Here is where Giants players and Giants fans agree: No one likes a blowout loss.
The disagreement is over head coach Joe Judge’s strong declaration that better days are coming based on the groundwork laid behind the scenes, as he detailed Sunday in an 11-minute monologue after the Giants’ fifth straight loss by at least 11 points.
“We know fans get upset when we lose — or lose by a large amount of numbers,” Saquon Barkley said. “For players, too, it’s frustrating. You’ve got to keep your head down, you’ve got to keep working, and have belief and have faith.”
A boisterous segment of the fan base isn’t buying it. But it seems players — including the Giants’ biggest star — are all-in.
“[Judge] is a passionate coach,” Barkley said. “He said things that he felt and that he believed in, and that a lot of players in the locker room believe in, too. What I took from it was the message that this place is going in the right direction.
Saquon Barkley backed Joe Judge’s claim that the Giants are making progress despite their results. Getty, AP“It may not look like it right now from the outside looking in, but internally we know what we have here. We know what we’re doing in the locker room — meaning the characters that we have, the personalities that we have, the work ethic that we have.”
Barkley said he is not aware of any criticism of Judge’s message, which became fodder for former NFL players working as network analysts.
WR Kadarius Toney’s season appears to be over due to a shoulder injury. He did not practice Thursday and is likely to miss his sixth of the last seven games. The rookie was on the injury report for six different body parts at one time or another — ankle, quad, hamstring, oblique, thumb and shoulder — and on the COVID-19 reserve list twice, which puts his offseason emphasis on health.
“He has to take care of his body a little more, learn from other guys what kind of routine they have, and pray and stay healthy,” receivers coach Tyke Tolbert said. “It’s a tough business. So, you have to do the best you can to be able to maintain your body, whether it’s nutrition, being with the trainers, massages, whatever. Just do whatever you can to make sure your body is in the best possible condition to go out there and play.”
After a slow start, Toney had a three-week stretch in early October where he looked like a difference-maker. But he will finish with 39 catches for 420 yards and more ejections [one) than touchdowns (zero).
“It’s a process you have to go through in order to ‘be a pro,’ and I think he’s working through that,” Tolbert said. “He’s going in the right direction. The needle is pointing up in that situation.”
The biggest gaffe from the Giants’ loss to the Bears was returner Pharoh Cooper letting a kickoff sail over his head thinking it would land in the end zone for a touchback. Instead it bounced short of the end zone, the Giants started at their 5-yard line and the Bears recorded a safety.
“Simple mistake,” special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey said. “The wind took it. The exact instructions [are] put your heels on the 3-yard line. Unfortunately, it happened.”
OLB Lorenzo Carter (Illness), DT Austin Johnson (foot), WR John Ross (knee) and FB Cullen Gillaspia (knee) did not practice.
WRs Collin Johnson (hamstring) and Darius Slayton (shoulder), RB Saquon Barkley (ankle), RG Will Hernandez (ankle) and TE Kyle Rudolph were limited. DTs Dexter Lawrence and Danny Shelton, RT Korey Cunningham and Slayton all are in the ramp-up phase returning from COVID-19.
