Deonte Banks didn’t like what he saw from himself on tape any more than the well-respected coach who criticized his effort.
Longtime Giants defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson — a former NFL cornerback who interviewed in January to be Brian Daboll’s defensive coordinator — revealed Friday that he let Banks know his hustle to tackle CeeDee Lamb after the Cowboys star caught a pass on him last game was less than acceptable. Lamb turned it into a 55-yard touchdown.
“Didn’t like it,” Henderson said. “Liked nothing about it.”
Lamb caught the ball on the sideline at the 37-yard line, cut back toward the middle of the field after rookie safety Tyler Nubin took a bad angle and then coasted the last 20 yards as he noticed Banks slowed down in pursuit.
Lamb turned his head back toward Banks as he finished the touchdown and then flipped the ball in Banks’ direction, which resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
“It’s a bad finish by me,” Banks said a few hours later, after Henderson’s bi-weekly interview. “I didn’t really feel it in the game. I could’ve definitely finished more. I maybe could’ve even tackled him.”
Film doesn’t lie, the NFL cliché says. And Lamb and Banks were “talking a little bit” of trash back and forth.
“In the game, I thought it was an angle thing. I didn’t think it was effort until I saw the film,” Banks said. “It looked like, ‘Ah, I could’ve done more.’ You feel me?”
The catch gained 33 yards over expected, according to NextGenStats.
“When your man catches a ball, you have to break your legs — not literally, but figuratively — to get him on the ground,” Henderson said. “I thought there was room to do more. We expect it from him and he expects it from himself, but in that moment he failed.”
Learning from mistakes on the job is to be expected to some degree from the NFL’s youngest secondary. Effort is another matter.
Henderson said he is “certain” that his message was delivered to Banks behind closed doors and “we’ll see” if it was “received” as well as he thinks it was.
“I’ve always been coachable,” Banks said. “I’ve been yelled at [by] a coach since a young age. He doesn’t really do too much yelling. I learned it as a kid.”
There hasn’t been any indication during practice this week that Banks might lose any playing time over his lack of effort. He wasn’t subbed out of that game.
“I expect more from myself,” Banks said. “It is what it is.”
Banks’ first season as the undisputed No. 1 cornerback — shadowing regular 1,000-yard receivers Justin Jefferson, Terry McLaurin, Amari Cooper and Lamb — is off to a rocky start.
He has allowed 17 catches on 27 targets for 247 yards and four touchdowns, with quarterbacks compiling a 132.3 quarterback rating in his direction, per NextGenStats.
“I feel like I’ve left a lot of plays out there,” Banks told The Post earlier this week. “I can be better, and I’m going to be better.”
The Giants used a first-round pick on Banks in 2023 because he was the ideal fit for then-coordinator Wink Martindale’s press-coverage man-to-man scheme.
Shane Bowen, Martindale’s successor, is utilizing more zone.
“Any time your man catches the ball, get him on the ground,” Henderson said. “Let us play one more snap. Give us a chance to have a goal-line stand. You owe that to the team. You owe that to the organization. And it’s my job to get him to do it.”
Bowen said this week that he is coaching Banks to “understand leverage” and “take away the easy throws, make them throw the hard ones” in the red zone.
Banks faces another tall task this week in the big, fast, physical DK Metcalf, who has gained 133 of his 366 yards after the catch.
“Just trying to get him to understand that when you’re on a No. 1 guy, even when he’s covered, to a quarterback’s mind, he’s not covered,” Henderson said. “So you have to anticipate: No matter how good the coverage is, the ball is coming right now. Every play.”