Giants not making any coaching staff changes after Denver 'D'ebacle
Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen during training camp on Aug. 6 in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: Ed Murray
For the second time this season, the Giants scored a go-ahead touchdown in the final 40 seconds of regulation. And for the second time this season, they lost that game in numbing fashion.
Sunday’s 33-32 loss in Denver won’t lead to any immediate personnel changes among the coaches, though.
Coach Brian Daboll said Monday that he is not considering any decisions to replace anybody on his staff after his team blew a 19-0 lead to start the fourth quarter and later held a 26-8 advantage.
“We all got to do a better job. Starts with me,” Daboll said during a Zoom call. “There’s plenty of opportunities to finish that game the way we wanted to, and we didn’t get the job done.”
Daboll was seen yelling at defensive coordinator Shane Bowen after the Broncos’ Wil Lutz won the game with a 39-yard field goal as time expired. Bowen’s defense came under scrutiny after allowing 33 points in the fourth quarter.
According to the CBS broadcast, teams had won 1,602 straight games in which they led by at least 18 points with six minutes or less to play in regulation.
On the final drive, Bowen elected to rush three with eight defenders in coverage. It didn’t work, with Marvin Mims catching a 29-yard pass. Linebacker Brian Burns was visibly frustrated while walking to the locker room. Cameras caught him yelling expletives and being upset about dropping eight into coverage.
Just last week, Daboll urged Bowen to be more aggressive against the Eagles, and it worked. On Sunday, the Giants didn’t carry that aggressiveness into the fourth quarter.
When asked if the Giants were aggressive enough on the final series, Burns doubled down on the reaction he had while leaving the field.
“I don’t know about all that,” said Burns, the NFL’s co-leader in sacks with nine, including two on Sunday. “We were rushing three, dropped eight.”
Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence wasn’t on the field when Mims made his catch. He was one of four Giants rushers when Courtland Sutton made the 22-yard catch to set up the field goal. When asked if the Giants should’ve brought more pressure, Lawrence was silent for a bit but then said: “Leave that to the coaches.”
The Giants’ defense started this year being good, but not good enough to overcome a bad offense. They’ve now lost two games in which the offense scored at least 30 points.
Giants president/CEO John Mara singled out the defense as a problem after last season. Now, even with Burns having an All-Pro-caliber start and the pass rush being effective, the defense has been inconsistent.
Sunday’s loss was about poor execution, but it appeared to show a more visible disconnect between Bowen’s play-calling and the players on the field. However, linebacker Bobby Okereke said Monday that the defenders are “all bought in” with Bowen and that it’s taking all hands on deck to learn from what happened.
As for the postgame anger, Okereke chalked it up to everyone being fiery competitors.
“I think that’s a positive for us as a team to get those frustrations and emotions out, and us as grown men have the accountability to get better,” Okereke said. “We talked about it today. It’s not one player, one coach, one position group; everybody really had their hands in the pot in this loss.”
There was plenty of blame to go around. Dru Phillips didn’t push tight end Evan Engram out of bounds, which allowed the former Giant to escape for a 20-yard catch on the Broncos’ second-to-last drive.
Cornerback Deonte Banks didn’t track the ball while covering Sutton — an issue that has plagued Banks in his three years — and Sutton made a leaping catch before Lutz’s field goal.
Bowen’s play-calling was just another piece to things. Daboll reiterated Monday that one play didn’t cost them, and Okereke backed his coach up.
If the Giants need to be more aggressive, Okereke said, it’s with details and execution going forward.
“You don’t let one big play lead to two and you don’t let one big loss lead to two,” he said. “So we’re compartmentalizing this, making the corrections, and we’re excited for this coming week.”
Notes & quotes: Daboll didn’t have any update on the knee injuries suffered by Paulson Adebo or Jevon Holland. Holland said on Sunday that he believed his knee was fine, with “nothing structural.” Burns left the locker room in a walking boot but said it was precautionary.
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
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