Golden Tate minced no words Sunday when he measured his disappointment in the Giants' 27-21 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
"People spend their hard-earned money to sit in the rain and watch us do that," Tate said after the game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where the skies opened up for a cold and soggy afternoon. "It's just unacceptable."
Tate turned in another strong performance with six receptions for 80 yards (13.3 average), but the collective effort served New York (2-5) its third straight loss after it fell short against a middling Arizona (3-3-1) team.
"We made those guys look like the '85 Bears," Tate said. "We had a great scheme. We just did not execute. We had opportunities, but I feel like a lot of the time we were kind of playing behind the sticks, where we take a sack, we have a penalty, we drop it, whatever it may be.
"We just gotta be better with the details and I'm going to probably say it for the rest of the year and my entire time, we don't need to be the best team in the league, we just need to be better than the team we were going against and today we just absolutely weren't."
Despite running back Saquon Barkley's return from a high sprain to his right ankle that held him out for three games -- he was solid with a touchdown and 72 yards on 18 carries (4.0 average) -- the Giants' offense ultimately struggled.
Rookie quarterback Daniel Jones completed 22 of 35 passes (62.9 percent) for 223 yards and a touchdown to an interception, but took eight sacks -- including three fumbles (two lost) -- that killed the Giants, who outgained the Cardinals in total yards 263-245.
Pat Shurmur caught some heat as well for the head coach's odd play-calling decisions down the stretch, but Tate wasn't into making excuses for how the offense failed to execute.
"There's times where we get something going and we have a penalty or we would drop the ball or we would get sacked or something like that and I only can speak on the offense, because that's what I work with directly," Tate said. "I thought special teams came up and made a big play for us.
"(Tight end) Rhett (Ellison) made a big play for us (on a 28-yard touchdown catch) and put us back in the game and we've got to ride that momentum. We come back out after halftime and we're getting the ball and I think we were, what? Three-and-out, three-and-out? Is that right? You can't do that."
"People spend their hard-earned money and come sit in the rain to watch us do that. It's unacceptable" - Golden Tate pic.twitter.com/dPNpqg5Qlo
- Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) October 20, 2019
