Giants offensive line coach Bobby Johnson first used the words, and Joshua Ezeudu later wasted no time agreeing with his coach’s assessment of his current sentiment.
Ezeudu believes he let down Daniel Jones and the Giants.
The second-year offensive lineman, who has filled in at left tackle the last four games for the injured Andrew Thomas, was beaten badly off the line of scrimmage by linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel early in the fourth quarter of Giants’ Week 5 loss to the Dolphins.
Van Ginkel subsequently went nearly untouched and built a full head of steam before nailing Jones from his blindside for a sack.
The play left Jones with a neck injury, which has knocked him out for at least the team’s Week 6 clash against the Bills on Sunday.
“Josh’s No. 1 thing that weighs on him is he doesn’t want to let anyone down,” Johnson said Wednesday before practice. “That’s what you want. I’m a parent, so I feel for the kid because he is sincere in his hurt that he let somebody down.”
Ezeudu was teary-eyed at his locker after the loss to the Dolphins, and he apologized to Jones after the game about the play.
That came just one week after he was similarly emotional following the Giants’ Week 4 loss to the Seahawks, when he was part of an offensive line that surrendered a franchise-high 11 sacks, three of which came past Ezeudu.
After that loss, Ezeudu sat in full uniform staring blankly into his locker for the duration of the media’s access.
He only gave up the one sack against the Dolphins, but it came with a heavy price.
“Only way I can fix it is if I take all this experience and get better, learn from it,” Ezeudu told The Post after practice. “There’s no point of me going through all the things I’m going through, feeling all the things I’m feeling if I’m not learning from it and I’m not better myself as a person and a player.”
With Thomas ruled out again for the clash Sunday, Ezeudu is in line to start again at left tackle.
Outside criticism of the Giants’ offensive line nightmare has grown exponentially each week, and Ezeudu’s teammate Evan Neal notably lashed out at fans last week as a result.
But Ezeudu, who speaks with a stutter, has never let others’ opinion affect him.
“He said to me, ‘Do you think I worry about what people say about me? I’ve been a stutterer ever since I could speak. If I would care about what people say about me, I wouldn’t have come this far,’” Johnson said. “That right there tells me I don’t have to worry about his confidence, I just have to make sure he keeps trying, keeps working, and keeps trying to get better. I think he’s in the right mindset.
“I want a guy that hurts when he lets people down.”
