The only thing this Giants operation spends more time on than football is how they look to the outside world.
Their optics.
That is on full display this week with players taking to social media to try to clean up narratives in the name of the team, Brian Daboll or themselves.
Backup quarterback Russell Wilson returned fire at the Broncos’ Sean Payton for saying that Denver was hoping the Giants wouldn’t bench Wilson for Dart until after the two teams played.
“They found a little spark with that quarterback,” Payton said. “I was talking to John Mara not too long, and I said, ‘We were hoping that that change would have happened long after our game.’”
Wilson responded on ‘X’: “Classless… but not surprised…. Didn’t realize you’re still bounty hunting 15+ years later through the media. #LetsRide.”
Top pass rusher Brian Burns, who is tied for the NFL lead with nine sacks, tried to clarify the obvious frustration he seemingly had directed at defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s scheme on Sunday.
Burns was videoed screaming about the Giants “dropping eight” into coverage on one late Giants defensive meltdown.
“People took that tunnel video all outta context..,” Burns said. “I wasn’t mad at Shane nor the call..”
That fell in lock step with Daboll claiming postgame that he hadn’t yelled at Bowen on the sideline during the Giants’ collapse, even though that’s exactly what had happened.
This was all on top of injured receiver Malik Nabers taking to social media to blast Tiki Barber for critical comments the former Giants running back made on the radio.
Barber railed against Daboll’s decision to throw the ball on third down, a play call that led to Dart’s killer fourth quarter interception.
“The only thing you do on that play is run the ball so that you force the Denver Broncos to use a third timeout,” Barber said. “This game was lost as soon as they decided to put the ball in a rookie’s hand.
“This is why I always distrust rookies in moments,” Barber added. “Because they make stupid rookie decisions — like throwing the ball over the middle of the field in a simulated blitz, when the linebacker’s actually dropping into coverage, and you don’t see him, and you think you have a big play, but you don’t. This is on the play call. Period.”
Nabers shot back on ‘X’ at Barber: “Former Giants ‘so say’ legend talkin bout a rookie we serious?”
Nabers has been pretty active lately on social media overall.
When a fan said Kayvon Thibodeaux was the only Giants player “that ever publicly wants the smoke,” Nabers responded: “Dey b tellin me to delete mine.”
That appeared to be a reference to the Giants telling Nabers to delete his ‘X’ account.
“Why we just dnt kick field goals,” Nabers posted during the Giants-Broncos game. He also posted an emoji with a palm over a face and the word “bro” as the game collapsed.
The Giants understandably aren’t interested in being a punch line, so they stand up to slander, like Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter did to the Broncos’ trash talk last week before the game.
But the constant attempts to correct narratives are exhausting, even if the locker room is just following the lead of the front office and the coach. What matters are the results on the field and people’s actions.
The Giants need to shut out the noise and create more of their own Sunday in Philadelphia, like they did against with wins against the Chargers and Eagles in two of the last four weeks.
INVESTIGATION INTO DABOLL ‘ONGOING
NFL spokesman Jeff Miller said Tuesday at the NFL’s owners meetings in Manhattan that the joint investigation with the players’ union into Brian Daboll’s behavior during Jaxson Dart Week 6 concussion evaluation is “ongoing.”
“The investigation is ongoing,” Miller said, per The Athletic. “In these things we try to expedite it with the Players Association to get to a resolution, so I don’t know what soon means in this context, but making progress.”
The length of the investigation is curious. Presumably it won’t be long before a ruling is levied. The Giants and Daboll both are expected to be fined, and the team is in jeopardy of losing a draft pick.
GIANTS CUT MCATAMNEY
The Giants cut kicker Jude McAtamney after his missed two extra points in Sunday’s 33-32 loss to Denver and re-signed rookie corner Korie Black off the Jets’ practice squad. The team drafted Black in the seventh round out of Oklahoma State, but Black signed with the Jets after the Giants cut him in late August. So now he’s back with the team that originally selected him.
The team also re-signed defensive lineman Elijah Garcia to the practice squad and released linebacker Jonas Griffith to make room.
