Giants coach Ben McAdoo strongly rejected the notion that his players quit during last Sunday’s 51-17 loss to the Rams, but a couple of his players shared their opinion that players have started tuning out the head coach during a miserable first half of the season.
Josina Anderson of ESPN shared conversations with two unnamed players who shared similar views of the impact the 1-7 start to the year has had on the locker room. One told her that “guys are giving up on the season” and “just don’t care anymore” and the other took issue with the suspensions given to cornerbacks Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Janoris Jenkins in recent weeks.
“McAdoo has lost this team. He’s got us going 80 percent on Saturdays before we get on a plane to play a game, it’s wild. Changed our off day. He’s dishing out fines like crazy. Suspended two of our stars when we need them most. Throws us under the bus all the time. He’s ran us into the ground and people wonder why we’ve been getting got.”
Safety Landon Collins has gone on record with the opposite view and Rodgers-Cromartie thinks players, not coaches, deserve scorn for how things have played out this season.
Anderson also reports that the Giants will be simplifying things on defense this week in hopes of getting the defense closer to last year’s success. Playing the winless 49ers should also help on that front and the grumblings about McAdoo will only get louder if things go the other way.