The Giants’ early-season struggles continued as they suffered another embarrassing home loss in front of a national audience, falling to the Seattle Seahawks, 24-3, on Monday Night Football.
Despite having 11 days to prepare following their Thursday night matchup with the San Francisco 49ers, the Big Blue offense put together another ugly performance, as they failed to move the ball for the majority of the night.
“We simply didn’t get the job done,” head coach Brian Daboll said postgame. “We didn’t play a complementary football game, we had some opportunities but didn’t score any points, it was a little bit of everything.”
Quarterback Daniel Jones was again playing behind a makeshift offensive line with All Pro Andrew Thomas missing his third straight game with a hamstring injury and starting center John Michael Schmitz ruled out due to a shoulder injury suffered during the first drive.
The Seahawks pass rush took advantage of that, pressuring the former first-round pick on what seemed like every play, and finishing the night with a total of 14 QB hits and a franchise-record-tying 11 sacks.
"We take responsibility for those," offensive tackle Evan Neal said. "We just have to play better. We come into work every day, we work hard, we put our best foot forward, and right now we're just not playing our best ball. We gotta get to the drawing board and figure it out."
To make matters worse, Jones’ turnover issues which have plagued him again this season returned as he gave the ball away three times, including a 97-yard interception returned for a touchdown with the Giants driving late in the third.
“I can’t afford to do that there,” Jones said on the INT. “I just felt like the coverage was soft and I was trying to find someone in the zone, it was obviously a terrible decision and an awful mistake.”
Jones went on to finish the night 27-of-34 passing for 203 yards and a pair of interceptions. He also ran the ball 10 times and led the team with 66 rushing yards, but fumbled on one of the Seattle sacks.
“Obviously I didn’t play well enough, it was unacceptable and I let the team down,” the QB said. “I know I have to play better and I’m going to work as hard as I possibly can to get it right.”
Jones and the Giants will have to try to turn things around really quick as the upcoming schedule doesn't get any easier with road matchups against the high-powered Dolphins and Bills over the next two weeks.
While things aren’t going as hoped right now, both Daboll and Jones still believe they can turn things around.
“There’s a long way to go, but there’s certainly things we have to do better,” the head coach said. “I have a lot of confidence in the guys in the room. We all need to play better together and that’s what we’re focused on as a group.”
“It’s about what we do from here," Jones added. "It's about getting things corrected and playing better football. We have the right kind of guys, we have the talent we need, we just have to put it together and be consistent with it.”