Post-game quotebook: Giants’ players admit embarrassment, but not giving up

The word “embarrassment” keeps coming up in regards to the New York Giants’ 51-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. There is also the notion that the 1-7 Giants got embarrassed, at least partially, because they quit.

Giants players will cop to being embarrassed. As they should. By the results on Sunday. By being 1-7. By all of the headlines generated by the in-season suspensions of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Janoris Jenkins. They will not, however, admit that anyone in the locker room has given up.

“Yeah, this was embarrassing,” said Landon Collins, who tried to escape before speaking to reporters, but ended up surrounded by reporters in the hallway outside the locker room.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, man,” said Rodgers-Cromartie when asked if this was the team’s most embarrassing loss. “We’ve got 51 points on us at home. Away, I can understand, I can’t understand 51, but I can understand because it’s away, but being home, I can’t understand that.”

“I think you should take it to heart,” said defensive tackle Jay Bromley. “You should take it to heart looking at that scoreboard as far as being a defense.”

Rookie tight end Evan Engram was one of the lone bright spots for the Giants, catching four passes for 70 yards. Engram, though, couldn’t take any solace in his play.

“As a competitor with the amount of work we put in, yeah. It was pretty embarrassing, just as the team we know we are and know who we can be. That wasn’t us today.”

The losing is definitely wearing on the Giants’ first-round pick.

“It’s tough. Definitely learning early how tough it is to win in this league. It is what it is. I come in every day to work. First year, 10th year; it’s tough to lose. It’s definitely tough,” he said. “We’ve got to stick together. We’ve got to stick together and got to put the work in when we get back on Tuesday. Look ourselves in the mirror and keep working, keep fighting and staying together.”

Running back Orleans Darkwa, another bright spot with 71 yards on 16 carries, volunteered that he was embarrassed without being asked that directly.

“The score indicates what happened. We just didn’t play well in all three phases and they’re a good team. Their record shows and we just didn’t play well, point blank simple,” Darkwa said. It’s embarrassing. Especially on our home field like that. We don’t want to perform like that.”

Just don’t tell the players it looked like they quit.

“Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. Mistakes cost us the game,” said defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. “I felt like the effort was there, just big mistakes. Big mistakes cost us. You can’t fumble the ball, you can’t turn over the ball, period. Big mistakes cost us the game. At the end of the day, you can’t point the finger at nobody. Nobody is trying to point the finger. We just have to come back out here and play some football.”

Darkwa wasn’t buying that the players had given up.

“No. We’ve got a lot of fighters in this room on this team. I don’t think anybody is laying down for anybody. At the end of the day, we’re playing the game that we love, so if anybody is trying to lay down for a team then they don’t need to be here,” Darkwa said. “But I think we’ve got the right guys in the room that are going to fight until the end. We have the trust in this coaching staff, so we’ve got to go out there and fight and I think we will.”

Collins said the Giants would “never” quit.

“We’re still fighting,” he said. I don’t feel like anybody’s quit on the team. I see it as practice.”

Final thoughts

Take all of that for what it’s worth. Players are never going to admit that they, or some of their teammates, didn’t give maximum effort. The performance, though, speaks for itself.