Ben McAdoo’s appeal to Giants’ leader may be overdue

Frasier the Lion is back.

You may remember the parable Ben McAdoo used when the team reported to training camp a few months ago. Frasier was a washed-up circus animal who rebounded from his disgraceful situation to father an army of cubs when everyone thought his potency was in the past tense. Well, McAdoo returned to everyone’s favorite frisky feline on Wednesday when he addressed the players.

“I asked the Frasiers in the group to lead,” McAdoo said.

One of those “Frasiers,” defensive captain Jonathan Casillas, said that should have happened much earlier.

“I think this locker room has a lot of leaders,” Casillas said. “It’s now the time when the leaders need to rise to the top, and I think it’s a little delayed. We kind of let it get out of control. But I’m saying it verbally now that we need to step up as leaders to get this thing on the right track.”

That can be difficult, Casillas admitted. He spoke about there being two keys to success in the NFL — availability and accountability — and how players need to examine their own play to critique it and improve it. But even with the “C” on his jersey, Casillas said that has to come from the individuals and not from him.

“I try to come in every day and show them how I do it,” Casillas said. “I’m doing everything I can to show these dudes that there ain’t no quit in me. Ain’t never been no quit in me . . . I hope it resonates throughout the locker room because there is only so much I can do with 53 guys on the roster.”

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.