Deonte Banks is his harshest critic coming off Sunday’s win in Cleveland.
“I feel like I played like some s–t, truth be told,” Banks, 23, the Giants’ top corner, told the Daily News Tuesday at his locker.
The Browns offense attacked Banks with veteran receiver Amari Cooper for seven completions, 86 yards and two touchdown passes, per NFL NextGenStats. The Giants’ second-year corner said the film showed that he played a technically sound game, but it wasn’t acceptable because he didn’t make plays on the ball.
And the “savvy vet” Cooper made him pay.
“I feel like technically I played a good game,’ Banks said. “I played one of my best games from a technical standpoint with technique, being there, being in the face, controlling the route. I made some plays. But I didn’t make as many plays as I wanted to.”
The former first-round pick said he was lacking in one key area.
“Finding the ball,” he said. “Being there at the catch point and finding the ball.”
That means turning his head back to see the ball or anticipating its arrival by getting a hand in the way of the receivers.
“Sometimes you can play hand to hand,” he said. “But I was in great position to find the ball.”
Banks is no position to hang his head with CeeDee Lamb and the Dallas Cowboys on deck Thursday night, though, and he’s not the type to do so anyway — even after he watched Cleveland shift its entire offensive plan at one point to attacking him specifically.
“I’m gonna always stay with it, I ain’t gonna lie to you,” Banks said with a smile. “I’m a competitor. I’m confident. Always confident. I stay confident. Like I told you, I feel like I played — from a technical standpoint — a great game [in Cleveland].”
Banks said “I had one bad play” in Cleveland that was he was completely off on: Cooper’s 6-yard touchdown on a slant route in the early fourth quarter.
He said Cooper “kind of lulled me to sleep out there” by walking at the start of his route — as if it were a running play — before abruptly cutting inside.
“I’ll tell you one bad play out of that game was the slant,” Banks said. “Because he walked off like it was a run. I’m thinking it’s a run. I peeked at the quarterback, and he broke it off. So that’s what it was. It is what it is, though. Move on. Next play.”
The Minnesota Vikings’ Justin Jefferson also beat Banks for a touchdown on a slant in Week 1, but Banks said that play was “different” from Cooper’s because Banks had anticipated Jefferson’s route and played it. Jefferson just made the play anyway.
“Jet just ran a slant, I played it, I feel like I was in great position,” Banks said, “and he just caught it.”
Next up is Lamb, 25, another one of the NFL’s best receivers who can basically do it all.
“He has awareness, he’s elite, athletic,” Giants corner Cor’Dale Flott said of Lamb. “I feel like Dallas uses him well. He can get open. He understands leverage.”
The unique thing about Lamb, on top of all that, is that he often lines up in the slot instead of at outside receiver. And Banks, the Giants’ top corner, plays mostly on the outside. Flott both inside and outside in Cleveland. Isaiah Simmons played the slot against the Browns, too.
Lamb has lined up for 93 snaps in the slot this season compared to 78 at outside receiver, according to Pro Football Focus. Banks has played 178 outside snaps compared to only 15 in either the box or slot — although six of those slot snaps did come in Cleveland this past Sunday.
The Giants look like they will be without slot corner Dru Phillips (calf) and versatile veteran corner Adoree Jackson (calf) on Thursday after both players were listed as non-participants in practice for a second straight day. They might get Nick McCloud (knee) back from a two-game absence.
It’s not clear if Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen intends to travel Banks with Lamb even into the slot when the Giants go man-to-man. But Banks said he welcomes whatever plan Bowen presents.
“I mean that’s the type of guy I am,” Banks said. “I’ve been traveling since I came here, since last year. If [following Lamb into the slot] is what my coaches want me to do, that’s what it is.”
He refused to say anything specifically about Lamb, though. He kept it about himself.
“I’m just trying to go out there and make plays,” Banks said. “That’s all I’m trying to do. Go out there, be myself and make plays.”
Banks is ranked 74th out of 80 NFL corners who have played at least 50% of their defenses’ snaps this season, per PFF. On Tuesday, however, he owned his bad game in Cleveland.
And on Thursday, he is confident he will play a better one.
“I just stay with it,” he said with a smile.
HAT TIP TO JAYDEN
Malik Nabers conceded that his good friend and former LSU teammate Jayden Daniels beat him out for the NFL’s Rookie of the Week with Monday night’s 293 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-33 Washington road win in Cincinnati.
“Rookie of the Week is over with, I told him,” Nabers said with a laugh. “After he saw me play, he was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve got to go dumb on Monday.’ I was like, ‘I’m rooting for you, just don’t go too hard, though.’ And he did exactly that.”
TIGHT END SHUFFLE
The Giants worked out four tight ends on Monday and are signing recent Packers tight end Joel Wilson to their practice squad. Lawrence Cager is going on injured reserve after being dialed back from his recent side-of-practice rehab, so Brian Daboll said the Giants need a body to help run their scout team at such a physical and important position for their preparation. Daboll insisted he thinks the play of his current tight ends on the active roster has been “good.” … McCloud, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence (foot), linebacker Micah McFadden (back) and wide receiver Darius Slayton (thumb) were still listed as limited on Tuesday, but there is no indication any are in jeopardy of missing Thursday’s game. The same goes for center John Michael Schmitz (neck) and right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (thumb) as full participants.
GET YOUR KICKS
One day after showing some ambivalence about his kicker, Daboll said Greg Joseph will remain the Giants’ kicker for a second straight game on Thursday night against the Cowboys. Joseph badly missed a 48-yard field goal try in Sunday’s fourth quarter in Cleveland, but the Giants are paying him for at least three weeks because they poached him off Detroit’s practice squad to replace the injured Graham Gano in Week 3.
