New York Giants offensive tackle Evan Neal has been under a microscope a lot recently with the play of their offensive line through the first four weeks of the season.
New York yielded 11 total sacks — 10 of quarterback Daniel Jones — in Monday night’s blowout 24-3 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks. It led to boo-birds coming from the stands inside MetLife Stadium as the Giants dropped their third game in four tries to open the season.
Apparently, those boos did not sit well with the struggling sophomore offensive lineman. He absolutely blasted Giants fans in a recent interview with NJ.Com. We’re not sure how well this is going to sit with ftrustrated Big Blue backers. Actually, we are.
“Why would a lion concern himself with the opinion of a sheep? The person that’s commenting on my performance, what does he do? Flip hot dogs and hamburgers somewhere?”
New York Giants’ Evan Neal on fans
There is so much to look at here. First off, Neal is out here blasting hard workers of the New York/New Jersey area. It’s elitist to believe that there is something wrong with earning a living by working the jobs Neal listed above. That’s especially true when we’re talking about a blue collar city such as New York City and fans of the Giants who pay good money to watch them play football.
“I pay good hard earned $$$ to see my favorite team play every single week for almost my entire life. Idgas if I’m flipping burgers or working as a teacher like I do,” one well-known New York Giants fan posted on X (formerly Twitter) after Neal’s comments.
Speaking of paying good money, the product has stunk in Jersey through two home games. How much so? The Giants have been outscored by a combined margin of 74-3 at MetLife Stadium this season. Jones has been sacked 17 times in those two games. These fans have the right to boo that product.
“At the end of the day, I put a lot of good things on film,” Neal said. “But people are going to go and find the bad reps, and that’s what they’re going to highlight. That’s what they’re going to put out there. I can’t control that. So why should I care?”
About that?
Related: New York Giants standing in Sportsnaut’s NFL power rankings
Evan Neal goes after New York Giants fans despite major struggles
According to Pro Football Focus, Neal has posted a stunningly low 40.9 grade thus far as a sophomore. He’s on pace to give up 51 QB hurries, 17 quarterback hits and six sacks. He ranks 49th out of 61 qualified starting offensive tackles in the NFL. Doing the math here for a second, there are only 64 starting offensive tackles among the 32 NFL teams.
Neal was selected No. 7 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Alabama, ahead of the likes of Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Kyle Hamilton, to name a few. In fact, he went two picks ahead of current Seattle Seahawks left tackle Charles Cross, who played at a Pro Bowl level as a rookie. Is it wrong for fans to expect more from such a high draft pick?
As for Neal’s comments, they are already not sitting well with the boisterous New York media in the largest market North America has to offer.
Don Lagreca of The Michael Kay Show ESPN New York is a prime example of the reactions we’re going to see to Neal’s comments in the days and weeks that follow.
“Are you kidding me? I would cut his a**. I would. How dare you? These people pay your salary. They pay an obnoxious amount of money to park. An obnoxious amount of money for PSL’s. To sit here and watch this ****. And you sit here and call them hamburger flippers. What. you’re so much better? I would rather have a guy who is flipping hamburgers block than your piece of garbage a**,” Don Lagreca on Evan Neal.
Yeah, this is going to go over well.