Patrick Graham: Giants’ defensive performance is ‘completely unacceptable’
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After over-performing a season ago, the New York Giants defense has fallen off a cliff here in 2021 and are now among the league’s worst units.
That does not sit well with defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who had drawn head coaching interest due to his groups performance last year. Now he finds himself scrambling for answers as his defense and head coaching asperations fade.
“It’s unacceptable. Period. It’s unacceptable,” an emotional Graham told reporters on Thursday. “We get paid — myself included — we get paid to win games. That’s why Mr. (John) Mara, Mr. (Steve) Tisch, Mr. (Dave) Gettleman and Joe (Judge), (put me) in this position, to help win games.”
Graham was especially upset after his defense surrendered 500-plus yards in a 44-20 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5.
“When you give up 500-plus yards in terms of offense, that’s not usually winning football, so it’s completely unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. In terms of that, again, what I have to do and what we have to do collectively as a group is we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and we’ve got to figure out what can we do better,” Graham said.
Things get no easier in Week 6 with the Los Angeles Rams coming to town. It’s gut-check time for Graham and his players, and he recognizes that.
“What we have to do collectively as a group is we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and we’ve got to figure out what can we do better because, again, as you lead into this week — one of the most explosive offenses in the league, they’ve got players all over the place, the coach is a genius, the quarterback is smart, they can throw the ball, run,” Graham said.
“It’s everything. It’s a challenge and I talk to you guys about having a challenge and stuff like that after performances like that and now you’ve got the Rams coming in here, I mean we’re going to find out. We’re going to find out. I mean, we’re going to find out. So, it’s time. Again, myself, I’m starting with me first, we’ve got to find out. We’ve got to find out. We’ve got to get up there, we’ve got to stop the run, that’s the goal for Sunday. We’ve got to minimize what they do on offense. We’ve got to find out. We’ve got to find out. To answer your question, it’s unacceptable. It’s unacceptable.”
Time is ticking for the Giants. Everyone, Graham and his defense included, are running out of time to turn things around. If they don’t, the season will be lost and jobs will soon follow.
