The one-win New York Giants are a team encased in turmoil.
Teams in this position tend to hold meetings. Meetings between the coach and front office; the coach and ownership; the coach and his gaggle of assistants; and, on Wednesday, the coach and his players.
Ben McAdoo revealed to reporters that he gathered the team for a "long, hard, honest meeting."
Pressed for details, McAdoo stated that players and coaches were "brutally honest" with each other following a pair of losses that saw New York outscored 82-38 by the high-flying Rams and lowly Niners.
"Message to them in the meeting -- we had some open conversations. Some hard talks. Some plain talks. Some simple talk. Played some film. Were brutally honest with each other," McAdoo said. "We'll see how the players respond. ... We talked about being disappointed but being determined. These guys, this group of men -- they're special in a lot of ways. They've been fighting through adversity their whole lives. The players and coaches -- to be sitting in that room is unique -- and we talked about running to adversity. That's where we are in the season."
Veteran cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie -- suspended earlier this season after clashing with McAdoo -- didn't exactly gush over the session, saying: "It would've helped to do it earlier, but at least it got done."
Giants ownership, not a group prone to kneejerk reactions, issued a statement this week backing their embattled second-year coach:
"Ben McAdoo is our head coach and has our support," the statement read. "We are in the midst of an extremely disappointing season. Our performance this year, particularly the past two weeks, is inexcusable and frustrating ... Our plan is to do what we have always done, which is to not offer a running commentary on the season. ... At the end of the year, we will evaluate the 2017 season in its entirety and make a determination on how we move forward."
His fate is undecided, but McAdoo likely needs a batch of inspiring upset wins to keep the job. That looms as a tall task for a defense lost at sea and an offense stripped of star wideout Odell Beckham.
A reliably competitive franchise dating back to the early 1980s, this year's Giants are spiraling toward a top-five pick in the draft -- alien territory for a proud organization.
From where we stand today, it would be stunning if anyone from this regime is around to make that selection.
