EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Members of the Giants could almost be heard exhaling on Monday as they looked forward to a bye week they hope will restore battered bodies and weary minds.
The Giants’ five preseason games, including the Hall of Fame Game, and seven regular-season contests have revealed a streaky, mistake-prone team. With a 3-4 record, they need to make adjustments and, perhaps more than anything, they need a break from the daily grind.
“We have to get our minds right,” defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. “We have a lot of opportunities in front of us, but it is going to be tough.”
The going is always tough for inconsistent teams, and the Giants have been that. They opened with consecutive defeats and then swept three games in a row before back-to-back road losses to N.F.C. East opponents, by 27-0 to the Philadelphia Eagles and 31-21 to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
The Giants trail white-hot Dallas (6-1) by three games in the division, but are only one game off the pace for a wild-card berth. Their erratic play, however, leaves it unclear if they are capable of a significant advance in the standings.
The highlight of the season so far was when the Giants were in sync on both sides of the ball in trouncing the division rival Washington Redskins, 45-14, on the road on Sept. 25. But the flaws that plagued them in their defeats were readily apparent when they suffered their third consecutive defeat against Dallas on Sunday; it was their worst loss to the Cowboys since 2006-7.
Coach Tom Coughlin said: “We’re probably somewhere between the kind of night we had in Washington and where we were” on Sunday.
With the rookie running back Andre Williams being asked to carry the load while Rashad Jennings recovers from a sprained medial collateral ligament, the ground game sputtered at key moments on Sunday. Williams was held to 51 yards on 18 carries, a meager 2.8-yard average.
Dallas, meanwhile, totaled 156 rushing yards a week after Philadelphia ran wild with 203 yards.
“The fronts have got to play better,” Coughlin said. “We’ve got to be more physical on both sides of the ball.”
The offensive line endured a setback at the start of training camp when Chris Snee, a Pro Bowl right guard, retired. It also has worked its way through a series of injuries. Geoff Schwartz, a free-agent guard, hurt his toe and was placed on injured reserve on Sept. 3 with a designation to return. Even with the bye, Coughlin said, Schwartz is not close to being ready for game action.
On the defensive front, Jason Pierre-Paul is enjoying a resurgence after two injury-filled seasons. He is not getting a great deal of help. Jenkins, another key figure, is in a walking boot after injuring his left calf in Dallas. He offered no timetable for his return. Jon Beason, a middle linebacker who left Sunday’s game in the second quarter with a toe injury he initially sustained during the off-season, faces another round of medical evaluation.
Jennings held out hope that he might be available when the Giants resume play at home against the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 3. He averages 4.4 yards a carry and should provide a spark. Coughlin, though, emphasized the severity of the injury and said, “It’s his makeup we’re counting on.”
With Victor Cruz, the team’s leading playmaker, lost for the rest of the season to a knee injury, the Giants must count on the rapid development of Odell Beckham Jr., a potentially explosive wide receiver who was their first-round draft choice, taken 12th over all. Beckham missed all of the preseason and the first four regular-season games with a hamstring injury. He flashed his potential in Dallas by making four catches for 34 yards, including scoring grabs of 9 and 5 yards. He has 10 receptions for 106 yards and three touchdowns in three games.
“I’ve got three games under my belt, but still there is no preseason, no training camp,” Beckham said. “You’re still trying to get your football legs underneath you.”
As is often the case with rookies, Beckham admits he is still working to adjust to the faster pace of the pro game.
“I have to catch myself sometimes to slow everything down,” he said. “Trying to slow it down is more difficult than it might seem.”
Beckham remains as much a work in progress as his unpredictable team is.
“We’re a team that is growing together,” Jennings said. “If we play mistake-free — no self-inflicted wounds — we’ll be exactly where we want to be.”