New York Giants Notebook | Monday Grind, NFC Least and More

It's only Week 3.

The Giants and head coach Joe Judge won't be able to lean on that sentiment for much longer. But for the time being, the earliness of the season should be enough to subdue panic within the building.

Judge's tenure as Giants head coach has been a case of the worst-case scenario through the first three weeks courtesy of a perfect storm of injuries, missed opportunities, and mistakes at untimely moments.

However, Judge won't let the record or embarrassing 27-point margin of victory against the injury-riddle San Francisco 49ers cripple his team's focus and believes that the spirits in the Giants locker room are equivalent to every other locker room in the NFL this week.

"I've been on a lot of teams that have started off 5-0, 6-0, 7-0, 10-0, and I'm telling you right now it's the same feeling in every building across the league right now," Judge said.

"Mondays are always a day where it's a tough day on everybody because all you can think of as a coach are what you got to get better at.

"It' doesn't matter what the result of the game is or how well, or how disappointing something may have been. You're just focused on what you got to correct and fix and make it fast."

Injury Update

According to multiple sources, defensive back Jabrill Peppers left Sunday's limping and reportedly has a low ankle sprain.

"I don't have a timetable on [Peppers]," Judge said. "We're going to evaluate him day-to-day and see where he is--he had that lower leg. They're going through a couple more things with the doctor this afternoon, it looks like it could go either way at this point."

There is no timetable for Peppers' return. For the Giants' sake, Peppers is needed back on the field sooner rather than later as he holds many critical roles on the backend of the defense and near the line of scrimmage at times.

NFC Least

Despite a dismal 0-3 start in which everything has gone wrong internally for the Giants, the rest of their division has left them within striking distance of first place.

NFC East teams are currently a combined 2-9-1 overall and 1-8-1 against nondivisional opponents.

The Dallas Cowboys and Washington Football team are currently tied for the division lead at 1-2 as the Giants are only a game out of first place with all six of their divisional matchups left on the schedule.

The Giants are still in last place and shouldn't start thinking about making a run at a division crown until they at least pick up their first win, but their division rivals' struggles could ensure that they have something to play for as the season goes on.

"For us, it's game by game," Judge said. "We got to focus on what we're doing day-by-day to take care of our jobs and make sure we're improving as a unit as a team, and then all of the other things will start taking care of themselves.

"There are 13 games left. It's the NFL there's a lot of ball left to be played."

Finding Balance

Quarterback Daniel Jones has become somewhat of a punching bag of late for the Giants' offensive struggles.

Many of those criticisms are warranted due to Jones' significance as the team's starting quarterback and his turnover issues that are becoming more and more frequent.

Still, Jones has not had a lot of help from his supporting cast and has carried the load for the limited offensive production the Giants have had this season.

Jones has had to throw the ball 113 times already this season and currently leads the team in rushing yards with 92 on 12 carries. On top of that, Jones has been sacked nine times and has been under pressure 54 times, the second-most in the league, according to Pro Football Focus.

Without any running game to speak of, Jones has been set up for failure. While Judge believes that the Giants need to do a better job of running the football, he also believes that Jones as a passer can do a better job of setting up the run with better passing."

"We got to work to be a balanced team," Judge said. "Whether that's running and passing, balanced offense and defense, balanced with the kicking game and playing complementary football, so there's a lot of things right now we got to make sure the ying and the yang factor out for each other."