After Sunday’s 20-9 loss to the Dolphins, in which the Giants failed to execute offensively and fell to 4-8 on the season, Carl Banks had a message for the team.
“My wish, and I’m not telling the fans, I’m telling the player, coaches, figure it the f–k out,” Banks, the team’s radio analyst and a former linebacker, said on the Bleav In Giants Podcast.
“Simple. When there are plays to be made, make the f–king play. Be intentional about your assignment. Value every possession like you won’t get another one because you don’t when you don’t execute. Just know the assignment.”
Banks didn’t hold back any criticism for the Giants, their players or head coach Joe Judge, calling the loss, “one of my lowest moments as a former Giant, as a fan, as a broadcaster.” He criticized the team’s disorganization ahead of the snap and its failure to get the ball to its best offensive players.
He was particularly critical of Saquon Barkley, who had two first-half drops and finished with just 74 yards from scrimmage.
“It’s now at the point where it’s gonna be labeled inconsistent from you,” Banks said. “… He’s gotta be able to make those plays.”
Banks said he admires Judge trying to remain positive in comments to the media, but it would have been better to see him admit the team needs to be better.
“Operationally, he’s got a lot to fix,” Banks said. “These delay of game calls, the planning of how to operate in certain situations, it just seems that they miss it every week.”
The Giants’ “entire operation is broken,” Banks concluded.
The team is well on its way to missing the playoffs for the ninth time in 10 seasons, the only exception coming in 2016, when they lost in the wild-card game to Green Bay.
“They like the idea of knowing what a big game is, what an assignment is, but the work that’s required — it’s not there,” said Banks, who was a key part of two Giants Super Bowl teams.
“And I think every piece of the operation has to be better. Every piece.”
