This was not the norm for Brian Burns.
“I’m not usually into the whole motivational, rah rah and all that,’’ he said, “but if it’s something that’s been on my mind and on my heart I’ll say it.’’
He decided to say it to the group following Sunday’s 30-7 loss to the Buccaneers, a game that was as non-competitive as any of the worst performances the Giants have put out on the field for the past several years of almost exclusively bad football.
Burns is only 11 games into his time with the Giants and so he does not have the psychological wounds of the likes of Dexter Lawrence or Darius Slayton, products of the 2019 draft class, both well-versed in the demise of the franchise.
Burns, though, has seen enough. The Giants are 2-9 and fading fast, owners of a six-game losing streak.
As the players left the field and gathered in the locker room, veteran guard Greg Van Roten was starting to address the team and Burns actually got in the first words.
“I spoke my mind,’’ Burns said. “I told the team I’m not excluding myself, as a whole everybody was bad today and nobody got anything done that we needed to get done and we got a short week and we need to get back to what we were doing.’’
Burns after getting up in front of his teammates proceeded to meet with the media and described the performance of his team, getting behind 30-0 after three quarters, as “ass.’’
Yes it is a short week for the Giants, who have a quick turnaround for their flight Wednesday in advance of a Thanksgiving Day game against the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
Burns was one of several players who sounded disgusted, angry, confused and frustrated after this game.
The benching of Daniel Jones did not move the needle a millimeter, as his replacement, Tommy DeVito, operated a non-functioning offense. It looks as if Jones, who asked for and was granted his release, is the most fortunate one of all, finally rid of all this losing.
Here are some thoughts on loss No. 9 of the season:
Sure, Malik Nabers has a right to lose his patience. He was not targeted for one pass in the first half and he fumed that “First, second quarter, I don’t get the ball. Start getting targets at the end. I mean, can’t do nothing. Start getting the ball when it’s 30-0. What do you want me to do?”
He has to understand this was a function of an offense that was not functioning.
The Giants ran only 18 plays on offense in the first half. DeVito dropped back to throw eight times and he was sacked on three of them. That meant DeVito attempted only five passes in the first half. That is not a whole lot of targets.
Nabers finished with six catches for 64 yards. The coaching staff needs to do everything possible to work with Nabers to make sure the rookie does not get too discouraged as the team in his first NFL season continues to deteriorate. Perhaps they can alert him that his 67 receptions in his first nine career games is an NFL record. Puka Nacua of the Rams had 64 receptions in his first nine games in 2023.
Players actually sounded annoyed with the suggestion that the way the Daniel Jones saga played out last week had anything to do with the moribund showing coming out of the bye week. The Giants certainly operated as if they were distracted but that insinuation actually lets the players off the hook for how dreadfully they performed.
The emotional unrest at seeing Jones get benched and then get released was real for some, but not all players, and it does feel like a stretch to link any of those feelings to missing blocks, missing tackles and avoiding any semblance of competitive football.
Lest we forget, there was far too much lousy football when Jones was on the field as the starting quarterback.
Are some people actually bent out of shape about head coach Brian Daboll sitting Tyrone Tracy for a few series after he fumbled early in the third quarter? Daboll went with Devin Singletary and seldom-used Eric Gray and then re-inserted Tracy to finish out the fourth quarter.
The rookie running back cost his team a shot to win the game in overtime two weeks ago in Munich with a fumble on the first play of OT, handing the Panthers their winning field goal.
This is what happens when a young player is learning hard lessons about ball security — he has to sit on the bench and think about it for a while. Tracy ended up with 24 snaps on offense, compared with 21 for Singletary and 15 for Gray.
Tracy will get the ball again, often, this season. But he has to keep control of it when he does.
This was a quiet streak that has now ended.
Darius Slayton had at least one reception in 26 consecutive games. He was shut out by the Buccaneers, targeted only twice.
It sure looks as if the season is getting a bit too long for a few of the rookies.
Nickel back Dru Phillips and safety Tyler Nubin have been starters since Day 1 and their play has often been encouraging — especially Phillips, who usually is in the right place and gets people to the ground.
Both are not exactly soaring to the finish.
Nubin did not have a strong game in coverage against the Bucs and Phillips missed a tackle on Bucky Irving and then showed his speed by pursuing the play to chase down Irving and make the tackle — after a 32-yard pickup.
The danger here is that these youngsters get into bad habits or wear down and get hurt down the stretch of a losing season.
The Giants are record-breakers.
They have gone 11 straight games without a positive turnover differential, the longest such streak in franchise history. They also did not come up with an interception on defense for the 10th straight game, matching the NFL record held by the 1976-77 49ers and the 2017 Raiders.