Jerry Reese knows the Giants have a terrible record, but when he looks at the team he put together, he does not see a terrible team.
Hey, the guy wears glasses, but he sees what he sees.
“We’re 1-6. This is not where we want to be, but this is where we are,’’ Reese said Tuesday as Giants players scattered for five days off. “This is my roster. I’m responsible for everybody on the roster. I’ll take ownership where we are right now, the 1-6 start. I do believe we still have good players on this roster, I do believe that.’’
In a 22-minute bye-week state of the Giants address, Reese accepted plenty of blame for the sorry state of his team, but also offered a pointed critique at what certainly should be put at the feet of the head coach, Ben McAdoo. Reese said he did not see the hunger in this team, coming off an 11-5 season, saying players did not “strain as hard’’ as they needed to and bought into the hype of this being a Super Bowl contender.
“When you win 11 games, you’ve got a little bit of a swagger about you,’’ Reese said. “Then you come back, ‘Well, this is pretty easy, we won 11 games,’ and we won 11 games with a rookie head coach. So you come back and think, well, we’ve already got 11 wins, and that’s just not how it works.
“You have to play with some passion out there. So, that’s what I’m getting at. It’s not on the head coach. It’s on all of us.’’
The Giants lost their first five games before finally breaking through in Denver.
“I don’t see the hunger coming out of the gate,’’ Reese said. “We played hard in some games, but there is a difference between playing hard and having that hunger that you have to have to win in this league.’’
Reese defended the offensive line he put together, stating it can get better but compares favorably with many of the units on other teams in the league. He also said Ereck Flowers, the struggling left tackle and 2015 first-round pick, is developing.
“I do think he gets pointed out unfairly a little bit at times,’’ Reese said.
At the end of the 2015 season, co-owner John Mara parted ways with Tom Coughlin but spared Reese, saying, “Jerry knows it’s on him.’’ After the resurgent 2016, it has been a disaster on the field this season and many fans are thirsting for Reese to be sent packing.
“Yeah, you’re always on notice,’’ Reese said. “I’ve been left for dead a lot of times since I’ve been doing this job. I’d love for us to have won 10 Super Bowls in my 10 years as the general manager of the Giants, but we haven’t. I wish we could have.’’
Reese also came to the defense of McAdoo, the second-year head coach.
“Ben won 11 games last year as a rookie,’’ Reese said. “It’s been a little bit tougher, he can’t sneak up on anybody in this league. He has to do better in what his job is, and I think he will, and here’s why I think that is: because it’s important to him, number one. He’s a hard worker and he’s smart — he’s smarter than all of us in this room, I can tell you that, it’s not even close. All of us together, he’s smarter than all of us. So, it’s important to him. It means something to him. He’s not the guy that you can’t talk to and give suggestions to. He’s gonna do whatever is best for this football team.’’
As for his own emotions amid this shockingly bad season, Reese remained the stoic personality he allows the public to see.
“You guys want me to get up here and have a tantrum, I’m not going to do that,’’ he said. “Anytime you lose football games and you’re 1-6 there is some frustration. But I’m not going to get up here and fall on the floor and kick and scream. I’m not going to do that.’’
Firmly entrenched in last place in the NFC East, the Giants are headed for their fifth non-playoff team in the past six years. Reese tried to sound a rallying cry — “We’ve been left for dead by a lot of people, but don’t count us out yet’’ — but it sounded more perfunctory than truly heartfelt.
“Our backs are firmly against the wall,’’ he said. “It’s a bad formula to use, to wait until your back is against the wall. But we are where we are right here, right now and we’re going to give our fans every ounce of what we have.’’