Tag: deandre baker

Giants’ DeAndre Baker vows to become an elite corner

New York Giants rookie DeAndre Baker guarantees that he will become an elite lock-down corner in Year 2.

Entering Week 14 of the regular season, New York Giants rookie DeAndre Baker is one of the lowest-ranked and lowest-graded cornerbacks in the league, at times owning a share of the very bottom spot.

Recently, Baker was even called out by his teammates for a lack of hustle, which highlighted what has otherwise been a concerning and forgettable rookie campaign.

However, despite his struggles, Baker maintains a positive attitude and vows to become an elite lock-down corner in 2020.

“I know it,” Baker told NJ Advance Media. “I know what I can do.”

“Just to be one of the top corners. That’s all. Next year, I’m just trying to have way more good games than bad.”

The problem with Baker looking ahead is that he still has four games remaining in his rookie season, and now that he’s sharing time with Sam Beal, he’ll need to start turning a corner sooner rather than later.

“I’m going to show them that for the rest of these games, too, and next year,” he said.

While Baker admits that he’s not content in his rookie performance, he also claims he’s not disappointed in it, either. That’s a far cry from his critics and fans, but he simply tunes them out — something that is easier for him to do since he doesn’t use social media.

“I’m not content,” he said of his rookie season. “There’s things I could’ve done better. But I ain’t disappointed at all. It’s kind of like: All right, this is what I need to do.

“I don’t ever see criticism or nothing like that, so I can’t really talk about it. I don’t be on Twitter, so I wouldn’t know what they’re saying. That’s probably a good thing.”

It is a good thing for Baker, who has taken more heat than any other Giant this season — and rightfully so.

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Giants fall to Packers: Winners, losers and those in between

The New York Giants fell to 2-10 with a 31-13 loss to the Packers in Week 13, and here’s a look at the winners and losers from that game.

The New York Giants fell to the Green Bay Packers, 31-13, on a snowy Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, extending their losing streak to eight consecutive games and officially eliminating them from the playoffs.

The game itself wasn’t as lopsided as many anticipated initially, but it got a little out of hand later on in the fourth quarter. And while that does represent some progress, as head coach Pat Shurmur would say, you don’t get any prizes for trying hard.

Here’s a look at some winners and losers from Week 13:

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Winners

Sterling Shepard: Because of the weather, Shepard wasn’t targeted as many times as he would have been under sunny skies, but he made sure to remind Giants Nation how valuable he can be when he’s on the field. He hauled in three receptions for 40 yards and one beautiful touchdown, and was open several other times throughout the game, but the Giants were simply unable to get him the ball. He did have one drop, but that shouldn’t define his performance.

Darius Slayton: Slayton is rapidly becoming a consistent weekly force and Sunday was no different. Ironically, he actually played better than his stats would indicate as one of his long receptions was called back due to a penalty. He finished the game with six receptions for 44 yards.

Janoris Jenkins: Jenkins entered the Week 13 game feeling quite confident and all but guaranteeing he wouldn’t give up a touchdown, and true to his word, he did not. In fact, Jenkins didn’t give up a single reception to a receiver in which he was covering one-on-one, and even had a pass defensed that prevented a score.

Others: Buck Allen, Aldrick Rosas, Kaden Smith

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Giants will continue rotating DeAndre Baker, Sam Beal

After finding success with the change in Week 12, the New York Giants will continue to rotate cornerbacks DeAndre Baker and Sam Beal.

Against the Chicago Bears in Week 12, the New York Giants rotated cornerbacks DeAndre Baker and Sam Beal to some relative success.

Add in the performance of defensive back Julian Love, who basically does it all, and Giants head coach Pat Shurmur was pleasantly surprised with what he saw despite the 19-14 loss.

“Well, it was good to see Beal on the field. His first action, so to speak, playing defense. He played the week before, but extended and planned. He did a good job,” Shurmur told reporters.

“What I liked about it? They’re young players, and if we add Love, we have another rookie out there. You can make the case that really Sam is a rookie. Last year was like year zero for him, because he didn’t get a chance to compete at all. But he competed. First, he got lined up properly. He knew, generally speaking, what to do and he competed. It’s always good to see a young player get out there and get something done.”

Baker took 63% of the team’s defensive reps on Sunday, while Beal took 37%. The end result? A strong showing by Beal and Baker’s best performance of 2019.

Not wanting to mess with one of the few good things happening with the team, Shurmur revealed that Baker and Beal will remain in a rotation for the time being.

“Yeah, they’re both going to play. So, probably we’ll stick with it,” Shurmur said. “I think it was good to get Beal on the field. DeAndre… It’s always good when there’s a competitive setting, too. I think I mentioned it earlier in the week on the conference call, but when he was out there, he competed hard. When he wasn’t in there, he was standing there, watching and in-tune with what was going on. Hey, they’re young players. There’s a lot to learn for all of them. We’ll keep them all going.”

The competition should light a fire under Baker, who admitted only a few short weeks ago that he didn’t have a handle on the playbook, while Beal has the scheme down pat but has lacked the necessary playing time due to injury.

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Giants’ David Mayo, DeAndre Baker earn high PFF grades in loss to Bears

New York Giants LB David Mayo and CB DeAndre Baker earned high PFF grades in a Week 12 loss to the Chicago Bears.

The New York Giants lost their seventh consecutive game in Week 12, falling to the Chicago Bears, 19-14, at Soldier Field. And as disheartening as another loss was, there were a few positives to come out of the game.

First and foremost, rookie cornerback DeAndre Baker played well a week removed from being called out in front of the entire team, earning his highest Pro Football Focus grade of the season.

In addition to Baker, linebacker David Mayo also graded out well, earning a team-high grade of 92.4.

Our friends at PFF also singled out Mayo during their ReForcused segment, specifically making note of how well he played against the run.

David Mayo was an absolute beast for the Giants’ defense at linebacker. He was all over the field, leading the way in defensive stops. His run defense was phenomenal, as he constantly snaked through blockers and was able to make multiple tackles for loss.

Finally, rookie defensive back Julian Love also earned a little love for his play, finishing the game with a 81.2 grade.

It may have been another hard to swallow loss for Giants fans, but if you’re desperately seeking out a silver lining, Pro Football Focus has provided it.

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3 takeaways from Giants’ Week 12 loss to Bears

Here are three takeaways from the New York Giants’ Week 12 loss to the Chicago Bears, which dropped them to 2-9.

The New York Giants fell to 2-9 on the season after their listless loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday.

Here are three takeaways from the latest loss.

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Daniel Jones shows his grit

Giant fans remember the days when Eli Manning was covered in grass stains and dirt after a hard day’s work. On Sunday, Jones did what he could to penetrate the Bears’ aggressive defense and took many a hit in the process. Overall, he did fairly well, but on the Giants’ final series of the game, Jones sustained a cut on his throwing hand between his index and middle finger, which affected his passing. His final three passes were incompletions.

After the game, Jones sloughed off the injury admitting he did not know how it happened but confirmed he would not need stitches. The team’s seventh straight loss is what hurt him the most.

“It’s tough,’ said Jones. “No one likes to lose. Everyone in this locker room, everybody that’s part of the organization, is trying to do what we can to correct it. We got to keep doing that, look at what we’re doing, get better. Right now, it’s not good enough.”

No, it’s not.

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Report: Giants’ DeAndre Baker called out in front of team for ‘unacceptable’ play

New York Giants rookie CB DeAndre Baker got called out in front of the team this week for what his teammates deemed “unacceptable” play.

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When the New York Giants traded back up into Round 1 of the 2019 NFL Draft, many felt they got a steal with cornerback DeAndre Baker, who was known for his physical, hard-nosed style of play.

However, in his first NFL season, Baker has graded out among the worst cornerbacks in all of football, and his snafus are evident on a weekly basis.

To some degree, Baker’s issues stem from being used in soft coverage — the polar opposite of his strength — and a general misunderstanding of the team’s defensive scheme, which he humbly admitted just a few short weeks ago.

But some of Baker’s problems are of his own making, including but not limited to a lack of hustle that has exhausted some of his teammates. In fact, they’ve become so bothered by it that the rookie was reportedly called out in front of the team.

Being ripped in front of an entire team as a rookie is undoubtedly a difficult pill to swallow, but as you can see in the video footage above, the complaints are completely warranted and justified.

How Baker responds to being dressed down may not only define what remains of his rookie season, but where he stands on the roster entering the 2020 season.

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6 things to watch for over the Giants’ final six games

Here are six things (plus more) to watch over the final six games of the New York Giants’ 2019 regular season.

There’s not a whole lot to root for in these 2-8 New York Giants, but fans will be looking for any signs of life– and hope — in Pat Shurmur’s team over the last six games of this lost 2019 season.

Fans are shedding themselves of as many tickets as they can for the remaining three home games (Week 13 vs. Green Bay, Week 15 vs. Miami and Week 17 vs. Philadelphia) and there won’t be a ton of viewers watching on television, either, as the Giants close out their sixth losing season over the last seven years.

But there are a few things to watch for. I like No. 6, so I narrowed (or expanded) the things to watch to that number for the heck of it.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Pat Shurmur

Is he coaching for his Giants life? It doesn’t look like they’ll better last year’s record of 5-11, but if he can only win two or three of the last six games and the team is still a disorganized mess, do the Giants look to move on?

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What are the Giants doing to help DeAndre Baker?

New York Giants CB DeAndre Baker is among the worst in football and his hole is only getting deeper, so what is the team doing to help?

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New York Giants rookie cornerback DeAndre Baker is out on an island right now and not the kind of island Darrelle Revis was on, either.

Baker’s island is a deserted one. He’s more like Tom Hanks in the movie “Castaway,” left for dead with no help in sight.

The Giants’ defense is devoid of leadership at the moment as their lineup is stocked with rookies and younger players and the veterans on their team are struggling themselves, so their ability to lead has been compromised.

Baker is being asked to do things that go against the grain of his talent. When the Giants traded up to select Baker with the 30th overall selection, they were getting a quality press corner who used his stickiness and cover skills to shut down receivers.

The Giants’ defensive scheme under coordinator James Bettcher has Baker playing in zones and in soft coverage models where he’s 8-to-10 yards off the line of scrimmage instead of confronting wideouts within five yards.

If they are going to get the most out of this promising youngster, they must meet him halfway and get him some help. Former Giant great and current radio analyst Carl Banks agrees.

Baker has admitted he is having issues grasping Bettcher’s defense and it is showing in his performance. He is ranked at the very bottom of the league at his position after giving up a slew of huge plays this season.

Then, there is the surrender factor. Baker is so screwed up, he appears to give up on some plays as if he’s given up trying to figure things out, which is what Lawrence Tynes was addressing in his tweet prior to Banks’ reply.

The Giants were hoping that veteran Janoris Jenkins would assist in grooming Baker, Sam Beal, Corey Ballentine and Julian Love, but he’s been dealing with his own issues. He was rumored to be on the trading block last month, so his mind was not on developing talent here.

Will the Giants reach back and hire that “tutor” for Baker and the others that Banks suggests or just continue on to shrug their shoulders each time the defense gets torched?

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3 takeaways from Giants’ Week 10 loss to Jets

Here are three takeaways from the New York Giants’ Week 10 loss to the New York Jets, which dropped Big Blue to 2-8.

The New York Giants fell to the New York Jets, 34-27, on Sunday dropping their record to 2-8 on the season.

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

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Although it is warranted, no one will be fired

Losing to the Jets a team that couldn’t get out of its own way for the first eight games gave fans a sinking feeling and left them wondering if this coaching staff is the right one for the team to move forward with. Head coach Pat Shurmur was asked about the state of the team.

“The state?” he’s asked. “We are disappointed we haven’t been able to win a game for six, right? That’s the way it works. We’re disappointed that we didn’t win this game. That’s where it’s at. The state of the team, that’s where we’re at.”

Losing to a lesser team leads to all type of questions, but the Giants, even though CEO John Mara was visibly angry over the loss, won’t be doing anything drastic — yet.

Shurmur said after the game that there will be no staff changes.

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