EAST RUTHERFORD — It was a level of embarrassment that Brian Daboll simply could not afford after scapegoating his quarterback and having almost two weeks to prepare for his next opponent. As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took a 23-point lead late in the first half Sunday, the Giants head coach clapped his hands and patted a player on the back. Baker Mayfield taunted the MetLife Stadium crowd with Tommy DeVito’s signature celebration on a touchdown. Boos erupted when the home team kneeled out the final seconds of the second quarter. The Giants went on to suffer their sixth straight loss by the final score of 30-7 in a game that felt like a breaking point. “It certainly doesn’t mean that they’re not a good football team, but at the same time, this is the National Football League,” said wide receiver Darius Slayton, who has been with the Giants since 2019 and made angry postgame remarks in the locker room. “This isn’t Tom, Dick and Jane from down the street. We all were drafted. We were all the best Division I football players, so it’s not like they got Division I players, we got Division V players. We got capable players that don’t play like they’re capable — period — and that’s why we lose. That’s why we go out there and we get beat.” Daboll’s firing looks inevitable now. It may come this week, a different week or after the season, but it’s impossible for ownership to believe that this regime is making progress. How could John Mara and Steve Tisch feel any differently while watching their 2-9 team look completely flat and lifeless coming out of a bye week against the reeling Bucs, who had lost four games in a row while allowing 125 points? “I feel for the guys that go out there and play and the result that we had today. Focus on getting better for the next week,” Daboll said when asked about his job security. “The only thing that goes (through my head) is how we’re gonna make it better, and that’s what we’ll try to do.” New York Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito (15) gets sacked by Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Calijah Kancey (94) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) DeVito made his first start of the season with the Giants looking for a “spark” at quarterback, and yet the offense regressed with zero points in the first three quarters. Premier pass-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux returned after missing four games with a wrist injury, and yet the defense showed no resistance in surrendering 450 total yards and four rushing touchdowns. This is an utterly noncompetitive product that has fans disgusted, and that ultimately is what NFL owners cannot tolerate. Look, Daniel Jones’ benching was absolutely justified. And perhaps he was the Giants’ biggest problem. But he was far from their only problem, and that became clear more than ever Sunday when Daboll’s circus performed one clown act after another. “DJ didn’t play today, so he had nothing to do with what we just put out there on the field,” Slayton said. Slayton and tight end Chris Manhertz both insisted that the Giants had good energy from the bye week despite the drama of Jones’ benching and release this past week. No one can quite put their finger on where the problem lies. The Giants are just making too many mistakes mentally and physically. “Coaches coach, players play, leaders lead,” Manhertz said. “At the end of the day, we’re the ones out there playing and it’s our team — it’s the players’ team. I understand the coaches have their part to do, but we have our part to do as well, and that’s bringing the juice, that’s executing, that’s doing our part. I can’t point the finger at anybody.” Manhertz, who has also been part of losing seasons with the Saints, Panthers, Jaguars and Broncos, said that while it becomes a frustrating trend, the key is to not become comfortable — or perhaps numb — with the poor results. “It’s up to the individual to do their part and you ask yourself, ‘Am I doing everything I could do to help this team win from an assignment standpoint, from an execution standpoint, from an effort standpoint?’” Manhertz said. “And then the bad ones get weeded out and the good ones carry it forward.” Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) celebrates his touchdown run against the New York Giants during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz) Mara vowed that he wouldn’t make any in-season changes, but letting go of Daboll — and even general manager Joe Schoen — has to be on the table. There are six games left with no signs that this is roster will be good enough or coached well enough to win any of them. The biggest indictment on Daboll, who is supposed to be an offensive guru, is that the Giants rank last in the NFL with 14.8 points per game. This offense is literally less productive than any of Daboll’s recently fired predecessors including Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge. This is just about as bad as late the ignominious Giants football of the late 1970s. No one could have seen this coming after Daboll won NFL Coach of the Year in 2022, and no one should believe that he has simply forgotten how to coach well. But this is a results-driven business in which Daboll no longer has strong enough leadership for this team. Soon it will be time for Mara and Tisch to start over — again — with their sixth head coach in the last decade. If the Giants couldn’t perform well after the bye week, it’s hard to believe Daboll will have this team ready to play on a short week against the Cowboys in Thanksgiving. “Yeah, I mean, he’s our coach,” Slayton said after pausing for two seconds when asked if the locker room still believes in Daboll. “We’ll ride behind him this week and try to go get a win in Dallas.”