Quitting isn't the Giants' problem — which is even scarier

There is no player looking more shell-shocked than Landon Collins. It all went right for him in 2016. It all has gone wrong for him, and his team, this season. As a result, he sounds confused and, given what has gone on around him, who can blame him?

The Giants lost, again, and Collins, again, tried to make some sense of it all. What hurt most of all, Collins said, is not that the Giants lost to a team that was 0-9, it was more that the Giants somehow fell to 1-8.

“We know what we are capable of,’’ Collins said.

Does he? Can the Giants know what they are all about? How can anyone be confident about what the roster contains, considering anything positive anyone thought about the Giants coming into this season now must be viewed as suspect?

“I know what we have,’’ Collins insisted.

Consider this wishful thinking from a third-year player who does not want to face a grim reality that his Giants might be on the verge of a makeover. Shouting, “They quit!’’ every time a defender whiffs on a tackle or a pass-rusher storms in on Eli Manning is certainly in vogue, but hides the more painful truth. Is it the effort that is lacking or is it the players themselves who are lacking? A team without heart needs a transplant. A team without the requisite talent needs an overhaul.

To use the broad stroke of quitting as an explanation of what ails the Giants is a dramatic but flawed approach. Accusing the Giants of quitting, in some ways, is letting them off too easily. If they quit, they do not care enough. This losing is more about the Giants not being good enough, which is a much more insidious problem to solve.

This is what ownership must consider when contemplating what comes next. Does Ben McAdoo’s coaching life live to see another game? The Giants, rested and supposedly eager to come out of their bye week with some spirit and fight, put on their résumé a shameful 51-17 loss to the Rams and a 31-21 loss to the previously winless 49ers. It is likely to get uglier, starting with Sunday’s home game against the first-place Chiefs, as paper bags might become the new headwear around MetLife Stadium.

Landon Collins tries to bring down Matt Breida.UPI

Sometimes a coach must be jettisoned for the good of all concerned, almost regardless of the replacement. Owners John Mara and Steve Tisch might see this as a lost cause and dismiss McAdoo, but who takes his place? The logical choice is Steve Spagnuolo, the defensive coordinator, who was the head coach of the Rams for three years in St. Louis, a stay that did not go well. The most shocking downturn this season is on defense, and Spagnuolo’s touch has forsaken him with a unit that hemorrhages big plays and looks confused, uncertain and, at times, unconcerned. Elevating Spagnuolo into an interim head coach role would not be ideal.

The offensive coordinator, Mike Sullivan, now calls the plays, and naming him McAdoo’s temporary replacement would burden him, unless he handed off the play-calling duties to another offensive assistant, easier said than done. Teams in the past have named their special teams coordinator as interim head coach. There are no indications the Giants would do that with Tom Quinn.

More than any tangible benefit, ousting McAdoo now would appease a large segment of the fan base that wants someone to blame and wants that someone to take the fall. It would be the way for ownership to say “We feel your pain’’ with action rather than words. It would go against what Mara learned from his father, Wellington, and what John Mara almost always believes is prudent. It would be drastic, smack of desperation and completely dismiss the 2016 turnaround McAdoo orchestrated. Parting ways with McAdoo, 26 games into his head coaching career, would be more about saving face than saving the season.

More musings as the Giants continue their losing ways:

– Count Olivier Vernon as another player who does not know what to say. His transition to the Giants in 2016 was seamless, as he fit in on and off the field after spending his entire life, and NFL career, in the Miami area. This year, the losing, plus a high ankle sprain that cost him four games, plus his involvement in kneeling during the national anthem, has made it a troubling one for Vernon.

“You couldn’t tell me in the beginning of the season we would be in this position, so I really can’t believe it,’’ he said.

– Believe this at your own risk. Ereck Flowers is developing at left tackle. Since Week 2, he has not allowed a sack in 282 pass blocking snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, the best of an offensive tackle in that span. His run blocking needs work — PFF ranks him 70th out of 77 offensive tackles. Flowers, though, is not getting beaten nearly as often in the pass game.

– It was as bad as it looked for Janoris Jenkins and, just like that, the man they call Jackrabbit has fallen out of good graces. He returned from his one-game suspension and did not appear ready to play. He allowed four receptions on four targets for 111 yards and a touchdown, with four different 49ers receivers catching passes on him. The passer rating against him was a perfect 158.3, and PFF counted up three of the Giants’ six missed tackles on Jenkins. As splendidly as Jenkins last season made the transition to his new team, he is providing his detractors with ammunition this season.

– Jonathan Casillas returned after missing three games with a neck injury and did not come back strong. He could not keep up with tight end Garrett Celek on what became a 47-yard touchdown catch-and-run and PFF ranks him 86th out of 89 NFL linebackers.

– At least Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie sounds as if he cares. Sure, he messed up earlier this season and was suspended by McAdoo, but effort is not an issue with DRC. At times, he freelances too much and, as a result, teammates have to compensate for him, but at least he makes mistakes going full speed. He has noticed an alarming lack of staying power within the entire team.

“We come out flying around,’’ he said, “and somewhere it dies.’’

– Sterling Shepard is showing he is a legitimate threat and a starting-caliber receiver. It was not supposed to be like this, Shepard in his second season the focus of attention, the No. 1 target, but with the season-ending injuries to Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall, it is all Shepard, all the time. He was targeted 13 times by Eli Manning and came away with 11 receptions for 142 yards. One of the catches was a brilliant diving, one-handed grab while falling to the grass. Shepard takes a pounding, catching the ball over the middle, rarely avoiding hits. He is a tough guy and this miserable season is making him tougher.

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