Joe Schoen’s job is in jeopardy. Brian Daboll’s job is in jeopardy.
Daniel Jones might have lost his job already.
The Giants are not a team anyone can believe in after Sunday’s pathetic 28-6 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, former Jets quarterback Sam Darnold and scorned former head coaching candidate Brian Flores.
The touchdown count for the season after Week 1 so far is Saquon Barkley three, the Giants’ entire team zero.
Co-owner John Mara didn’t break stride or alter his gaze at all when asked for comment by the Daily News after the game.
“You can put it all on me,” Daboll said of the unacceptable afternoon.
The fans booed the team into the locker room at halftime as Bill Parcells and the Giants’ legends walked on with a “100 Seasons” banner to honor the franchise’s centennial.
They streamed for the exits when Jones threw a pick-six to Vikings edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel on a bubble screen call by Daboll with 4:22 remaining in the third quarter.
They jeered when Jones came back onto the field with the Giants offense on the next offensive series. The stadium emptied when Jones got intercepted in the end zone by Vikings safety Harrison Smith on the Giants’ next drive.
Then the Vikings’ fans overtook the atmosphere with a “SKOL” chant.
“It’s our job to give them something to cheer about,” Jones said. “And we take that seriously.”
Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, interestingly enough, took less kindly to the boos.
“I don’t respect it, honestly,” Lawrence said. “I get it. They want to see their team win. It’s a rough patch. I mean, it just is what it is.”
Daboll, who scored no touchdowns in his debut as the Giants’ full-time playcaller, said he did not consider benching Jones for Drew Lock during Sunday’s terrible loss.
Asked if he will consider benching Jones for next Sunday’s game at Washington, Daboll said: “We’re gonna watch everything. That’s not in my mind.”
Jones was asked if he’s concerned about his starting quarterback job.
“I’m focused on doing my job and playing as well as I can,” Jones said. “I’ve got to play better. I know that. And I’m focused on doing that.”
In between the third and fourth quarters, Mara was standing and pacing pensively in the hallway behind his viewing suite.
He has a lot to think about and a lot to rue. It wasn’t just Jones.
The Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell and Flores coached the pants off Daboll and new Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. Daboll’s team committed nine penalties.
Jones was sacked five times and hit on 12 more occasions behind the supposedly fixed offensive line. And five receivers dropped passes from Jones: rookie tight end Theo Johnson, running backs Devin Singletary and Tyrone Tracy Jr., rookie receiver Malik Nabers and wideout Jalin Hyatt.
Nabers made five catches for 66 yards but said the offense was off-balance all day.
“Daniel said he was trying to get me the ball. He saw a lot of pressure in his face,” said Nabers, the Giants’ No. 6 overall pick. “So I mean, I can’t control that. They tried to get me the ball. Just stuff wasn’t working right. So we just gotta fix that up.”
An 11-point halftime deficit quickly became 21-3 Vikings with 12:08 remaining in the third quarter after Darnold drove the ball 70 yards in six plays. A Kayvon Thibodeaux personal foul facemask kept the drive alive early, and Cor’Dale Flott got beaten on Darnold’s 21-yard TD pass to Jalen Nailor.
The Giants only managed a 50-yard Graham Gano field goal, his second of the game, the rest of the way. Van Ginkel’s 10-yard interception return rounded out the scoring.
Middle linebacker Bobby Okereke understood the fans’ frustration.
“The fans are probably feeling this is just like last year,” Okereke said. “Not quite the start like last year against Dallas, but still not the result you want to make the fans proud of and you’ve been working all offseason for. We take that to heart. It means a lot to us.”
The Giants (0-1) now limp lifelessly into a Week 2 road trip to face the Commanders, an NFC East foe. They are not exuding confidence, either, which matches Daboll’s pre-game message that one game doesn’t define a season, win or lose.
They were prepared to handle a discouraging defeat, and that’s what they got.
Daboll came out to prove that New York’s first-round pick was a true franchise quarterback, and that’s what he did — for Darnold, the Jets’ No. 3 overall pick from 2018.
Darnold completed his first 12 passes for 145 yards and a 3-yard touchdown to Justin Jefferson to open the game, and the Vikings trotted into halftime up, 14-3, to a chorus of boos from the crowd.
Darnold, the former Jets quarterback, was comfortable throwing against Shane Bowen’s zone-heavy defense with Brian Burns and the Giants’ big-name pass rushers rarely invading his space.
Only Dexter Lawrence did any damage with a first-half sack and a second-half QB hit to force a Darnold interception to rookie Darius Muasau once the result was out of hand.
The Giants at least scored the first points of the game.
Rookie corner Dru Phillips forced a fumble by Vikings fullback C.J. Ham, and Okereke recovered it on the Minnesota 20-yard line to set up a Gano 23-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 7:16 remaining.
But the Vikings answered immediately with a five-play, 65-yard touchdown drive built on a 36-yard pass interference penalty on recently re-signed corner Adoree Jackson against Vikings receiver Jordan Addison.
Running back Aaron Jones beat Nick McCloud off the left edge for a 3-yard touchdown run and a 7-3 lead with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter.
That lead felt larger than four points because of how pathetic Daboll’s offense looked early, however, including a first drive that went for -9 yards, including a delay of game penalty and the Johnson drop.
Jones and the Giants offense managed only 87 yards of offense in the first half. Their only points came on the short field after the Vikings’ game-opening fumble.
One reason was a lack of discipline. Daboll’s team committed six penalties in the first half alone.
Daboll finally got Nabers his first target with 1:45 remaining in the first quarter and his first catch two plays later for a 25-yard gain. But the Giants offense then committed three penalties in the next four plays:
First they had too many men on the field. Then right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor got whistled for a false start. Then wideout Wan’Dale Robinson was called for a hold.
Punter Jamie Gillan helped out by pinning the Vikings offense at Minnesota’s 1-yard line with the help of coverage players Ty Summers, Dane Belton and McCloud.
That just meant more passing yardage for Darnold, though. He directed an 11-play, 99-yard touchdown drive, including a 44-yard bomb to Jefferson over top of Deonte Banks down the left sideline.
Bowen’s defense sat back in zone, and Darnold easily hit two more passes for 16 and 13 yards, respectively. Then, on 4th and 2 from the 3-yard line, Darnold zipped a 3-yard slant TD to Jefferson against Banks for a 14-3 Minnesota lead with 6:55 to play in the first half.
On the Giants’ ensuing drive, Daboll confusingly called back-to-back designed QB runs for Jones on 2nd and 5 and 3rd and 2 near midfield, then punted on 4th and 3 from the Vikings’ 49-yard line.
The stadium grew restless because the fans knew what they were watching: a white flag decision by their head coach and offensive play-caller.
Daboll had no explanation for that decision other than he thought it was best for the team. He was appropriately harsh on his poor debut as the full-time playcaller.
“We lost by a lot and didn’t score, so not good enough,” he said. “You gotta do a good job to give yourself a chance, and obviously we didn’t. No excuses. Give Minnesota credit. I didn’t do a good enough job, and I’ll work hard to fix it.”
It doesn’t feel like working hard will fix this, though.
When Darius Slayton muffed punt late in the second quarter, it shined a lot on the team’s personnel mismanagement, which had only 51 of a possible 53 players on the active roster Sunday after cutting linebacker Curtis Bolton.
Slayton was only back there because the Giants had attempted to play punt returner Gunner Olszewski – who had been limited all week with a groin injury – and he aggravated the injury on the field before the game.
The dysfunction was non-stop. The fans were disgusted.
This was not a product fit for a day when the Giants honored their legends.
This is not a satisfactory product if Schoen and Daboll intend to keep working in New Jersey at all.
ADD INJURIES TO INSULT
Giants special teams LB Carter Coughlin left the game in the second quarter with a shoulder injury, but the team updated it as a pectoral injury in the third quarter and ruled him out. Coughlin and Summers were elevated from the practice squad for this game. Now Coughlin could be out long term … Starting corner Nick McCloud (knee) left the game in the third quarter, as well … Inside linebacker Micah McFadden (groin) dressed in uniform despite being limited all week at practice, then didn’t play. Daboll’s explanation for his lack of usage and activation was strange: “We’ll talk about that here, we’ll meet with the coaching staff,” he said. “We were gonna go with Darius to start out and see how it went, and that’s where we’re at.”
