Giants are in franchise hell and the shame is piling up

They trudged out of MetLife Stadium again, having seen their quarterback who can’t win at home a once-proud defense that crumbles at every big moment and it was a shame for all the winners of the Lawrence Taylor bobblehead giveaway.

Their 27-22 loss to Jayden Daniels and the Commanders gives them a home record of 0-5 as The Greatest Woe on Turf.

Where the phenomenal rookie toasts his offense and the All-World Nose Tackle roasts his defense.

Where the head coach has to think long and hard about ending the Daniel Jones era as he loses to the 2-7 Panthers in Germany as another season heads towards another premature burial.

Daniel Jones was not bad in the second half on Sunday. In fact, he was better than usual at MetLife Stadium. The problem is that it was bad enough being down 21-7 in the first half and the Giants could never recover because they don’t know how to win.

The game plan called for a one-dimensional ground and pound smashmouth attack that Brian Daboll defended as it averaged 6.8 yards per carry.

But it came at the expense of a frozen Malik Nabers, whose only goal from Jones in the first half was punched away by Frankie Luvu.

Nabers’ frustration only increased by watching his precocious LSU quarterbackDaniels (15-22, 209 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 8-35 rushing) emulates “The Natural.”

Jones had 50 rushing yards on offense for 142 yards in the first half, but went 4-for-6 for zero yards – ZERO yards!! — and a fumble in the first half.

And so:

“I don’t call the plays,” Nabers said. “If you run out the clock in the first half, in the second half you’re scrambling to score as many points as possible. As an offense you have to be versatile. You have to be able to run. You have to be able to get through it. You can’t choose between half and half of what you want to do. But like I said, I’m not the play caller.

Uh oh.

And he’s not the general manager.

“You have to build up,” said Nabers. “You have to employ the right people to be successful. You must have the right keys. You have to have the right guys on the team to win. Clearly the commanders did that. They have the right guys they want on the team, and they are winning.”

Not only are Daboll and GM Joe Schoen brooding in Quarterback Hell, they’re also in Franchise Hell and having a good time at 2-7.

What’s unsaid about Daboll’s first-half plan was that he was more confident in executing it than Jones was in executing it. Until it was too little, too late.

“It had nothing to do with Daniel throwing it or not,” Daboll said.

For all the good Ground & Pound did, the Giants only scored those seven points — on Jones’ first home touchdown pass in 672 days, a two-yarder from Chris Manhertz.

You don’t beat a dual-threat quarterback with a single-threat quarterback.

“Maybe we didn’t expect to do it so much, but we played it really well and moved the ball effectively,” Jones said.

Jones’ sack fumble in the first quarter started Daniels at the Giants 31 and helped set up his 1-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin against the beleaguered Deonte Banks that had followed a 22-yard pass interference against Cor’Dale Flott.

Nabers (9-59) finished with 11 goals after Daboll was forced to vent the maddening Jones (16-20, 174 yards, 1 TD, 1 TD rushing in the second half).

A second half that showed:

A three-yard touchdown pass to Wan’Dale Robinson, negated by a suspect pick-play pass interference on Darius Slayton that forced a field goal.

A pair of analytics-based failed two-point conversions at 10-24 and 22-27 when Jones was stopped in a rush and then didn’t bother to throw him on a sack.

“I felt good about what we had,” Daboll said.

A Daniels bomb from 42 yards to a wide open Olamide Zaccheaus before the two-minute warning that iced the game.

Remember the good old days when LT, or Michael Strahan, stood up in the fourth quarter as Giants fans roared, “Dee-Fense, Dee-Fense?” The Giants failed to sack Daniels (ribs).

“They had a lot of chippers,” Lawrence said.

The Giants don’t have a chance without a pass rush with their secondary vulnerable and under construction.

“We need to be more precise,” Lawrence said. “I think as a team and as individuals we need to understand the game a little more, understand why certain things are called, understand the importance of situations in the game and momentum shifts in the game. We haven’t been good at that and that’s the point.”

They haven’t been much good and that’s the point. Your New York Football Giants for 2024: The Biggest Woe on the Grass.