The last seven days, during which the Giants have turned 0-6 with no hope into 2-6 with rekindled hope, have dulled the edge off of Tuesday’s long-anticipated meeting between Jerry Reese and reporters.
Still, though, the Giants general manager, who has not spoken publicly to reporters since training camp, has some explaining to do about his role in the litany of things that have gone wrong in this shocking first half of the season.
A two-game winning streak helps ease the pressure for the moment and, thanks to the inept failure of the Cowboys to separate themselves in the division Sunday by blowing a big lead to the Lions, the Giants are a mere two games out of first place in the NFC East with eight games to play, including one more against Dallas.
This brief feel-good interlude, however, should not mask the stench of the 0-6 hole the Giants spiraled into before they beat up on a terrible Vikings team last Monday night and the offensively challenged Eagles Sunday in Philadelphia.
There are still a number of warts that remain as the Giants embark on their bye week, with players scattering on Monday to their offseason homes and vacations spots for a get-away week of rest. A number of these warts are blemishes Reese must answer to and include:
— His miscalculation at running back, opting to go all-in with David Wilson as the feature back by not bringing veteran Ahmad Bradshaw, one of the back bone players on the team, back. Wilson, who is out indefinitely with an injured neck right now, has been a categorical bust to date as a feature back, unable to hold onto the football and stay on the field.
— Why was tight end Martellus Bennett, a big target who had good chemistry with Eli Manning, not brought back after catching 55 passes for 626 yards and five touchdowns last season? While his replacement, Brandon Myers, has been of little impact in the offense with 23 quiet catches and only one touchdown and is a liability as a blocker, Bennett is thriving in Chicago with 32 catches and four touchdowns.
— The offensive line has gotten old and injury-prone and has transitioned from a strength to a weakness. Two-thirds of the starting five — center David Baas and guard Chris Snee — are out for the season and finding competent depth has been a problem. The $38.5 million deal Reese gave left tackle Will Beatty appears to be a gross overpayment.
— Reese seems to have a lack of regard for the linebacker position, treating it as almost an afterthought. The position, once the cornerstone of the greatest Giants teams in franchise history, has been a weakness for Reese’s entire tenure with the team. He did, however redeem himself to a degree with the Oct. 4 trade for Jon Beason, who has become a team leader in the middle of the defense.
— Reese’s drafts have hardly been among the best in the league since he took defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul in 2010 and Hakeem Nicks in the 2009 in the first round. We can nit-pick the drafts all we want, but if there is one miss that was most damaging it was defensive tackle Marvin Austin, a second-round pick in 2011 who is no longer in the league.
The bottom line for Reese is this: Yes, the Giants have won two Super Bowls on his watch, but they have been hit or miss in his seven-plus-year tenure, making the playoffs just three times in those seven years. If they miss the postseason this year, it’ll be four of the last five seasons without a playoff berth, and that is difficult to swallow for Giants fans.
“We want to put everybody on notice,’’ Reese told reporters in training camp, referring to the team’s inconsistency. “Myself, everybody is on notice that that’s not our standard.”
Those words — as well as that Super Bowl countdown calendar he had put up in the locker room (a stunt more suited for Rex Ryan and the gimmicky Jets) — could end up coming back to haunt Reese if the Giants continue along the alarming course they’ve been on.
“Jerry is a very optimistic, solid guy that finds a way to put a positive spin pretty much on everything,’’ coach Tom Coughlin said Monday. “He doesn’t deny, he doesn’t try to hide the issues and what’s not being done well and what is. When it’s all said and done, he is a stand-up guy that moves forward and does so with optimism.’’