Leonard Williams shares why 1-5 Giants can 'turn it around'

Veteran defensive lineman and team captain Leonard Williams is optimistic the New York Giants can still compete for a playoff spot through early January even though they fell to 1-5 on the season via Sunday's 14-9 loss at the Buffalo Bills. 

"In my opinion, it’s tough that we’re 1-5, but at the same time we’ve only played one division game," Williams explained coming off New York's latest defeat, per Manuel Gómez of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "So it’s not that these games don’t matter, but at the same time, I think we have the whole season ahead of us." 

Williams publicly challenged Giants players to demand more from each other ahead of the weekend but declined on Monday to note one specific thing about the fact that the Giants have only faced a single NFC East opponent thus far this season. 

Big Blue was crushed by the Dallas Cowboys at home to the tune of 40-0 in Week 1, and that was the first of the club's four double-digit losses over the campaign's first five weeks. 

To Williams' credit, his previously mentioned message seemed to reach teammates ahead of New York's trip to Buffalo. If not for at least one avoidable blunder and a controversial no-call on the game's final play, the Giants could and maybe even should have upset the Bills at Highmark Stadium to improve to 2-4 ahead of this coming Sunday's home matchup versus the division-rival Washington Commanders (3-3). 

"And I think that’s something that I want to really get into these young guys' heads," Williams added during his comments. "Because being an older guy and a vet, I understand that it’s not too late to turn it around, especially if we win our division." 

Rumors regarding the futures of players set to be out of contract such as Williams will hover over the Giants leading up to the Oct. 31 trade deadline unless they beat the Commanders and then defeat the New York Jets on Oct. 29. 

Williams sounds committed to remaining focused on the task at hand, but logic suggests the Giants are already out of any realistic postseason conversations weeks before Halloween arrives.