Another week, another comeback win for the Giants, who were down 17-13 after three quarters but fought back for a 23-17 win over Jacksonville Sunday.
It’s becoming old hat at this point, and so is head coach Brian Daboll saying that there’s still a lot the team can improve on.
“Good to get a win. Made it tougher than we needed to, but good to be 6-1, and it’s always on to the next week,” Daboll said. “I’m glad we won, but like I say every week, there's certain things to clean up, and this week is no exception. There were some good things we did, but we gave up too many yards, we didn't capitalize in the red zone. Didn't finish the game we should have finished the game. There are always things to clean up.”
It’s also becoming old hat that Saquon Barkley is bottled up in the first half, but then explodes in the second half as the Giants come to life – so once again, on Sunday, “same old Giants.”
“You never want to take credit from another team. They did a great job. But that was me. I was running soft, thinking about the wrong things,” Barkley said about Sunday’s game, where he had 18 yards at halftime and finished with 110. “The O-line was playing lights out, I've got to do a better job hitting the hole. But I'll find a way to get on fire a little bit, closer to the end of the game. I've got to go a better job starting out faster.”
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Barkley said those “wrong things” were “just not going out there and being 26,” and as a veteran leader on the team of sorts, he needs to “go back out there and trust the system more.”
“We have a great offensive line, great players. They've been doing a great job putting me in position to be successful, and I've got to make those plays, and I wasn't making those plays in the first half, so I've got to be ready for the team,” Barkley said.
And yet, with all that bad juju, there were the Giants in the fourth quarter, scoring on a one-yard Jones keeper to take the lead with 5:31 left, and then holding on after Graham Gano added a field goal in the final 90 seconds, giving them now five game-winning drives in the fourth quarter out of six wins.
“I think we all want to be in those situations. I think as a team throughout the year, we've created them and been in those situations seems like week after week, but I think we all want to be in the pressure situation where you have to deliver, and we've done a good job of doing that,” Jones said. “We’ve got guys that want to be in that situation down the stretch. We've done it different ways, different points of the year, but ultimately, we found a way to make enough plays to win.”
Of course, this one came with two backups along the offensive line, as Ben Bredeson and Evan Neal were both lost for the game early in the first half, leaving Joshua Ezeudu at left guard and Tyre Phillips at right tackle – but the offense seemed to get better after that.
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“We had a couple different personnel groups we couldn't get into, but I thought [Offensive Line Coach] Bobby [Johnson] did a great job,” Daboll said. “Phillips had to jump in and then Ezeudu, so again, young players that haven't played a lot of football, in this environment, in a close game. We'll go in there and see how it looks, but that's why we talk to all our players every week. We've got to continue to develop the depth of our roster and the young players, and they've got to be ready to play when called upon.”
“It was tough, and always tough to see guys go down – [Bredeson and Neal] are key players for us – but I thought the guys came in, stepped up and played really well,” Jones added. “They did a great job throughout the game, and we have a lot of faith and confidence in them.”
And the best part? Despite Jacksonville being 1,000 miles south of East Rutherford, the Giants’ fan base showed up in droves to cheer on Big Blue.
“That was awesome. Even coming out before the game, to see all the blue, and it was almost like a home game at the end there,” Daboll said. “They were screaming and yelling, and they traveled well. I certainly think it was an advantage for us at the end there, and we appreciate their support big time.”
Added Jones: “We certainly appreciated the support and felt their energy throughout the game, especially there in the fourth quarter when they got going. We appreciated the support throughout this start and certainly today. They made an impact on the game.”
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And now, as Daboll said, it’s on to the next week, which is a date with the 4-3 Seahawks in Seattle ahead of their bye – and if it’s a close game late, well, you know the Giants will be ready to do it again.
“I think there's just a competitive spirit,” Jones said. “There's a mental toughness to our group, and regardless of what's happened earlier in the game or regardless of the situation, we've got confidence that we're going to execute and find ways to win.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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