Getty Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell's postgame comments appeared to insult the New York Giants.
It most likely wasn’t intentional, but Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell’s postgame speech rubbed some salt in the New York Giants’ wounds after a pitiful Week 1 performance — and his words were an especially bad look for NYG counterpart Brian Daboll.
“Fellas, I’m just proud of the fact that if you look out there on that field all day long, we looked more prepared. We looked better conditioned. We looked better to execute one play every single snap and just keep rolling play after play,” O’Connell said while addressing his locker room.
Embrace this feeling.
And then we go hunt it.
Week after week after week.
Turn us up, KO.
Within his praise, there was some subtle shade. While the Vikings looked “prepared” and “conditioned,” the Giants did not, and that’s on the coaching staff and the players.
That stark comparison wasn’t lost on members of the NYG beat.
ESPN’s Jordan Raanan simply shared O’Connell’s quote, followed by a very telling “…” While SNY’s Connor Hughes was much blunter, reacting: “This is a damning indictment on the state of the Giants with a full camp to prepare for Week 1.”
Whether O’Connell meant to insult the Giants doesn’t matter. Either way, it’s another painful example of how the rest of the league currently views them as a franchise and an opponent.
That has to change — and fast.
Giants HC Brian Daboll Admits Team Did Not Do Anything Well in Week 1
After Daboll’s postgame presser, New York Daily News reporter Pat Leonard posted a particularly concerning admission from the Big Blue head coach.
It was a Q&A screenshot that read: “Is there anything when you walk out of here that you say, ‘OK, well at least we did that’?” To which Daboll replied: “Not at this time, no.”
Throughout his press conference, Daboll did throw himself on the sword several times. Saying things like, “it starts with me” and “I got to do a better job all the way around.”
But that is still a brutally honest acknowledgement of failure. Earlier in the media session, Daboll was slightly more defensive of their efforts.
“I thought we prepared well, I thought [my players] gave good effort — I thought the defense played hard. … But there [are] a lot of things to clean up,” the head coach responded after being asked what his “message” to the team was after the disastrous start.
Needless to say, the second quote on the Giants’ readiness and execution is noticeably different from both O’Connell’s and the fan base’s. While Daboll’s candid admission is probably more accurate.
Beat Reporter Points Out Giants QB Daniel Jones ‘Was Not Alone’ in Week 1 Struggles
Although Daniel Jones and the offense have received the brunt of the criticism so far, there were multiple problems on September 8 and Daboll’s five-word answer above really echoes that too.
On September 9, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan pointed this out after a fan told him that “the [Giants] D looked good early” before getting worn down and tired.
“Yeah, we can’t do this,” Duggan said in return. “Jones was horrible yesterday. If you want to go stand outside his house and boo him, knock yourself out. But we can’t put EVERYTHING on him.”
“The defense was bad yesterday,” the reporter explained. “Sam Darnold is not a good QB. He didn’t throw an incompletion until there was a minute left in the first half. They allowed a 99-yard TD drive… were rested coming out of halftime in a 14-3 game and immediately allowed a 70-yard TD drive [and] had one sack. Aaron Jones averaged 6.7 yard per carry.”
Duggan’s not wrong. Somewhat lost in the shuffle is how poorly the Big Blue defense looked in their debut under new coordinator Shane Bowen. Doing very little to slow down Darnold and the Vikings.
“Again, [Daniel] Jones was very bad,” Duggan reiterated, adding: “He was not alone.”
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Vikings HC Appears to Shade Giants After Week 1 Win: ‘Damning Indictment’