Ben McAdoo 'brutally honest' at meeting with players; players' lack of effort discussed

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants coach Ben McAdoo held a "long, hard, honest meeting" on Wednesday with his players on their first day back to work this week. During the meeting, he put some plays on the screen from Sunday's 31-21 loss at the San Francisco 49ers that McAdoo described as an inconsistent desire to finish.

It was a vastly different meeting than the Giants are used to when they arrive to work on Wednesday mornings. This one was more to the point and critical.

"Message to them in the meeting was we had some open conversations, some hard talks, some plain talks, some simple talk, played some film and were brutally honest with each other," McAdoo said. "We'll see how the players respond. They had a nice day of practice [Wednesday]. We also talked about the great opportunity in front of us."

The Giants (1-8) have seven games remaining, beginning with a difficult matchup on Sunday with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Giants are 10.5-point underdogs at home.

They're hoping the meeting correlates to a better product. They've conceded that what was put on the field over the past few weeks was embarrassing.

Still, it took until Week 11 for this kind of meeting to happen. It might have been too late, with this season long dead.

The Giants are in last place in the NFC East and have allowed 82 points in the past two games combined.

"Yeah, definitely," cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said about the meeting possibly occurring too late.

"I think it would've put guys at a different attention on alert back then, because nobody wants to be called out," he later added. "I don't care what you say. Nobody wants to have that play up there where you have to come back in the locker room and everybody is looking at you like you're that guy.

"I think it could've helped if it were done earlier or not, but at least it got done."

The meeting occurred after the Giants were blown out by the previously winless 49ers. Cornerback Janoris Jenkins appeared to be one of the biggest offenders with his effort on several tackles.

But Jenkins was not alone. McAdoo explained in his Monday conference call that he didn't see a consistent desire to finish throughout the game. He provided that same explanation when asked specifically about Jenkins, who was unavailable for comment on Wednesday as the Giants began preparations for the Chiefs.

McAdoo said there is a "possibility there were to be some changes" this week as a result. He did not provide any specifics.

It was clear that the players' efforts were a point of contention at Wednesday's meeting.

"At some points [efforts were questioned]," linebacker Devon Kennard said. "Just guys could have given more effort."

The players saw it on tape. They didn't reject the notion that it was insufficient.

"The only thing I can say is disappointing is the lack of want-to after all we've been through," Rodgers-Cromartie said. "I'll take a lost play flying around. But how we're losing ..."

The Giants have lost each of their past three games by double digits. They've allowed 14 plays of over 20 yards in the past two weeks.

The meeting was McAdoo's last-ditch effort to get his team back on the same page after a pair of recent suspensions and blowout losses have its season seemingly off the rails.

"It was just an opportunity for everybody to see what was going on, from both sides of the ball," Kennard said. "We got to see some of the offensive plays and hear Coach McAdoo coach some guys up on the offensive side and the defensive side, and I think it's just a good way for everybody to be held accountable for what's going on, on and off the field."