New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh isn't about to let his team slide when they underperform. Two weeks ago, the Giants fell behind a very mediocre New Orleans Saints team, 34-10 in the second half, and although they staged a furious comeback and had a chance to win, they didn't.
Harbaugh had plenty to say after the 34-27 loss, but took the high road. Two days later, he shared his true thoughts about the effort in what is being described as an "uncomfortable" team meeting.
From The New York Post:
“I don’t know if it was anger,” Jon Runyan Jr. told The Post, “but his word would probably be disgust. I think that’s the correct word — disgust. I think the theme of that day was disgust … disgusting.”
The Giants had let themselves down. And they
had let Harbaugh down.
“He called a lot of people out, players, coaches, just all across the board,” Runyan said. “Him just going up there and knowing what we have at stake with what’s going on with the division right now and to go out there and perform like that against the Saints was kind of unacceptable.”
Runyan went on to say that Harbaugh's goal was to make everyone feel uncomfortable about the loss without embarrassing any one individual.
Quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who came into the game in the fourth quarter and almost pulled off a miraculous comeback, knows the Harbaugh way, having played for John's brother, Jim, in college at Michigan.
“It goes back to: They don’t care about anything else but winning. And they will do whatever it takes," McCarthy said.
He also called the meeting "uncomfortable" and said, "At the end of the day, when you’re getting called out in front of your peers, that hits home.'
Fullback Patrick Ricard, who played nine seasons under Harbaugh with the Baltimore Ravens, said Harbaugh painstakingly reviewed all the negative plays in front of the whole team. He knew the coach was simply trying to motivate the troops and get them back on track.
More from The Post:
“He keeps it very real, he’s very real about what he says and what he preaches and he backs it up with his actions,” Ricard said. “He just asks a lot out of you, I guess. He’s a very good speaker. He’s very confident in himself, I think he carries himself very well to where he earns guys’ respect right away just from meeting him.
“If you play well and you do everything he asks for you, you’re gonna love him. If you don’t, he’s gonna stay on you, and you’re not gonna love him because it’s tough to play for him if you’re not doing exactly what it is that he wants because he knows what a successful team looks like and he’s gonna demand it out of you.
The Giants will be off the rest of the week, taking advantage of this well-placed bye week. It will give them time to heal physically and catch their breath.
Although they have a game-and-a-half lead in the NFC East, Harbaugh does not want his team stopping to smell the roses. He knows there's plenty of football left to play and, as we've seen, anything is possible these days.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants' John Harbaugh held very 'uncomfortable' team meeting after Saints loss
