New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll awaits word from the training staff on the status of quarterback Tommy DeVito but says he’s positive effort is not an issue even after locker room leaders described the team effort as “soft” in a 30-7 defeat Sunday to Tampa Bay.
Daboll said he invited conversation about the end result against the Buccaneers, which dropped the Giants to 2-9 this season before a short week and holiday showcase game at Dallas on Thanksgiving, but said he doesn’t see effort as the issue.
“I mean we went back, we evaluated the tape this morning. Look, we didn’t play well enough,” Daboll told reporters Monday. “Some things, whether it’s execution stuff, call stuff, that we just didn’t get the job done. But in terms of running to the football, giving effort at the line of scrimmage, those didn’t stand out.
“What stands out was three sacks early on in the first half, 0-for-4 on third down, a variety of missed tackles that caused some big plays. And the missed tackles weren’t a lack-of-effort missed tackles. Give Tampa Bay credit. They did a good job, and we didn’t do a good enough job. … But the guys played hard, they played with effort.”
Daboll said he was leaving the press conference Monday to make some of the same teaching points to the entire team at their usual day-after group breakdown.
“Look, we have good communication. We’ll talk about what Jermaine sees,” Daboll said in reference to offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor’s comments after the loss. “And we’ll talk about what we see. We’ll watch it. It’s right on tape. But again, I have confidence in the guys in the locker room.”
The loss came six days after the Giants demoted, then waived, starting quarterback Daniel Jones. The defeat stretches the Giants’ losing streak to six games and was the fourth time this season New York failed to score more than seven points.
After the game, rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and veteran offensive lineman Eluemunor separately said the effort against the Buccaneers wasn’t there.
“Look, these guys put a lot of work into this, as does everybody involved, and certainly not something that we wanted yesterday. We work hard every week to not have that happen, and that was a tough one,” Daboll said. “So, there’s frustration that comes with it, understandable. And we communicate, I think we have good leadership in our locker room. I think we communicate on a daily basis. But certainly, a frustrating game, no question about it.”
DeVito took multiple hard hits and was sacked four times. Perhaps the most jarring was in the first quarter when DeVito stepped up on the pocket to evade pressure coming from his right and met speedy defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, who delivered a de-cleater upon impact. DeVito miraculously held onto the ball on the third-down sack.
Kancey hit DeVito again in the fourth quarter as he was releasing a pass with enough force to bring his feet well off the ground for a second time.
“I have not talked to the training staff yet. So, I’ll wait until they give me the update, then we’ll see where we’re at. But I’m anticipating he’ll be ready to go,” Daboll said.
–Field Level Media