Coach Brian Daboll entered his postgame press conference after the New York Giants lost 27-22 to the Washington Commanders on Sunday and wrapped it up in less than four minutes.
When the Giants’ locker room opened, linebacker Brian Burns was sitting on the floor by Dexter Lawrence’s locker. Both had blank expressions, occasionally glancing at each other to talk before returning to silence.
Things were not meant to turn out this way for the Giants, who finished 6-11 in 2023 but made changes to strengthen their team. New York hoped to make a playoff return after reaching it in 2022 during Daboll’s first season.
That hope is nearly gone. The Giants (2-7) have lost four in a row, have not won in five games at MetLife Stadium, and sit at the bottom of the NFC East.
Lawrence was not pleased when asked about his conversation with Burns. “Don’t worry. If I’m talking to my teammates, it’s nothing for you to be concerned about,” the star defensive tackle said. “We’re just talking about the game and what we’re going to do to be better.”
Lawrence mentioned that the defense needs to be sharper, and he was frustrated that Daniel Jones and the offense scored enough points to win but didn’t receive enough support.
Burns confirmed they were discussing the game but said he would keep the specifics private.
Lawrence and Burns, who joined from Carolina in the offseason, have experienced a lot of losses in the NFL.
This is a new experience for wide receiver Malik Nabers, who was part of a winning team at LSU with Jayden Daniels, now the Commanders’ quarterback. The No. 2 overall pick has led Washington to a strong 7-2 start, while the Giants are struggling.
“You’ve got to build from the ground up,” said Nabers, who has the most catches on the Giants with 55. “I’d rather come from tough times like I did before. It feels better when you rise up from struggles and start winning.”
It’s clear that this isn’t going to happen this year. Daboll mentioned he didn’t talk about the team’s record after the game.
“I just focused on this game,” he said. “There were chances we had that we didn’t take advantage of, and that’s why we got the result we did.”
