Joe Schoen believes Giants are close, laments one-score losses

General manager Joe Schoen spoke to the media on Tuesday, fielding questions as the New York Giants take a disappointing 2-8 record into their bye week.

The current status of the Giants certainly feels low coming off a loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 10 — a team many believe is among the worst in football.

However, despite the record, Schoen believes they are close to turning the corner and becoming a winner.

“Yeah, the results have not been what we wanted them to be. I don’t want to be sitting up here at 2-8. Like that’s not what we want and nobody’s happy about it,” Schoen said. “And I understand that, but I do see progress and we’re better in different areas. And again, we’re going to evaluate all that stuff this week, but we’re better in a lot of areas.

“We just got to figure out how to finish games. And again, we’re in the games. We’re not getting blown out in those games. We’re 1-5 in close games and that’s the league. We have to develop the mentality that we’re going to win and close out those games. And that’s what we’re going to look to do these last seven games of the season.”

The silver lining in Sunday’s loss in Munich was the Giants moving up to No. 2 overall in the 2025 NFL draft order. Many believe they will target a quarterback in April with hopes that it will finally turn the franchise back around.

The rest of the roster, although not perfect, certainly has a lot of nice pieces. The Giants’ offensive line was playing well before they lost their All-Pro left tackle Andrew Thomas. Big Blue also has also been impressed with their rookie class and the defense currently leads the league in sacks.

The Giants have been competitive this season, as Schoen alluded to in his presser. However, whether it’s coaching or the players, they have not been good enough down in close games.

Schoen’s desire to develop the mentality to close out games sounds like it’s something the Giants will emphasize the rest of the season and hope to carry over into next season.