Perhaps the best thing for the Giants — and particularly Evan Neal — is that they’re not playing at home Sunday.
Or the following Sunday.
Not after their second-year right tackle, the seventh-overall pick in the 2022 draft, on Wednesday hurled a verbal Molotov cocktail in the direction of the home fans for being (we’re paraphrasing here) undereducated ingrates with low-paying jobs.
The Giants have been outscored 64-3 at MetLife Stadium in two games. They can’t block (11 sacks allowed to Seattle on Monday night), can’t tackle, haven’t forced a single turnover, can’t score (ranked last in the NFL in points) and have the worst-ranked special teams in the league.
Now they go on the road Sunday to play a 3-1 Dolphins team that scored 70 points in a single game two weeks ago followed by a road game against the AFC power Buffalo Bills.
The Giants are 11-point underdogs to the Dolphins and likely will be two-touchdown ’dogs in Buffalo. That not only makes a 1-5 start to this season a very real possibility, if we’re going by trends it seems highly likely.
With each loss, the pressure is mounting — on the coaching staff and the players.
On Wednesday, Neal became the first to crack publicly. You’ve undoubtedly heard his rant in an interview with NJ Advance Media, during which he railed on the home fans booing him and the team, saying, “Why would a lion concern himself with the opinion of a sheep? … The person that’s commenting on my performance, what does he do? Flip hot dogs and hamburgers somewhere?”
Neal, too, ripped Giants fans for being “fair-weather” and “bandwagoners.”
He quickly issued an apology on social media Wednesday night and on Thursday before practice, Neal addressed his teammates, apologizing for being a distraction.
Neal’s weak moment, though, is perhaps symptomatic of players inside the locker room feeling the heat of his early-season skid, one year after the team started 6-1 and went to the playoffs.
“Obviously, he’s frustrated — we’re all frustrated — but you can’t let your emotions get the best of you,’’ receiver Darius Slayton said.
“You don’t want to see anybody put themselves in the position that he did, because it becomes a distraction,’’ defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said. “Everybody’s frustrated right now.’’
Neal’s rant also is evidence of a player who’s never experienced losing, having played his college ball at Alabama and winning with the Giants his rookie year.
“[He] came in last year as a rookie and everything was sunshine and rainbows,’’ Slayton said. “We started the year 6-1. There was nothing bad to say. We made the playoffs. These are our fans and you don’t want to make an enemy of the fans. It was a mistake and he’s learned from it.’’
Saquon Barkley offered a similar message when he said, “The advice I would give to him is never pick a battle with the fans. You’re never going to win that one. They’ve been here before us and some of them will be here after us. That’s just the truth.
“Do I think what he said was wrong? I think he could have used his words differently.”
There was a common theme amongst Giants players as to how to alleviate the pressure and curb the frustration Neal and the rest of them are feeling.
“Play better,’’ Slayton said. “We didn’t get booed last year. If you’re winning, what is there to boo?’’
Barkley said: “We’ve got to perform better because at the end of the day it’s an entertainment business and we’ve got to put a product out there for fans to be happy about.’’
The message head coach Brian Daboll delivered to Neal when they spoke about what Daboll referred to as his “slip-up’’ was about developing a thicker skin and moving on.
“He was frustrated, he made a poor choice, a poor decision, poor comments,’’ Daboll said. “He acknowledged that and we’re moving on. You’ve got to be resilient in this league.’’
Giants special teams coach Thomas McGaughey knows the pressure Neal and the players are feeling, because he feels it himself — especially after a game in which his unit fumbled away a punt and committed multiple penalties.
“We know what we signed up for,’’ McGaughey said. “This is pro football. Fans are going to say things. That’s part of it. Pressure? That comes with the job. Pressure is wearing this [pointing to the Giants logo on his shirt]. Pressure’s my friend. I keep it right here in my back pocket.
“Pressure don’t bother me,’’ McGaughey, a cancer survivor, went on. “I absolutely love it. I wouldn’t want to be in any other place [where] they don’t give a … they don’t care. You want the pressure of being in New York.’’
This is something that Neal and the rest of the players inside the Giants locker room have no choice but embrace. It’s a necessary tool for survival in this jungle.