Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins was one of several players on the team to come under fire for a perceived lack of effort in a pair of blowout losses over the last two weeks, but said in the day’s leading up to Sunday’s game against the Chiefs that trying hard wan’t the problem.
Jenkins said that he’s been playing to the best of his ability, which seemed debatable given how well he’s played in the past and how poorly he’s been playing this season. On Sunday, though, things finally went right for Jenkins and the Giants.
Jenkins had a key interception of Alex Smith in the fourth quarter and had a pass interference penalty wipe out a second one in what appeared to be a much livelier game for one of the team’s big-ticket signings in 2016. The same was true across the Giants defense, which stifled the Chiefs all afternoon in a spirited outing that bore no resemblance to almost all of their other work this season.
“You got to remember, man, tough times don’t last, tough people do,” Jenkins said, via NJ.com. “We understand it’s football, it’s the NFL. We just got to come out and play every week. ... I just came out and played hard. From a team, we all played together - offense, defense, special teams. Made sure I corrected my techniques and we got a victory.”
Jenkins said last week that the criticism of his play didn’t bother him. Something lit a fire under his rear end this week, though, and that’s a big reason why the Giants are now 2-8.
