The most difficult losing for Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch to tolerate is the kind that turns their diehard fans apathetic.
When fans stop coming to the games, when MetLife Stadium becomes a ghost town, when people stop wanting to be affiliated with the team, that’s when major change happens.
Usually the outrage builds into November and December of a lost season. This year, however, it has already started in early September after Sunday’s disgusting, boo-filled, 28-6 home loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
“I will never be embarrassed to be a Giants fan,” YouTube user Alex wrote Sunday night on Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard Postgame Live, “but I took off my jersey before going food shopping.”
A season ticket holder said he wouldn’t go back to another home game this season.
“Boycott the next game,” user Ian wrote. “Unacceptable.”
The Giants’ next home game will be in Week 4, a Sept. 26 Thursday Night Football visit from the Dallas Cowboys, who just dismantled the Cleveland Browns, 33-17, on the road.
Most of the Giants understand the fans’ outrage.
“I understand it,” head coach Brian Daboll said Monday. “Our job is to produce, and we didn’t get the job done.”
“I mean, shoot, I don’t blame them,” said right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor, who struggled in his Giants debut. “We need to be better, and we will be better. But obviously it’s New York City. They want to win. So [we] as an offense and me as a player, as the starting right tackle, we all need to do better.”
Other players were defensive in the face of the crowd’s frustration.
“I didn’t hear that,” edge rusher Brian Burns said.
“I don’t respect it, honestly,” defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said of the boos. “I get it. They want to see their team win. It’s a rough patch. I mean, it just is what it is.”
The timing and level of this outrage is early and different, though, and everyone inside the Giants knows it.
This is the second straight season that GM Joe Schoen and Daboll have put a team on the field in Week 1 that was unprepared to compete in an NFL game.
The fans know that while the Giants’ record is 0-1, the nature of their loss indicates their season is already over unless a dramatic turnaround occurs in Weeks 2 and 3 at Washington and Cleveland, respectively.
That’s probably why Google Trends spiked at 3 p.m. Eastern on Sunday for the search term “2025 NFL Draft” in the New York Metropolitan area.
Fans know the Vikings’ Sam Darnold is really the backup to J.J. McCarthy, whom the Giants did not deem worthy of a first-round pick in April, and Darnold completed 79.2% of his passes (19-of-24) as Kevin O’Connell outschemed new Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen.
The crowd also has taken its cue from the organization’s overt attempt to replace Daniel Jones, televised on HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks,’ including NFL Draft interest in the quarterback they will face Sunday at Washington: Commanders rookie No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels.
The fans’ immediate boos of Jones on Sunday and their early exits after his two back-breaking interceptions told the Giants organization that they are done watching No. 8 under center. They want someone else.
There were even fans at the stadium chanting for Tommy DeVito during Sunday’s second quarter, even though Mr. Cutlets was inactive and only eligible as the emergency third quarterback.
It got even nastier after the game. Fans waited to heckle Jones outside the players’ entrance, yelling “Danny Pennies,” “you suck,” “go home” and “same thing every year” at Jones as he walked to his car.
“I think that’s taking it a little bit too far,” former NFL wide receiver Bennie Fowler, an ex-Giants teammate of Jones, said on Monday’s ‘First Down with Bennie Fowler’ episode of Talkin’ Ball. “But the boos, yeah, that’s gonna come with it. You’re playing shi–y football, playing horrible football, and you’re making the same mistakes. And you can’t do that, especially at quarterback — especially when they’re paying you the way they’re paying you.
“I’m not gonna say it’s all on Daniel. His coaches have to help him out,” Fowler added. “[But] you’ve got to think: people are paying their hard-earned money. And the economy is in a tough spot right now. So if I’m paying top dollar to come to MetLife Stadium to watch football with my family, find parking, walk and then I see that type of performance, I’m gonna be pissed. Especially if I got to sit back in New York traffic on the way back home.”
Despite the fans’ calls for Jones’ job, however, Daboll said Monday that Jones is still his starting quarterback.
The coach also said the team is not considering or discussing signing another QB to the roster, and Daboll does not intend to give more practice reps to backups Drew Lock or DeVito.
“Nope,” Daboll said.
But something has to change, and not just on offense.
On defense, Schoen’s former No. 5 overall pick Kayvon Thibodeaux had one QB hit, no tackles and a costly 15-yard personal foul penalty against the Vikings. And Burns ($28.2 million per year), the third-highest paid edge in the league, had four tackles and no QB hits.
Much was made this summer about tying the edge rushers to the defensive line plan led by position coach Andre Patterson. But against the coach’s former Vikings team, Thibodeaux and Burns were quiet and mostly unnoticeable.
After the game, Thibodeaux also bristled at a question about the higher expectations for the Giants’ pass rush.
“Anybody else got questions?” he said.
This is what happens when an organization enters a season opener uptight and the team feels the weight of people’s jobs being on the line. The pressure gets to them.
Those are also two major investments of Schoen’s that underperformed Sunday, which is a troublesome trend.
It didn’t help that Mara’s face was all over social media last Friday night, either, as Saquon Barkley ran wild for three touchdowns in Brazil against the Green Bay Packers. Public humiliation in that manner adds another level of criticism to the front office, especially since half of the Mara mentions were empathizing with the co-owner’s desire to retain his face-of-the-franchise former running back.
“The Giants’ roster construction is just horrible, and it’s been horrible since even when I was there in terms of the way the roster’s set up,” said Fowler, who played under former GM Dave Gettleman. “Offensive line, defensive line, skill players: none of the pieces fit. None of them are complementary, and it’s tough to watch. It’s just not good football.
“And they’re gonna continue to struggle,” he added. “Then you watch Saquon go out there and play and score three touchdowns, which he hasn’t done since I was playing there with him. Even from an entertainment and business standpoint, now you’re super upset [if you’re the Giants].”
Daboll would not reveal exactly what ownership told him after Sunday’s embarrassment.
“Ownership conversations that I have are private,” Daboll said. “We didn’t play well. We didn’t coach well. I said that after the game. We’ve got to do a better job.”
Fans don’t want to hear about the Giants’ preparation or intentions, though. They want to see results — even though they have no confidence this is turning around.
As a Giants fan named MJ said: “Season feels over already.”
THE HITS KEEP COMING
The Giants had several injuries coming out of Sunday’s opener. No. 2 wide receiver Darius Slayton is in the concussion protocol, Daboll said. Starting corner Nick McCloud (knee) is day-to-day, “maybe week-to-week.” Punt returner Gunner Olszewski (groin) will be out for “weeks,” and special teams linebacker Carter Coughlin (pectoral) will be out for “months” and was placed on the practice squad/injured list.
The Giants held a punt returner workout on Monday due to Olszewski’s and Slayton’s injuries and signed a return specialist named Ihmir Smith-Marsette. They also signed LB Curtis Bolton back to the practice squad.
Smith-Marsette, 25, of Newark, N.J., was a Vikings 5th-round pick in 2021. He has played 33 games for four teams, including last season with the Carolina Panthers, where he returned 37 punts for 322 yards (8.7-yard average), including a 79-yard TD in Week 10 at Chicago. He also scored on a 20-yard run on offense.
