Coach Brian Daboll on Giants' mess: 'I own it'

The Giants found themselves at the intersection of frustration and embarrassment amid the rubble of yet another one-sided loss in a lost season.

The Cowboys crushed them, 49-17, Sunday, dropping the visitors to 2-8, with six losses by at least 15 points, including another to Dallas by 40.

“Obviously everyone is frustrated that we’re losing,” their middle linebacker, Bobby Okereke, said afterward.

Saquon Barkley spoke about how tough it is to get “embarrassed week after week.”

The man in charge of coaching this team took responsibility Monday for the mess.

“I own it,” Brian Daboll said via Zoom. “So I’ve got to do a better job all the way around, and that’s what we’re going to work toward.”

But what can he do? There appears to be little hope for a sustained U-turn toward respectability over the final seven games.

Daboll’s quarterback is now a third-string undrafted rookie, Tommy DeVito, who’s scheduled to make his second straight start Sunday when the Giants play at Washington. Daniel Jones is done for the year with his ACL injury, and Tyrod Taylor is also on IR until at least Dec. 11 with a rib-cage injury.

There have been plenty of injuries and plenty of poor performances.

The negative numbers are staggering for a team that Daboll led to the playoffs in his debut last season.

The Giants have lost three straight and seven of eight. They have scored a league-low 118 points. Only Washington has allowed more than the 266 the Giants have given up. They have been dented for at least 30 five times.

The defense just turned in an outing for the ages against the Cowboys, yielding 640 yards, the second-worst total in franchise history and the worst in 80 years.

Dak Prescott threw for 404 yards and four scores and Cooper Rush threw for 68 yards. The Giants had no sacks.

It didn’t help that they lost edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux (concussion) and defensive backs Deonte Banks (ankle) and Cor’Dale Flott (shoulder) during the game.

Frustration? Yes, and it was boiling over.

Darius Slayton, for one, had a heated discussion with receivers coach Mike Groh.

“Any time you lose, it’s tough,” Daboll said. “So the challenging part is coming back in after that and moving on to next week. That’s the National Football League.

“Certainly not where we want to be. Make no excuses about it. Acknowledge it, move on and get ready to play the next week … I understand this is a results business.”

Daboll still sees his team trying.

“The effort which those guys compete with has been good, running to the football, finishing blocks, blocks downfield, finishing runs,” Daboll said. “But certainly when you’re in a little bit of a rut here, you want to make sure you’re doing all the things that you can do on and off the field the right way to give yourselves the best chance to get out of the rut, if you will.”

It’s a giant-size rut for the Giants.

“We have control over our actions and our attitude and our emotions,” Daboll said.

The game plan calls for not giving in to the losing.

“I think we do a good job as players of keeping the morale [up], keeping it positive,” defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence said. “You’re playing for something more than yourself.

“You’ve got to go out there and take care of business to the best of your abilities. I think as leaders, in a time like this, we have to home in on that more.”