'I don't have a lot of words right now, I'm sorry.': 1-3 NY Giants searching for answers

EAST RUTHERFORD - The Giants were left searching for answers in the aftermath of Monday night's 24-3 loss to the Seahawks.

There is a lot of soul searching going on, too, within a team that came into this season expecting to once again challenge for the playoffs. So much to build on from Brian Daboll's first season as head coach - nine wins and the first postseason win since Super Bowl XLVI - a roster that was seemingly improved in key areas, young cornerstones around which to build and the expectation of competing with every team on the schedule.

A month into Daboll's second campaign, the Giants have done nothing of the sort. They have taken the field three times in prime time and embarrassed themselves with a brand of football unbecoming of a franchise that believed it had turned the corner. To a man, the Giants say they believe they are better than this: outscored 64-3 in two home games, and by the fourth quarter of each, opposing fans from Dallas and Seattle had taken over the lower deck inside MetLife Stadium.

But to this point, those beliefs ring hollow for the Giants, who continue to look like a team that massively overachieved a year ago.

"I don't ever take the field expecting to put a performance like that on display, on any team that I've ever been on," Giants tight end Darren Waller said. "I approach the field with the mindset of going out there and trying to dominate. Offensive is just not good enough in all facets, and I don't even have anything to say, it's just not good enough. I don't know, man. I really don't. I see the talent. I see the guys that we got. I see the type of vision we were able to have coming from the spring and the excitement we had on offense, and I just don't know. I don't have a lot of words right now, I'm sorry."

Waller's words, or lack thereof, told one story of exasperation and dejection.

The image of offensive lineman Joshua Ezeudu still in uniform and sitting on a stool in front of his locker, staring into space for the entire postgame media availability also resonated. He started at left tackle for the third consecutive game in place of injured star Andrew Thomas, and as numerous players, coaches and staffers approached to seemingly offer encouragement, Ezeudu barely flinched. He was taking this hard.

Daniel Jones: 'We're all frustrated'

"I think we're all frustrated. We're all frustrated," Jones said. "So yeah, I know I gotta play better and I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can to do that."

This was one of Jones' worst games as a pro, and given some of the dips in his career to date, that's saying something. It's too easy to pile on the quarterback, though, and while he contributed to a lot of his own struggles, his decimated offensive line failed to do much of anything. The Giants allowed 11 sacks - 10 of Jones and another of Parris Campbell on a failed gadget play - and it was a party in the backfield for the Seahawks for pretty much the entire game.

"As an offensive line, you need to protect the quarterback and keep him upright, and we haven't been doing that," right tackle Evan Neal said. "No excuses."

Jones' exchange with Daboll on the sideline after his Pick 6 late in the third quarter was symbolic of that. Daboll was seen on video flipping his tablet to the ground in Jones' direction as the Giants' quarterback looked at the play on a tablet of his own.

"I was trying to see what he thought and tell him what I saw," Daboll said. "I’m not going to get into the particulars of it, just get the job done."

Asked what he wanted Jones to do on that play, Daboll quipped: “Well, obviously not throw an interception.”

Special teams again a liability

You have to wonder what's going on with the special teams units. The Giants committed six - SIX! - penalties on specials, in addition to rookie Eric Gray being pulled as punt returner after he muffed the first try of the game.

The Giants were so desperate, they put Adoree' Jackson back there, even though Jackson was injured returning a punt last season and the defense suffered in his absence.

No big changes coming

In the Giants' last 14 games, including the playoffs, they are 4-9-1 while being outscored, 382-262.

Daboll said he still has confidence in the players to turn this around, and the process by which they are preparing for games every week. The Giants have fired the last three head coaches prior to Daboll following disastrous second seasons, and while things would have to get plenty worse for ownership to even consider that at this point, those previous organizational failures will hang over this team if this continues.

Daboll, the NFL's Coach of the Year last season, and deservedly so for what the Giants accomplished, said he would not be making any staff changes at this time.

I asked Daboll if he believed his message was getting through to the locker room.

"Well, we’re 1-3 and we got beat pretty good," Daboll said. "I’ve got a lot of confidence in our players. I've said that before, 1-3. So, I'm going to present my message each week. I’ve got confidence that those guys are hearing it. We’re just not getting results right now and that starts with me."