Understandably, this is not what you want to hear right now as a Giants fan, with the sky falling at 1-4 and the team having been only marginally competitive along the way. But this is a reality you must face: Things may get worse before they get better.
As shell-shocked as you were at Cowboys 40, Giants 0 on opening night, as dismayed as you may have been at 49ers 30, Giants 12, as disgusted as you were at Seahawks 23, Giants 3, and as disillusioned you were at Dolphins 31, Giants 16 Sunday in South Florida … what might happen Sunday night at Buffalo has potential to be a low point to a season gone sideways.
The Bills, despite their uncharacteristic sleepwalk loss to the Jaguars Sunday in England, remain among the class of the AFC with the most dynamic quarterback the Giants will have faced this season in Josh Allen.
So, this Sunday night’s game against the Bills has very little chance of being a warm homecoming for Giants head coach Brian Daboll, the Bills’ former (and beloved) offensive coordinator who also happens to have grown up in Western New York, and general manager Joe Schoen, the Bills’ former assistant GM.
Surely, both had thoughts before the season of this week being a particularly special one, for them to bring the team they built together up for a competitive battle against their friends and former colleagues.
Instead, the Giants will limp up to Orchard Park, N.Y. as 14.5-point underdogs, and for good reason. They’ve played only one half of good, winning football among the 10 halves they’ve played this season. That’s 30 good minutes of football out of a possible 300.
That’s damning, and it raises the degree of difficulty of Daboll’s job at the moment, which is keeping his players believing in the midst of the current free fall.
Daboll has only one choice here, and that’s to remain a rock, stay the course as the team’s leader — despite the growing outside noise that suggests that he’s just the next Ben McAdoo or Joe Judge in what has become a maddening revolving door of head coaches around here.
Through it all — through the blowout losses and the losses of key players to injuries — the tone in Daboll’s voice has remained the same. So, too, has the expression on his face (though you wouldn’t blame him if it was one of exasperation).
Daboll’s task at the moment, and it cannot be an easy one, is to keep his players believing. Believing in the process he and his staff have in place. Believing that good things will eventually happen if they stay the course.
“That’s stuff that we’ve talked about since Day 1 — you know you’re going to go through some adversity, and when that is you never know,’’ Daboll said Monday.
Daboll insisted on being “consistent with your approach.’’
“Reality has set in quick,’’ Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke said Monday. “You can say it’s early, but it’s only early in the season for so long. Urgency is upon us. You’ve got to believe in yourself, even when other people don’t. That’s how we’re going to turn this thing around.’’
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On Monday, the day after his team was outclassed and out-raced by the speedy Dolphins, Daboll wasn’t in the mood to wax poetic about his impending return to Western New York and what it might mean to him.
“It’s the next game,’’ he said. “I’ve been in this league a long time, played against a lot of different teams that I’ve worked for, players I’ve coached. [I have] a tremendous amount of respect of the Buffalo Bills organization, [team owner] Terry Pegula, [general manager] Brandon Beane, all their coaches and players.
“But our focus is always on us first and foremost, getting ready to play a game. They’re a really good team, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.’’
Bills head coach Sean McDermott knows Daboll well enough not to underestimate him — despite the debilitating personnel losses his Giants have faced this season.
“Coach Daboll has been around the league a long time,’’ McDermott said Monday. “I’m sure he’s going to do a phenomenal job leading that group through it. We all go through injuries. It’s part of the league, part of the journey through the season, and you’ve got to find a way through it.’’
So far, Daboll has had difficulty navigating his way through an offensive line that’s been without starting left tackle Andrew Thomas for the past three games and has had five different starting offensive line combos in five games, as well as the past three games with running back Saquon Barkley, the team’s top playmaker, out with a high ankle sprain.
“I’m happy for Brian,’’ McDermott said. “He’s earned that head-coaching opportunity and did a fabulous job in Year 1. They’re in good hands.’’
The trick right now is for Daboll’s players to believe they’re in good hands.