49ers 31, Giants 21: What did we learn? Players couldn’t support Ben McAdoo on the field

So, now we get to find out if the reports that Ben McAdoo would lose his job if the New York Giants lost to the San Francisco 49ers are correct.

The 1-8 Giants not only lost to San Francisco, the first victory of the season for the 1-9 49ers, they embarrassed themselves. Again. For the second straight week. Questionable effort. Again. Awful defense. Again. A result that was obvious long before the game ended. Again.

It’s hard to believe McAdoo survives this mess. If it looked like his team was trying but was just under-manned that would be one thing. That, though, is obviously not what it looked like. There were some snarky folks on Twitter suggesting the Giants not even let the coach on the plane back from California. That’s just mean. And it won’t happen.

At least some players packed it in last week in an embarrassing 51-17 loss at home to the Los Angeles Rams last week. Then, the anonymous quote mess hit, with two players going to ESPN reporter Josina Anderson to say McAdoo had lost the team or that players had. Several Giants supported the coach verbally by ripping the anonymous complaints. What the Giants really needed to do, though, was support him by showing some fight on the field.

They couldn’t do that. And it wouldn’t be surprising if that costs McAdoo his job.

Janoris Jenkins has quit on his team

Jenkins got suspended for not showing up, and not letting anyone know where he was, when the Giants returned from their bye. He was reinstated last week after sitting one game, but he still hasn’t really returned. Jenkins’ play on Sunday was pathetic.

There was this lack of effort.

There was his absolute refusal to make a tackle on a third-quarter running play. There was the 83-yard touchdown pass he surrendered. Maybe that one was his fault, maybe it wasn’t. Considering his lack of effort most of the game, though, I’m not cutting him any slack.

Quite honestly, I don’t care how much money he makes or who the coach is next week, or next year, I’m not sure Jenkins has a future as a Giant.

Eli will always Eli

Eli Manning played courageously on Sunday. He was even brilliant at times, finishing 27-of-38 for 273 yards, with two touchdowns and a quality passer rating of 113.9. But, there was this:

What that was I can’t even explain. It cost the Giants a second-quarter scoring opportunity after they had reached the 49ers‘ 22-yard line, and was Manning’s sixth fumble of the season. He has now fumbled at least once in four straight games.

Can you really make Steve Spagnuolo head coach?

If the Giants fire McAdoo this week, or at any point before the season is over, the assumption has been that defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo would take over as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

Can the Giants really justify doing that?

Truth is, the problems with effort are all on the defensive side of the ball. That means players on that side of the ball haven’t only quit on McAdoo, they have quit on Spagnuolo as well. McAdoo last week talked about a need to simplify, and Landon Collins admitted the defense had gotten too complex and gotten away from what made it so good a year ago.

Spags was great with the Giants in 2007 and 2008. The defense was great last year. There is, however, a lot of failure on Spagnuolo’s resume in recent years. This year is one of those failures, and he also needs to share in the responsibility for this mess.

It’s kinda hard to promote a guy for doing a bad job.

Aldrick Rosas hasn’t been good enough

The Giants’ rookie placekicker started the game in an appropriate way for teams with a combined 1-16 record at the time, booting the ball out of bounds. He also missed a 34-yard field goal. Despite making two kicks on Sunday, Rosas has now missed field goals in five straight games and is only 10-of-15 (67 percent). That’s not close to good enough.