New York Giants: Ben McAdoo Believes Team Has Grown Throughout Season
New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo believes his team has grown and learned to win throughout the regular season.
The New York Giants have had their ups and downs throughout Ben McAdoo’s first season as head coach. Things started out on a high, as they started the season 2-0. But, they quickly had a down after that.
The Giants would lose their next three games in ugly fashion. They couldn’t get out of their own way against the Washington Redskins and then were handled easily by the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers in primetime games.
New York then went on an impressive streak, reeling off six consecutive wins. The Giants had a hiccup against the Pittsburgh Steelers but would bounce back by beating the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions, No.1 and No.2 in the NFC at the time, in consecutive weeks.
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A Thursday Night Football letdown against the Philadelphia Eagles delayed the Giants playoff berth a couple of days, but they qualified later in Week 16. With nothing to play for in Week 17, the Giants still put forth a strong effort to eliminate their NFC East rivals, the Washington Redskins, from the postseason.
2016 has been a learning experience on multiple fronts for the Giants. The script has flipped from the offseason, when people assumed the offense would carry a lackluster defense. Instead, it has been a dominant defense carrying a sputtering offense. McAdoo believes that the Giants are a much different team now than when they started the season, or even faced off with the Packers in Week 5.
"“I think we’re two different football teams. I think we’ve learned how to win since then,” McAdoo said. “We’ve grown together and we’ve learned a lot about each other. We just have to prepare for the game and let the game play out.”"
When the Giants faced the Packers the first time around this season they had plenty of issues. Kicker Josh Brown was still a part of the roster. Odell Beckham Jr. was in the midst of a media frenzy because of his antics. Above all, the Giants were losing and didn’t know what kind of team they were.
Fast forward just over three months and the Giants now have a good idea of who they are. The Brown debacle has been put behind them and Beckham Jr. has continued to dominate without any altercations on the field.
While those early-season struggles were not easy to overcome, and are things a team would rather avoid, McAdoo believes it helped push the Giants along and was a good learning experience.
"“You have to go through tough times together, stick together, get hardened by some controversy at times, and you have to play through it. I think we’re a battle-tested football team,” he said. “I think it happens over time. It doesn’t happen with one instance.”"
The Giants have been able to stick together despite the early season struggles and distractions. It resulted in a strong regular season, which the Giants ended with an 11-5 record and the top Wild Card spot.
The 11 wins are the most since the Giants won 10 games in 2010. It has been a good rookie season as head coach for McAdoo and he is correct when saying the Giants have learned how to win. Last season they were 3-8 in games decided by seven points or fewer; this season they are 8-3 in games decided by seven points or fewer.
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That is quite an impressive turnaround, and some credit needs to be given to McAdoo. The talent is improved on defense, but the coaching staff has learned their personnel and gotten the most out of them. The 2016 regular season was a good one for the Giants, and they will look to carry over all of the things they learned and turn it into a postseason run.