After a frustrating eighth straight loss for the Giants, CB Janoris Jenkins wasn't afraid to speak his mind about the team's defensive scheme.
"You've got to use your weapons. I'm the only one in the league that doesn't travel (with the opponents top wide receiver). I don't understand why," Jenkins said. "It's common sense. I'm on the left side of the field all game. I get two passes thrown my way. All the top corners in the league travel. Rabbit doesn't travel anymore."
What Jenkins said was true. The Giants left him on the left side of the defense, and the Packers only looked his way on two passes, both of which went incomplete.
Instead, Aaron Rodgers was picking on the young corners. Grant Haley was a name that was consistently seen being beat, and most of that was due to Davante Adams needing to be covered. Adams had himself a day with two touchdowns and 64 yards through the air on 10 targets. DeAndre Baker and Sam Beal were also targeted more than Jackrabbit.
Head coach Pat Shurmur addressed the situation on Monday, saying that the heat of competition and frustration of losing an eighth straight game contributed to Jenkins' answers.
"We all know, you guys have gotten to know him, and I know Rabbit really well," Shurmur said. "He's a spirited guy and he wants to have an impact on the game. I think his assessment of we're the only team that don't travel isn't quite accurate."
Shurmur noted that the Vikings, for one, are a team that doesn't travel with their receiver, and there are others around the league that also follow that system. But Shurmur also hasn't been able to talk to Jenkins, who he says left right away as he is dealing with an illness in his family.
Still, Shurmur doesn't believe Jenkins was taking a shot at James Bettcher's scheme, though that's exactly what it appeared to be.
"I'm not sure that's what he was doing. That may be the impression," Shurmur said. "Coaches and players talk about a lot of things behind the scenes. But obviously anything that we do, we should do behind the scenes."
The Giants have been good about keeping things positive despite their lack of winning recently. But Jenkins' feelings may have boiled over after this loss that saw a lot of breakdowns in coverage.
With four games still left to play, we'll see if Bettcher shifts his scheme to suit Jenkins' want to cover the opponent's best receiver. But, at this point in the season, the Giants have a lot more than that to fix if they want to end this long losing streak soon.