The boos showered the New York Giants offense as Brian Daboll’s club fell to 0-3 via a loss 22-9 to the Kansas City Chiefs in what felt like a winnable game for most of the contest.
The Big Apple fans wore out their vocal cords booing quarterback Russell Wilson, who was ineffective. At one point, the faithful in attendance chanted “We want Dart!” calling for rookie backup Jaxson Dart, who played three snaps.
“Look, I would be booing, too, to be honest with you, in terms of not being good enough, not scoring, not finishing,” Daboll said, via the team’s official transcript. “I understand that. That's the nature of it. We got to do better.”
Wilson came crashing back to earth following his moonball-filled mania of Week 2, when he dive-bombed the Cowboys for 450 yards. It turns out picking apart the league’s worst pass defense is different than going up against a real NFL unit.
Sunday night, Wilson finished 18 of 32 for 160 yards -- 5.0 yards per attempt -- with two very bad deep interceptions. The 36-year-old couldn’t find the long-ball range, going 0 of 6 with two INTs on deep throws (20-plus air yards), per Next Gen Stats.
The coach wouldn’t put all the struggles on the QB.
“Yeah, I’d just say overall offensively nothing was good enough," he said. "Coaching, playing. Didn't do a good enough job. Everybody.”
Daboll dismissed questions about whether Wilson would start Week 4, saying he wouldn’t get into it directly after a game. Usually, when a coach doesn’t instinctively support the starter, it means a change is coming soon. Whether that happens in Week 4, when New York faces the undefeated Los Angeles Chargers, or perhaps Week 5 against a winless New Orleans Saints club remains to be seen. If the losing continues, at some point, a change will be made.
When Dart entered for three snaps, the crowd cheered, but boos returned as Wilson jogged back. The ever-positive Wilson dismissed the fan reaction.
"Yeah, there are highs and lows and always tough moments. You know, you got to have thick skin, you know what I mean?" Wilson said. "You've got to be able to know who you are, the player that you are, know what you're capable of.
"Obviously, I've been able to show that throughout my career and obviously last week and everything else, too, what we're capable of as an offense. I think they made a couple more plays than us [Sunday night]. I think it was a 9-6 game for most of the game. Pretty tight. We needed one or two big plays. Unfortunately, didn't come our way."