'Starts With Me!' Daboll Takes Blame for Giants' Offensive Woes

The New York Giants are the 53-man equivalent of an oxymoron. They’re consistently inconsistent, capable of intertwining superstar-level play with bouts of incompetence, and equally as likely to knock off the Seattle Seahawks as they are to fall flat against a horrible defense.

They did the latter on Sunday, falling to the visiting Cincinnati Bengals 17-7. New York wasted a strong defensive showing, especially from its star-laden pass rush, once again subjecting fans to an underwhelming offensive performance.

It’s Week 4 all over again, and the Giants still can’t find explosive plays.

For that, head coach Brian Daboll was willing to take the blame.

“There's some good things that we did and obviously not good enough,” Daboll said . “But, we'll go back and we'll look at it. Again, the ultimate deal is scoring points. Whether it's run, pass, whatever it may be. When you're inconsistent with the things that we're inconsistent with right now, the result is seven points. That all starts with me.”

To an extent, New York’s dry spell was predictable. Receiver Malik Nabers missed his second consecutive contest, and the Giants were somewhat lucky to have had as much success as they did against the Seattle Seahawks. Several downfield shots came to fruition – receiver Darius Slayton being the main beneficiary – and the offense looked good as a result.

But New York, especially without Nabers, isn’t a team that can survive random variance. The base rate of quarterback Daniel Jones’s success rate simply isn’t good enough. At his best, New York can take down more talented teams. The average Jones start demands excellence from others to win. And when he’s bad – like he was on Sunday – the result is a lifeless offense with no shot at connecting downfield.

It just isn’t a viable way to win football games.

“Look, you're not going to be an 80-percent completion rate when you throw deep balls,” Daboll said. “You're going to hit some, you're going to miss some. Obviously, they help a great deal in terms of ending drives in points when you hit them. … Whatever it may be. We'll keep working at it.”

The Giants drew the short stick on Sunday. Left tackle Andrew Thomas was called for an ineligible man downfield penalty that wasted a big play. Another pass interference call or two could have gone their way. Maybe Jones makes some better throws if he was asked to make them again.

Related: WATCH: Bad Daniel Jones Might Be Back

Regardless, this isn’t a new development for the New York faithful. All there’s left to do is hope that the football gods are a little kinder in Week 7 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Every week, I tell you this, it's a week to week league,” Daboll said. “Every week's different. We didn't execute as well as we executed last week. Overall, I'm saying everybody. And that starts with me.”