New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh sent a message after his team was defeated by the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football.
After defeating the Dallas Cowboys in a Week 1 upset win, the Giants were riding high into SoFi Stadium against the Rams.
But after QB Jaxson Dart went down in the first quarter with a knee injury, the Giants were not able to recover as backup QB Jameis Winston struggled, and the defense couldn’t stop the vaunted Rams offense.
In the end, Los Angeles won the game 28-6, dropping the Giants to 1-1 on the season after this Week 2 defeat.
John Harbaugh Sends Message to Giants
Speaking to reporters after New York’s Week 2 loss, Harbaugh admitted that it was a collective team failure that led them to lose the game against the Rams.
“As a group, as a team, we just didn’t do what we needed to do to have a chance to even win the game. We didn’t play up to that level across the board,” Harbaugh said.
– John Harbaugh
The Rams were the betting favorite to win this game, so it’s not exactly surprising that New York lost.
But the team was not competitive whatsoever, as they were completely blown out in this game, one that got away from the Giants early on, as the team was never able to recover from Dart’s injury.
Giants Need Jameis Winston to Be Better
While you can’t fully blame Winston for the Giants losing to the Rams, he wasn’t good, either, and New York needs him to be much better if Dart is going to miss games, as Winston will start while Dart is out with his injury.
Against Los Angeles, Winston was just 11-for-27 with only 127 passing yards through the air, with zero touchdowns and one interception. It was overall just a very poor performance from the veteran backup, who looked shaky the entire night in relief of Dart.
To be fair to Winston, he was thrown into a very difficult situation against an excellent Rams team that could very well win the Super Bowl this year. Future Hall of Fame DT Aaron Donald played his first game since early 2024 and looked as good as ever, as he gave Winston fits and made him throw the ball quickly instead of giving him time to work.
The Giants now only have five days to prepare for their next game against the Tennessee Titans at home on Sunday, so Harbaugh and the Giants coaching staff will be working closely with Winston to make sure he is ready to go against a Titans team that nearly upset the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2.
Regardless of the result against the Rams, the Giants are still 1-1 this year, and that’s a decent start, all things considered. If they can go out there and beat the Titans with Winston at the helm, it would improve the team to 2-1 and help keep them in the thick of things in what will be a tough NFC East all season long.
John Harbaugh Sends Message After Giants Week 2 Loss