Is the issue expectations?

[GloryDays]

Second year of the same system and coaches, plus expected improvements particularly on offense, I expect at least same success as last year, 9 wins.
I expect to win back my lost wagers from two years ago.. or may be that is why they are losing?! 🤔

[Giantleap56]

Lets look at the bright side the Giants have lost to the same teams they would have lost to last year. Beat the team they would have beat last year. Last year of their 7 losses 4 came against Eagle and Cowboys which looks like they will repeat this year unless they pull a rabbit out of their hat.

I don't think expectations is the reason they are not doing better in defense and offense. It's effort and a mentally tough attitude. Their offensive line is flat out soft they aren't playing with any nastiness they aren't driving their guy into the ground and sucking their will out of the opposition.
As for the defense they are soft. They don't play with an edge. Also they know Wink is going to blitz all the opposing team has to do is get rid of the ball fast as possible and get it into their play makers hands. The rest the Giant defense will assist by not tackling. They don't hit with aggressiveness with the intent of dislodging the football.

The team flat out is lacking the dawg mentality and they have no swag. The opponents are imposing their will on the Giants. Won't win many games with that. It's all effort.

[DaveBrown74]

Lets look at the bright side the Giants have lost to the same teams they would have lost to last year.

Excellent point.

If I told you back in August that the Giants would be 2-2 coming out of week four, would you really have been shocked and devastated by that?

Through four games we will have played two of the best teams in football, plus a third team that beat us last year and made the playoffs. Not to mention we will have gotten our road Thursday night game out of the way. I'm sorry but if you're 2-2 coming out of that start, that's not the end of the world.

That's why winning on Monday is so damn important. If we can get that done, we're right where we were supposed to be.

[GloryDays]

Excellent point.

If I told you back in August that the Giants would be 2-2 coming out of week four, would you really have been shocked and devastated by that?

Through four games we will have played two of the best teams in football, plus a third team that beat us last year and made the playoffs. Not to mention we will have gotten our road Thursday night game out of the way. I'm sorry but if you're 2-2 coming out of that start, that's not the end of the world.

That's why winning on Monday is so damn important. If we can get that done, we're right where we were supposed to be.

If you isolate the numbers of wins and losses and also assume we'll win the 4th game, you make sense; however, the way they have played so far makes me really concerned about the 4th game and the fifth and the sixth games against better teams; so based on performance so far, I see the possibility of 1-3 or even 1-5 much higher than a 2-2.
Of course my heart is hoping that you are right.. that somehow the O line will turn it around, the play calling will be better and the defense decides to play with balls and hit hard.

[uconnjack8]

Excellent point.

If I told you back in August that the Giants would be 2-2 coming out of week four, would you really have been shocked and devastated by that?

Through four games we will have played two of the best teams in football, plus a third team that beat us last year and made the playoffs. Not to mention we will have gotten our road Thursday night game out of the way. I'm sorry but if you're 2-2 coming out of that start, that's not the end of the world.

That's why winning on Monday is so damn important. If we can get that done, we're right where we were supposed to be.

I can't speak for everyone but for me the non-competitive nature of those losses is the issue.

I guess I thought they would fair a little better than a combined score of 70-12 in those games. I didn't expect a 4-0 start or even 3-1, but I thought maybe they would score more than 6 points in the 1st half of those 1st 3 games.

I think just using the record as a barometer/expectation is very different than what you saw on the field. 

I get that a 1 point loss counts the same as a 40 point loss and those 1 point losses can even sting more for the fans and players.   It's just tough to stomach that after what most thought was a good offseason, 2 of 3 games thus far have looked like a Sun Belt team visiting Georgia or Bama.

As you mentioned if the team gets to 2-2, I would have taken it and it's still early in the season and improvements can be made.

[DaveBrown74]

I can't speak for everyone but for me the non-competitive nature of those losses is the issue.

I guess I thought they would fair a little better than a combined score of 70-12 in those games. I didn't expect a 4-0 start or even 3-1, but I thought maybe they would score more than 6 points in the 1st half of those 1st 3 games.

I think just using the record as a barometer/expectation is very different than what you saw on the field. 

I get that a 1 point loss counts the same as a 40 point loss and those 1 point losses can even sting more for the fans and players.  It's just tough to stomach that after what most thought was a good offseason, 2 of 3 games thus far have looked like a Sun Belt team visiting Georgia or Bama.

As you mentioned if the team gets to 2-2, I would have taken it and it's still early in the season and improvements can be made.

I get that Jack, and it's not unfair, but just think for a moment about the other side of your argument. The other side of your argument is that "moral victories" matter and are worth feeling good about. We had a lot of that kind of talk here during and after the 2020 season, and I will raise my hand and admit that I bought into it to a considerable degree. Turns out it meant nothing, as 2021 was an unmitigated disaster.

Also the only game that was truly "non-competitive" this year was week one, which was obviously awful on every level. Week two we won, and week three, while I get that it was very clear that the 9ers were the much better team, we were playing on the road on short rest with a very shorthanded group against probably the best team in football. And say what you want, but the fact is it was a one-score game in the fourth quarter. To me, "non-competitive" means it's over by halftime or at least by midway through the third quarter. That wasn't the case in that game. Obviously they were much better, but I don't see how a game that was a one score margin in the fourth quarter can be termed non-competitive.

So while I get what you're saying, we have only played three games so far, and I would say your description only really applies to one of the games.

If the Giants win tomorrow night, to me they are still alive, and then who knows what happens after that. Maybe the Fish win an emotional game today on the road against Buffalo and they're flat for our game. Maybe Tua gets concussed and we'll be going up against Mike White instead. Who knows? I'm just focused on tomorrow. I'm not worrying about how we looked 3 weeks ago against Dallas, and I'm not worrying about the schedule after week four. It's just about tomorrow for me, and I hope the team has the same mentality.