The Giants are 2-7 with their season seemingly over at the start of November yet again, in a year where nearly the entire Evan and Tiki crew believed the team would be in the hunt for a playoff spot come December, at the very least.
So, where did it all go wrong? As Big Blue gets set for the first game they are favored in since Week 2 of last year, the guys revealed their reasonings for why the G-Men are where they are.
For Tiki, there are a few factors, from departing veterans like Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney to Daniel Jones not being the productive quarterback he was in 2022. But mainly, other teams have gotten a lot better, and the Giants haven’t, a lesson they learned in the first game of the season when they took on a new-look Vikings team and were blown out in convincing fashion.
“While they fixed the offensive line and got better defensively, talent wise at least, it’s hard to win in the NFL,” Tiki said. “The Giants have played in a lot of close games, and they don’t know how to win yet...this team, I think we overestimated the growth of some of the players on this team.”
For Evan, his reasoning is simple: the team isn’t good enough, and it’s because the general manager hasn’t hit on some key draft picks and other additions.
“To me, they just don’t have enough talent. That’s kind of a bad look for Joe Schoen,” Evan said. “If I was identifying someone to blame, I would start with the general manager...they’re not that good.
“I thought the talent on this roster offensively and defensively was better than this...I look at the talent and say ‘Yeah, that’s kind of who they are.’ To me, that’s on the architect.”
Tommy Lugauer puts the blame on Brian Daboll, but Shaun Morash is with Evan in pointing to the front office, as he believes Schoen and company did not do a good enough job creating a more competitive atmosphere behind Jones at quarterback, and once again didn’t have a suitable backup plan for their most important player, who is missing extended time for the second straight season.
“They didn’t have enough there when they already knew quarterback was an issue...and last year, when Andrew Thomas got hurt, the entire season crumbled,” Morash said. “To not have at least a playable plan in case he got hurt? I think the last three weeks have been a direct result of Andrew Thomas not playing.”