Tyrod Taylor leads shorthanded Giants into Buffalo as steep underdogs for scary primetime test vs. Bills

Tyrod Taylor exudes poise.

The Giants (1-4) are 15.5-point underdogs Sunday night at the Buffalo Bills (3-2) with little chance of protecting Taylor from the NFL’s best pass rush.

This is a homecoming for Taylor, who started 43 games (22-20) for the Bills from 2015-17. The 13-year NFL veteran also is about to become only the second Black quarterback ever to start a regular season game for the Giants.

But with Daniel Jones (neck) sidelined, Taylor was calm this week about his opportunity, about the team’s bad start and about their chances in prime time at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y.

“I think the season always takes twists and turns, some for the good, some for the bad,” Taylor said Wednesday. “The good teams are the ones that can endure those and be able to stay level-headed through all that and stay positive.”

“That’s what you see within this locker room,” Taylor insisted. “A lot of positive attitudes, guys working to get things right, and obviously, get back in the winning column.”

If only the Giants could manifest Taylor’s optimism into results.

This was supposed to be the celebrated return of GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll to their former Buffalo home as a dynamic duo building something exciting in the Big Apple.

Instead, despite last year’s Wild Card playoff win in Minnesota, the celebration has been replaced with desperation.

The only real question about Sunday’s game is whether Bills coach Sean McDermott will call off the dogs or run up the score on Daboll, given how their relationship soured on the back end of Daboll’s time as offensive coordinator in western New York.

People’s jobs, meanwhile, are already under close scrutiny in the Giants’ building.

Giants offensive line coach Bobby Johnson, who followed Daboll from Buffalo last year, is one of many assistants in the crosshairs.

“If you’re asking me do I feel pressure from other people? I put way more pressure on myself to not even pay attention to the other stuff,” Johnson said Friday. “Has anybody said anything to me directly? My job is to get the guys to play to a certain level. So yes, I feel pressure. Not by any outside measures.”

“I went home the other day [and] my wife booed me. That’s enough pressure,” Johnson joked. “Do I feel pressure from other people? No. Nobody’s come to me and said hey, ‘X, Y and Z.’ I already put pressure on myself because I’m a pro.”

Whether an underling like Johnson or special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey ends up taking the fall for this season’s shortcomings, though, the Giants’ issues run much deeper.

This regime’s draft and free agency additions have made the team worse, not better. There isn’t much high end talent on the roster. There is no depth.

It didn’t reflect well on Johnson in the offseason when 2022 first-round pick Evan Neal had to seek outside help to improve his sets at right tackle. But what is Johnson supposed to do without franchise left tackle Andrew Thomas when most of his players are either unqualified or out of position?

Jones’ line and offense were so bad in the first five weeks that Taylor played in four of the games due to either blowout or injury.

This has happened just months after the Giants re-signed Jones to a long-term, $40 million a year contract, and then restructured it to create more cap space.

Unfortunately, Sunday’s primary concern is whether Taylor will even make it through four full quarters. Right tackle Evan Neal (ankle) is questionable on top of Thomas and center John Michael Schmitz (shoulder) remaining out.

Bills pass rushers Von Miller and Leonard Floyd each have a chance to set a single-game career high for sacks, depending on how much they play. Three sacks is the most either player has ever racked up in one game.

If Taylor has to come out of the game, undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito (Illinois, Don Bosco Prep) will have to play. And that’s a scary proposition considering this line and this opponent.

Daboll no doubt will try to run the ball to protect his quarterback, but Taylor has never let anything deter him from trying to make plays downfield.

And he’ll be looking to do that again Sunday.

“Explosive plays can be created in different ways,” he said. “We’ve had our opportunities throughout this year to be able to create explosives. We just haven’t done a great job of executing. You can name a number of different things. Obviously, as a team we know what we can do better. We’ve been working on trying to do better in those areas.”

It’s hard to be optimistic, however.

At least there are games against the Commanders, Jets and Raiders on the other end of this that the Giants can hopefully regroup to compete in.

But Sunday threatens to be a devastating defeat in the worst possible place for Schoen and Daboll to take it: at their former home, on national television, in prime time.

Monday morning can’t come soon enough.

Pat Leonard: Do Giants owners John Mara, Steve Tisch have patience for Year 2 disaster under Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll?

COUGHLIN COUNSELS DABOLL

Two-time Super Bowl winning Giants coach Tom Coughlin called Daboll an “excellent football coach” on Friday at MetLife Stadium. Coughlin said a coach like Daboll can get out of tough times like these by doing “what he’s [already] doing.”

“Keep your nose to the grindstone. Keep your people together. Keep them focused,” Coughlin said at the 19th Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Champions for Children gala. “Tough times don’t last. Tough people do. He’ll get it done.”

Coughlin was asked if Daboll ever leans on him for counsel, and the great Giants coach said: “I don’t know if he needs my counsel to be honest.” But later, Coughlin and Daboll had an extended conversation on the blue carpet.

Coughlin smiled and cut off any more digging into his opinions of the current Giants.

“You’re not gonna get me [to say anything]! You never could!” he said.

What was most important, though, was the cause Coughlin was championing.

The Jay Fund helps families tackle childhood cancer.

“We’ll help them put food on the table, transport them to treatments, pay mortgages and rents, just to get to where the stress is not on the parents so they can focus on their sick child,” he said.

Go to tcjayfund.org to donate or for more information.