Jan 21, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Giants safety Xavier McKinney (29) during warmups against the Philadelphia Eagles before NFC divisional round game at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
NFL: NFC Divisional Round-New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles
(East Rutherford, NJ) – The New York Giants season is over, almost seemingly before it ever started.
After a stunning 40-0 pummeling in week one at home against the Cowboys, New York never got on track. Part of that was and is based on injuries: left tackle Andrew Thomas out for weeks on end, Saquon Barkley gone for almost as long with an ankle injury, and numerous other injuries along the offensive line. Now, after he missed several weeks with a neck injury – starting QB Daniel Jones is out (perhaps for the season) with a knee injury. Oh, and as if that wasn’t enough – backup QB Tyrod Taylor (the league’s highest paid) is out with a rib injury.
So how is that for a recap of a lost season, in which the Giants are 2-7 and fading fast?
Apparently, those kind of terrible results are not enough to justify trading away veteran defensive tackle Leonard Williams – who is older, about to hit free agency, and past his prime. Take fellow defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, who responded to the trade of Williams by saying: “I didn’t see why. I still don’t understand why. It is what it is.” To which of course any Giants fan paying attention would say: a 2nd rounder and a 5th rounder in upcoming NFL drafts. That’s why. When a team is spiraling and falling out of playoff contention, a smart team looks to the future. The trade market developed for Williams and GM Joe Schoen extracted some value.
Safety Xavier McKinney struck a similar tone. He said he “hated” the trade, adding “yeah, I don’t got much comment on that, but it sucks to lose a guy of his caliber. I thought that our mindset as a team was to win right now, not future stuff, but I guess that’s not what they saw.” And while it’s commendable that McKinney went on to say he and other players would never “quit” on a season, that didn’t seem like the case when the Giants got trounced by the Raiders this past weekend – after Jones’ latest injury.
McKinney spoke after the most recent loss, and puzzlingly seemed to take a shot at New York’s coaching staff, or perhaps front office. “Honestly, it sucks. But, I don’t know, man. I don’t really have many words. I think that from a leadership standpoint, I don’t think they’ve done a great job of letting the leaders lead, and listening to the leaders and the captains. But obviously it sucks losing.”
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Prior to the season, McKinney was elected as one of the team’s 10 captains. He’s put up mostly pedestrian numbers, with 41 tackles, and 0 interceptions. This in follow up to last year’s injury-shortened campaign in which he had 29 tackles, 1 sack, and 0 interceptions. It’s worth noting at this point that McKinney’s injury occurred during the bye week, when he bizarrely went on a vacation that included an ATV trip. He somehow crashed or endured a mishap while on the ATV, in the middle of an NFL season, and significantly hurt his hand. Even when he returned to play last year, his hand was wrapped and his play diminished as a result. Don’t forget that when the Giants entered that bye week, they were 6 and 2. But their defensive signal caller, and a young “leader” on the then emerging defense, was suddenly gone. From a vacation excursion. During the season. From there, the Giants went 3 and 5 with 1 tie, barely making the playoffs.
But to hear McKinney tell it, he – or whoever is a “leader” for this 2023 Giants team – is being shut out. Somehow. First, he acknowledged the obvious about this year. “It’s just been tough. I don’t want to speak on it too much, but that has been my frustration. It’s tough losing your quarterback. We tried to fight through it but we couldn’t.”
That’s when McKinney’s comments ventured over into the “curious” territory, saying: “It was little things. It was one of those things where you have some of your leaders, captains from a defensive standpoint, trying to switch things up. And just not really being heard. I don’t know. There are other things too that we could’ve done. Like I said, the execution stuff could’ve been better. But when you got guys out there that are playing and seeing different things and are being vocal and communicating that with the coaches and whoever and are not being heard, it’s hard to go out there and be able to make plays and do things of that nature.”
So that was a nice, non-veiled shot at the coaching staff. And McKinney is in the final year of his contract, meaning he will hit free agency at the conclusion of this season. Somehow, the Giants will have to survive next year and beyond without his brand of “leadership.”
