National Football League

Week 1 humiliation leaves one perplexing question: Who, exactly, are these Giants?

Published Sep. 11, 2023 2:15 p.m. ET

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — They were shocked, stunned, frustrated, bewildered and definitely embarrassed by what happened on Sunday night. But mostly the New York Giants were blindsided. Never in their worst nightmares did they expect to be humiliated like that.

"I think we know who we are," defensive tackle Leonard Williams said in the quiet Giants locker room after their 40-0 loss at home to the Dallas Cowboys. "What we did today is not who we are."

Williams is probably right. But that leads to a perplexing question:

Who, exactly, are these Giants?

It's an open question after their Opening Night debacle where they ran onto the field with such energy, such confidence, such hope, and then quickly fell right on their faces into a puddle in the rain. They believed they were a true contender. They still do. They believed that their surprising 9-win season from a year ago was just the start for a franchise with its arrow pointing up.

The problem with that belief, though, is that last season didn't really provide a clear picture of where the Giants franchise was. They were a team with a split personality. They got off to a rousing, 6-1 start that became 7-2. It included some very impressive wins — like their 24-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens — but a few too many close calls against bad teams (like the Panthers, Bears and Texans). Then, in the second half, they weren't good enough to sustain their good fortune. They went 2-5-1 and needed a win over the awful Indianapolis Colts in the second-to-last game of the season just to hold on to their spot in the playoffs.

And here's the inconvenient truth about the 2022 Giants: If they hadn't won a playoff game, the story of the season would have been their second-half collapse. The 7-2 start would've been universally accepted as a mirage. But they did win a playoff game — 31-24 in Minnesota, which isn't an easy place to play, against a Vikings team that went 13-4. That doesn't just count for something. It counts for a lot.

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But all that did was add to the mystery. Are the Giants the team that shocked the NFL in the first nine games last year? Are they the team that fell apart over the last eight games of the regular season? Are they the budding powerhouse that went to Minnesota and took down the Vikings? Or are they the lightweights that pounded in Philadelphia the next week?

This season was supposed to provide a clear answer. But on Opening Night, the answer wasn't very good.

"This wasn't our best game, there is no doubt about it," Giants quarterback Daniel Jones said after his rain-soaked, 104-yard, two-interception, seven-sack nightmare against the Cowboys. "This wasn't who we are capable of being. We've got to show that. We've got to put that on the field and play that way."

Not only that — they have to do it quickly, because their schedule is unforgiving. They're about to embark on a two-game road trip through Arizona and then San Francisco four days later. They return home to face the Seattle Seahawks before going on the road to Miami and Buffalo. That's a minefield on a schedule that still includes another game against the Cowboys, two against the Eagles and one against the Jets.

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The Giants thought they were good enough to handle a schedule like that this season. But what if these Giants are closer to the second-half version from last year? They were convinced they could close the gap between them and the Cowboys and Eagles in the NFC East in 2023.

But what if the Giants were just wrong about how big that gap really was?

"Yeah, that's what the reaction is going to be," said running back Saquon Barkley after he had 63 total yards against the Cowboys and watched one pass from Jones turn into a Pick-6 after it bounced out of his hands. "Like I said, it's a long season."

He meant that there's time for the Giants to turn things around — and of course there is. But if the Giants aren't capable of doing that, it could be a really long season for them. They are undoubtedly a more talented team than they were last year. They have more offensive weapons (like receiver Parris Campbell and rookie Jalin Hyatt). They have a dynamic tight (Darren Waller). They've added two promising young cornerbacks (Deonte Banks, Trey Hawkins), a new middle linebacker (Bobby Okereke), a strong young center (John Michael Schmitz).

So they're better. But better than what? That's still the question. Are they trying to take the next step from the 9-7-1 team that won a playoff game, or is it the next step from the team that fell apart down the stretch? In other words: How good is the foundation they're building on?

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They think it's great and strong.

Maybe it's not.

"The danger is we can come in and listen to the media and listen to everyone and let those ‘Poor Me's' creep in and they can trickle down and have an effect on our season," Barkley said. "That's the reality of it. But at the end of the day, it's on the coaches, it's on us, the leaders, it's on the players to come in, watch film, learn from it, put it in the past and move on.

"It sucks, but sometimes you need an opener like this."

Maybe he's right, even though it sure feels like a 40-0 humiliation was the last thing the Giants needed in their first game. Maybe they did need a reality check. Maybe they had convinced themselves they were better than they really are. They looked back on last season with blue-tinted glasses, seeing only the 7-2 start and the first playoff win for the franchise in 11 years, and figured the sky was the limit. They ignored the 2-5-1 collapse in the second half and the 38-7 beating they took in the divisional round in Philadelphia and didn't realize they were still in a deep hole.

There's nothing wrong with only wanting to see the good. But on Sunday night, it sure seemed like the bad stuff from 2022 — like the struggling offensive line, the pop-gun passing attack, the pressure-less defense — was a little closer to the truth.

"Everyone is going to go out there and say whatever they want to say about us," a defiant Barkley said. "But we've still got 16 games guaranteed."

Yes, they do. They have 16 games to show who they really are, to prove that their surprising 2022 season wasn't just a mirage. It probably wasn't — at least not completely. The truth about the Giants is probably somewhere in between the good and the bad.

But it was all bad in their opener. Worse than they could have imagined. Maybe they're right, that what happened on Sunday night isn't who they really are or who they're capable of being. But they left plenty of room for doubt, so they better prove it quickly.

And they better hope that they haven't spent the last eight months fooling themselves.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.