Ben McAdoo: “I saw no sign of quit” from Giants players

As he had been after Sunday’s blowout 34-point loss to the Los Angeles Rams, coach Ben McAdoo was adamant Monday evening that the New York Giants had given effort throughout the game.

“I watched the film. I saw no sign of quit,” McAdoo said during a Monday conference call.

“I saw a team that fought to the end. ... Our guys played hard. They fought until the end.”

Even if he did see signs that players had thrown in the towel Sunday, or stopped listening to him and other Giants coaches, McAdoo can’t say that to the media. If he was going to do that, he might as well announce his resignation. And, yes, I know many of you would cheer if he did that.

Here are some other takeaways from McAdoo’s Monday remarks.

On Sunday’s “historical loss” ...

“... lost a home game in all three phases in an ugly fashion. A historical loss in many ways. There’s no excuse for it. It falls on my shoulders to hold the coaches and players accountable to get it fixed. We played bad team football in all three phases. We turned it over on offense, didn’t handle the ball well all day. On defense, we missed tackles, gave up explosive plays and didn’t keep them out of the end zone. On special teams, our punt team was poor. We missed hit some balls. The protection wasn’t good enough and we lacked integrity in our coverage lanes. At the end of the day, the players did not quit. They have fight in them and everything we did was fixable.”

On the 52-yard third-and-33 touchdown where cornerback Eli Apple appeared to give up ...

“The third-and-long was a, you know, there are pre-snap, we could have aligned better. Post-snap, we could have attacked better. Our pursuit and our angles to the ball could have been better and as far as Eli goes, he needs to attack and tackle right there. But, it’s more than just one guy.”

Valentine’s View: Despite his having said none of the players quit, that answer reads to me (I was not on the call) like a question McAdoo was uncomfortable answering.

On whether the injury-ravaged Giants have enough talent to be competitive ...

“We’re only half way through the season. We got a lot of football left to play. Everything is fixable. Everything will be addressed. Coaches, we need to put a good plan together, put players in a position to be successful. Players need to prepare to go out and execute the plan on Sunday.”

“... fundamentals are always something you’re chasing. You’re always working to get better fundamentally. When we’re on the type of streak that we’re on, we’re not playing great football. Obviously, fundamentals stick out. Poor fundamentals stick out like a sore thumb.”

Valentine’s View: Again, McAdoo can’t say “our players aren’t good enough, we have no chance.” The “everything is fixable” nonsense, though, is coach speak. Those fundamentals seem to be getting worse, not better.

On Eli Manning as the starting quarterback ...

“He’s our quarterback. But that doesn’t mean at some point in time, we won’t throw another guy in there to get a look at him. Every position needs to be held accountable and every position needs to play to a high standard. Same thing with the coaches. And obviously, when you lose in the fashion that we lost yesterday, it’s not good enough. Anywhere. Coaching or playing.”

Valentine’s View: The only way to translate that is that Davis Webb will play at some point, but it won’t be Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.

On the suspension of Janoris Jenkins ...

McAdoo said he had “no update” and “I’ll meet with him when I get a minute.”

Valentine’s View: Before you go off on McAdoo for that, the funeral for Tisch family matriarch Joan Tisch was held Monday. That, obviously, consumed a good portion of the day.