Hey, did you see what the Saints did to the Cowboys? They beat them in Dallas. They scored 44 points. I didn't see that coming.
Look at the Vikings. They beat the 49ers and are 2-0 with Sam Darnold at quarterback. I didn't think that was going to happen.
Look at the AFC North. Why are the Ravens and Bengals both 0-2? The Ravens lost to the Raiders in Baltimore. Weren't the Raiders supposed to be terrible?
In the NFL, there are conversations, surprises and unbelievable facts like these almost every week. You could say it's short for “No Football Logic.” Every weekend, or even every Thursday or Monday night, when we see the games, scores and results on our TVs or on our phones, we take a double take and say or think, “Really?”
And then there are the Giants.
The season has just begun and the Giants are living up to expectations. If you've been out all day or intentionally avoided social media or news sites and you can't resist asking your friend, “What did the Giants do today?” and they reply, “The Giants scored three touchdowns and didn't allow a touchdown, but oh well, they lost,” your response would be… what?
You wouldn't have said, “I can't believe it.” If you'd been following all of this and paying attention, you would have said, “Okay, tell me why. Tell me the dirty details.” And you would have enjoyed the kicking mayhem, the lack of a reliable player to attempt the extra point or a field goal, the imperfect 7-on-7 defensive series and field goal ratio allowed, all of which combined to result in Commanders 21, Giants 18.
You may have been disappointed, discouraged, or just plain fed up, but you probably wouldn't have been shocked.
Herein lies the danger: What is felt on the outside cannot filter into the locker room. What flows through the veins of paying fans cannot make it into the bloodstream of players and coaches.
In 1996, at the height of the Yankees' dynasty, second baseman Mariano Duncan would ask shortstop Derek Jeter, “Are we playing today?” Jeter would respond, “We're going to win today,” and Duncan would confidently conclude with a simple, confident, “We're going to be OK.”
What's that exchange going to be like with the Giants these days? Dexter Lawrence: “Are we playing today?” Daniel Jones: “Yeah, we're going to stick to the fundamentals, the game plan, the practice habits and do our best.”
The Giants have never been 0-2 under Brian Daboll before, so there's an added danger. Daboll started his head coaching career in 2022 with a 2-0 record with two one-run wins. It felt like this might be the beginning of a new era for the Giants, where things have gone right more often than they've gone wrong. In 2023, they were 1-1 after two games with a spectacular Week 2 upset at Arizona. So this represents a low point in terms of early-season uncertainty for Daboll and the Giants.
“I've been on teams that went 0-2 and did pretty well,” Daboll said, “and I know they did well here, so like I always say, what actually happened 10 years ago or last year has absolutely no relevance to this season.”
Daboll was an assistant with the Patriots in 2001, when the team started 0-2 and won the Super Bowl. The Giants went 0-2 in 2007 but won the Super Bowl. It's likely Daboll won't mention any of this very old history to his players.
Good teams look ahead at their schedules in pursuit of wins. And teams like the Giants do the opposite: They tend to go week by week and try to discern when the next win will come. Is it the Browns on the road this week? The Cowboys, who ended a short week with Thursday Night Football? Seattle? For teams that find ways to lose, finding a path to victory isn't as simple as turning on a navigation device and following the directions.
The Giants were good in their second outing — Jones, the running game, the offensive line. The pass rush wasn't at the level expected, but it was better than it was in the opener when he didn't play. Malik Neighbors looks like a star. But a loss affects everyone in some way.
“It's really easy to point the finger of blame when things go wrong,” left tackle Andrew Thomas said.
“We're pointing thumbs, not fingers,” linebacker Bobby Okereke said, meaning players are looking at what they can improve individually.
Edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeau looked better in Week 2 than Week 1, but the results were the same. He didn't contribute much after that. There were some standard answers, but then this: “I'm just trying to stay positive.”
That will be extremely difficult to achieve unless the Giants change their usual approach.
