ATLANTA — It’s been 77 days since the Giants’ last victory.
In a brutal sport with extreme physical risks, the need to find ways to keep moving forward and force yourself to smile every once in a while amid defeats is essential for mental and emotional well-being.
No one on the outside really cares about the feelings of those inside the building.
Rest assured, this is a fight going through a nine-game losing streak.
The Giants won in Seattle in Week 5, and it’s been months of losing since then.
Nine consecutive exits from the field without anything to show despite all the sweat. Nine straight locker room autopsies. Nine weeks of media sessions peppered with questions about failure and disappointment.
Can we get anything other than misery out of all this?
“Yeah, I think you try to enjoy the process with the guys in the meeting rooms, on game day, making the adjustments,” offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said. “The results will come. So you just have to believe in that part, and I think we do, and it’s been difficult. These things have been difficult. It’s in the past. “What can we control today? And that’s our mentality. It’s our state of mind.
It’s difficult to discern what the collective mindset of the Giants (2-12) will be on Sunday as they take on the Falcons (7-7) inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
No Giants team in the last 99 years has lost 10 straight games, and infamy awaits this group if what has happened every week since October 6 happens again this weekend.
This game is a pivotal point for the Falcons, as they sent veteran free agent Kirk Cousins to the bench – in the middle of a playoff race – to give rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. his first start in the NFL.
One way or another, this will be a significant development for the Falcons.
That’s not the case for the Giants, as they continue to turn the most important position on the field into an irrelevance, redundancy, or calamity.
Make your choice.
Over the last five games, five quarterbacks have thrown passes for the Giants. It’s nice to share, but not like this.
Over the last 31 games – all of last season and the first 14 games of this season – the Giants have started four quarterbacks: Daniel Jones for 16 games, Tommy DeVito for eight games, Tyrod Taylor for five and Drew Lock for two.
They’re 8-23 in those games, proving once again that the more quarterbacks, the worse it is for a franchise.
Injuries and upsets have been the story. And, lest we forget, a game that’s also painfully subpar.
“It’s part of the business, it’s part of football,” Kafka said. “Really, it happens at every position – whether it’s offensive line or receiver, these things happen. So you just have to be really prepared and make sure that we stay on top of not only the starters, but we also prepare the backups. It’s unfortunate. You obviously don’t want this kind of thing to happen, but when it does, you need to do something about it.
It’s part of the business, but usually not to this extent.
“It’s probably a first for me to experience this as a coach,” Kafka said.
Jones suffered a neck injury in 2023 that sidelined him. He returned for one game then tore his ACL.
Taylor took over, broke four ribs and gave way to DeVito. Jones this season started the first 10 games before the decision was made to send him to the bench, with the Giants at 2-8 after Jones struggled in the red zone and failed to clear a throw on a chip flicker in a brutal loss to the Panthers in Munich.
DeVito, surprisingly, was head coach Brian Daboll’s choice as his replacement and that only lasted until DeVito was hit by the Cowboys and Lock had to step in.
Jones joined the Vikings on their practice squad and is now an afterthought around the Giants, although the work of DeVito and Lock makes it clear that the Giants sat down and then released the best quarterback on their roster. list.
Last week, DeVito was forced out with a concussion and newly acquired Tim Boyle played the second half of a 35-14 loss to the Ravens.
Lock is healed enough from a heel injury to return to the starting lineup.
Did you understand everything?
