Whatever you say is wrong with the Giants, you’re right.
Just don’t call the Giants — the last-place Giants, the 2-6 Giants — the out-of-contention Giants.
So said general manager Jerry Reese — who, on Tuesday during his annual bye week State of the Giants address, did not sugarcoat his disappointment with the terrible start, but continually looked ahead to what he believes can be a second half to remember.
“We still have a chance,’’ Reese said. “I believe in our coaches, I believe in our players, and I expect us to continue to battle and get back in this race. You can’t count anybody out in our division right now halfway through the season. I think everybody’s still in the race. We’re happy to be in it, fortunate to be in it.’’
Reese pointed the blame at everyone in general and no one in particular, and he clearly is buoyed by the two-game winning streak that followed a historically bad 0-6 pratfall out of the gate and the fact the Giants are just two games behind the first-place Cowboys in the NFC East. Buoyed, but not blinded.
“I still believe we can get it turned around,’’ Reese said, “but we don’t have a lot of margin for error.’’
Reese did not make any moves at Tuesday’s NFL trading deadline — there really was no sentiment within the organization to deal Hakeem Nicks — and he made it clear he feels coach Tom Coughlin is part of the solution and not the problem. While not commenting on Coughlin’s future, Reese couldn’t have been more supportive of the head coach, who helped add two Lombardi trophies to the lobby at the team practice facility.
“Coach Coughlin is a heck of a football coach and he didn’t forget how to coach at this point, regardless of what our record is,’’ Reese said.
A bit later, Reese said, “Coach Coughlin in a big spot … this is a big spot for him. I would never bet against him.’’
Reese touched on several issues and factors that have contributed to this unforeseen season:
— What went wrong? “There’s been a lot of talk and it’s been chronicled about what went wrong, and everybody’s got a lot of opinions about what went wrong, as far as I’m concerned everybody’s right. Because when you’re 0-6, anything you said that went wrong, you’re probably right about it.’’
— On his own performance: “Whatever my job entails, I can do better. There’s a lot of people who know how to do my job, but I can do a lot of things better and I will do things better,’’
— Does he still consider Eli Manning, with 15 interceptions in the first six games, an ascending player? “I think Eli is still a very good player, and after 10 years, he didn’t forget how to play his position all of a sudden. Eli has been through some rough patches before and we’ve seen him pull himself out of it and really play well, and I expect him to do that again.’’
— On his Monday morning meetings with Coughlin: “It’s just a broad spectrum from crying on each other’s shoulder to being contentious. I remember one morning I walked in, I don’t remember what the game was, but obviously we had lost the game, and I was like, “Coach, the sun came up.” He was like, “Really, it did?” They’re very good meetings, they’re very productive and they’re very honest. We work well together.’’
— On whether he has any regrets about putting up the Super Bowl calendar in the locker room reminding everyone how many days until Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium: “Nope, I don’t. It has even more emphasis for me now. I think today is 95 days. That should put us on notice even more that the time is running out and we don’t have time to have any hiccups down the stretch.’’
— Back in training camp, Reese said he was putting everyone “on notice’’ after missing out on the playoffs three times in four years. At 2-6, what does that mean? “On notice doesn’t always mean, you’re on notice and if you don’t do this, somebody’s going to get fired. I think it got spun that way a little bit, but I don’t think I necessarily meant it that way. When you don’t win, people do get fired.’’