Giants stars call out team for playing ‘soft’ in ugly loss to Buccaneers, question if some are giving ‘100%’

The New York Giants keep engineering ways to hit new lows for the 2024 season. After a week where the organization went through a seismic shift of benching and later releasing then-starting quarterback Daniel Jones, the team responded by laying an egg on Sunday in a 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

This defeat drops the Giants to 0-6 at MetLife Stadium and 2-9 on the season. Now, some of the team’s most notable stars are publicly calling out the rest of the roster. 

Defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, who earlier this week publicly expressed his confusion on the benching of Jones, told reporters postgame that he’s “extremely” angry with this latest result. 

“We played soft, and they beat the [expletive] out of us today,” Lawrence said, via The Athletic.

The Buccaneers averaged 7.3 yards per play in the win to go with 450 yards of total offense, while all four of the team’s touchdowns came on the ground. Meanwhile, New York’s offense managed just 245 yards on the day, and the lone touchdown came in garbage time in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. 

In his first start since the team moved on from Daniel Jones, Tommy DeVito completed 21 of his 31 passes for 189 yards and added 32 yards rushing while being sacked four times. 

“It ain’t the quarterback,” receiver Malik Nabers said of the team’s overall struggles, via The Athletic. “It was the same outcome when we had [Daniel Jones] at quarterback. Take a look. It ain’t the quarterback. … I don’t know what it is. I know I’m tired of losing.” 

Starting offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor added that he doesn’t believe players are giving it their all on the field.

“I personally don’t think everybody is giving 100%,” Eluemunor said, via ESPN.

These comments illustrate what looks to be a growing toxicity in the locker room, which has the potential to send the season even further down the tubes. That lack of buy-in also puts those in charge of the roster potentially in serious harm of keeping their jobs, including head coach Brian Daboll, even if ownership previously expressed confidence in this current regime.