New York Giants veteran wide receiver Sterling Shepard opened up about controversial comments made by safety and team captain Xavier McKinney after New York’s 30-6 loss at the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 5.
“It could be coming from a little bit of frustration,” Shepard recently told Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News. “Everybody has a right to be frustrated. We just have to do a good job as leaders of keeping it in-house, because we’re the only ones who can turn this thing around and fix it. Sometimes when you get frustrated you say some things you may not necessarily mean or get taken out of context, so I’ll let him speak on that stuff.”
McKinney suggested shortly after the Week 9 defeat that coaches weren’t listening to team leaders and captains during games amid the club’s woeful season.
Giants defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale later left no doubt he wasn’t happy McKinney went public with that take, and one can’t help but wonder if the situation shows the 2-8 team is crumbling under the leadership of head coach Brian Daboll.
As shared by Joseph Staszewski of the New York Post, Shepard and wide receiver Darius Slayton were just two Giants players who engaged in “animated discussions” during this past Sunday’s embarrassing 49-17 thumping at the Dallas Cowboys.
Daboll may not have the horses to guide the club to a second-consecutive playoff appearance, but he could be in danger of losing his job in January if his team continues to turn on each other through Week 18.
“But as one of the leaders of this team, it’s important for me and all of us to get back into the locker room and let the message be known that we can stick together through this,” Shepard continued while speaking about McKinney. “Because I’ve been here for a while. I’ve been through a couple different teams. And when stuff starts to get out like that, it can be divisive. We’ll be OK. Guys are just frustrated, which they have every right to be. But we gotta be the ones to fix this thing, and he understands that. He knows that. So I don’t think it’s too big of a deal. We’ll be alright.”
Media members ripped both McKinney and fellow team captain Dexter Lawrence after the two declined to meet with reporters after the debacle in Dallas. For a piece published Tuesday morning, Darryl Slater of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com wrote that “Lawrence — a grown man who just got paid $60M — wanting to spend extra time with his family on his 26th birthday is not a legitimate excuse for not answering questions about this disastrous loss.”
Slater also called for Giants co-owner John Mara “to stop hiding, address this mess and show some accountability.”
If leaders like Shepard can’t help Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen get the house in order and make the Giants at least competitive over the next two months, Mara may ultimately make a decision that seemed unfathomable as recently as September.
