Defensive end Leonard Williams doesn’t want to hear Giants fans boo.
Too bad. Because the boos that rained down on this woeful team Sunday were completely understandable — and well-deserved.
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The Giants fell to 1-5 with a 38-11 loss to the Rams. The Giants trailed 28-3 at halftime and 38-3 until 6:21 remained in the game. This was an absolutely pathetic performance, as the Giants fell to 19-51 since their last winning season, 2016, and 7-15 under coach Joe Judge.
But Williams had the gall after that game to say the boos bother him.
“I mean, they do bother me, honestly,” he said.
Well, at least he was being honest.
(Seriously, though, a prominent athlete like Williams speaking honestly is always appreciated. But when he expresses a tone-deaf, off-base opinion like this, he ought to be called out.)
“Obviously, we’re in our own home stadium,” he said. “I don’t want to be hearing boos from our own fans. I understand that they have a right to be upset as well, because they’re coming to see us put good football on the field. And we haven’t been winning. But at the same time, I don’t like that.”
Probably not the best time for Williams to say this. Yet he kept going.
“I don’t think anyone deserves to be put down, no matter who you are,” he said. “I’m not going to go up to a salesman and tell him that he’s not a good person or boo this person because he’s not doing his job or something like that. You know what I mean?”
Wait. What?
This is a laughable analogy on many levels. First of all, he didn’t even specify what kind of salesman he meant. Because an incapable dictionary salesman deserves all the ire in the world. Also, no one is saying Williams or any Giants player isn’t a good person. Just that they’re not very good at their chosen profession on a particular Sunday.
When challenged on his salesman analogy, Williams said, “I just said I understood why fans would be upset.”
OK. So he doesn’t think they should boo?
“It doesn’t matter what I think,” he said. “I go out there to play football. I don’t sit in the stands. So I can’t see it from their perspective.”
He’s right. Williams this past offseason signed a new contract with the Giants that pays him $45 million fully guaranteed. He has made $75 million from the Jets and Giants during his seven-year career. So yeah, he doesn’t know what it’s like for a fan who shells out a good chunk of his paycheck to watch the Giants flop on a blue-sky Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Again, nobody is personally attacking or assaulting or threatening Williams or any of the Giants. These are just ... fans booing. It’s sort of part of the deal in, ya know, sports.
Plus, there’s this: The Giants paid Williams because of his pass rush production. And in this season’s first five games, he struggled with that. Entering Sunday, Pro Football Focus rated him 44th among interior defensive linemen in pass rushing.
Williams played better Sunday — 1.5 sacks, two quarterback hits. So maybe he’s turning a corner. And it’s not like he is the sole reason the Giants are struggling again.
But we’re talking about a team that has won 19 of its past 70 games — just north of 27% — over the past four-plus seasons.
For his part, Williams has heard plenty of boos in his career — from Jets and Giants fans alike — so you’d think he’d be numb to them by now. Apparently not.
Williams played his 101st NFL game Sunday. His teams’ record in those games — 34-67. And the Jets went 10-6 in 2015, Williams’ rookie season, so he’s 24-61 since 2016.
“As a competitor, it’s really upsetting that I’m in Year 7 and I’ve been having a lot of losing seasons,” he said. “I haven’t been to the playoffs yet in my career, and that’s pretty tough. A long career in this league is 10 to 12, 13 years. I’m already close to half of that, at least.
“I want to obviously start seeing the tables turn and start winning. I’m obviously not pointing the fingers and blaming anyone. I look at myself first in the mirror: How much more can I do?”
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Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com.
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