quarter, but it remains to be seen if he will be ready to play in the near future.
Who was the Giants’ kicker?
Randy Bullock again handled those duties for the Giants.
This time he actually got to attempt a field goal, making a kick from 40 yards at the 8:54 mark of the fourth quarter.
That made the score 42-10.
The 11-year veteran
got the job last week but never attempted a field goal or an extra point in the 30-6 loss to the Raiders.
He did boot the second-half kickoff for a touchback.
When the Giants scored a touchdown in the waning moments, they elected to try a two-point conversion, which failed.
The Giants kicker situation was in flux after Graham Gano went on injured reserve on Nov. 4.
Though the Giants opted for Bullock, Cade York is still on the Giants’ active roster.
He was among the inactives against the Cowboys. York was drafted — and subsequently cut — by Cleveland after the 2022 training camp.
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
