Pat Shurmur believes his New York Giants are better as a team than they were during their 5-11 stint last season.
The New York Giants need to show some improvement from the past two seasons. That is obvious. What isn’t obvious is how they’ll be able to do it.
This offseason, they parted ways with Odell Beckham Jr., Olivier Vernon, and Landon Collins. The latter will face off against them twice a year as a member of a bitter division rival—the Washington Redskins.
Regardless of the numerous tweaks to the roster, Pat Shurmur believes this team is better than last year’s. They have to be if they want to make any progress, being that they’re 8-24 in their previous two seasons.
“I feel like we are a better football team right now, and this is a team sport,” Shurmur told reporters on Monday, per Dan Benton of Giants Wire.
Despite the criticism for how they handled the offseason (i.e. not giving Collins a new deal nor franchise tagging him), Shurmur and Big Blue believe in the decisions they’ve made.
“We don’t really listen to the talk outside. We feel like we are a better team than we were a year ago, we just have to go out and perform. We know we are at the stage of our year where winning football games is what it’s all about and so that’s where we’re at,” he said.
“I like the way we have built our team. I like some of the changes we made personnel-wise. I also feel like the second year in our system we are smoother in how we operate. That’s why I think, I don’t care what everybody outside thinks.”
The Giants begin their regular-season slate with a 4:25 p.m. ET matchup against the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday, Sept. 8.
