There are no excuses for what everyone saw out of the NY Giants in the Week 1 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. After a long offseason of improving the lineup on both sides of the ball, plus a promising camp, it felt like the G-Men had a great chance to take down the Vikings. Instead, a 28-6 loss was posted.
The defeat was made worse because of how special the day was supposed to be. The Giants kicked off their 100th year, while bringing in team legends who made the Top 100 list to East Rutherford to watch the action. Among those on hand was Lawrence Taylor, the greatest defensive player of all time. Straight up, LT was disgusted with what he saw, telling fellow team great Carl Banks that the lack of effort was a joke.
The Standard: #watch @BleavNetwork 👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/atiqHSb2Cy
— Carl Banks (@CarlBanksGIII) September 9, 2024
Lawrence Taylor and Carl Banks hated what they saw out of the NY Giants vs. Minnesota
In the video above, Banks revealed that Taylor told him at halftime that he could pick 22 of the former playmakers being honored and they could go and play 'better than these guys' against the Vikes. Not only that, but Taylor added that those he picked could beat Minnesota's rear end.
LT's passion for the game hasn't gone anywhere and the exact same could be said for Banks. These are two Super Bowl winners who gave their all for the Giants while they were donning a Big Blue uniform. They have every right to call out the players for their silly mistakes, while also expecting them to play at a higher level.
Daniel Jones is getting a lot of the blame for the embarrassing performance, but he wasn't the only one to struggle. Where were Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns in the trenches? Between the two of them, they posted one quarterback hit. That's simply unacceptable.
Burns is on his $141 million contract and he was pretty much invisible in trying to put pressure on Sam Darnold, who looked fantastic vs. the NY defense. Thibodeaux had a rough game and things were made worse for him after an awkward interaction with ESPN's Jordan Raanan in his postgame presser.
NY supporters have had it with this team already and we're just one game into the campaign. Against Washington in Week 2, every single guy who takes the field needs to up their game. Taylor, Banks and other former players won't sit back and let anything less than a full, passionate effort be delivered.