Josina Anderson relays the frustrations that Giants players have shared with her about coach Ben McAdoo. (2:56)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Despite some players' recent comments questioning his leadership, New York Giants coach Ben McAdoo is still going about his business. That involves trying to motivate his team for the second half of the season.

Yes, the Giants (1-7) still have eight games remaining, including a matchup with the winless San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. They are obligated to play out the season, and McAdoo is doing everything possible to get his team to play better, more inspired football.

He knows it seems far-fetched, but McAdoo told his team, “We have a run in us.” That was part of a sprawling message he delivered to the Giants (and later the media) on Wednesday. When asked about the message at his midweek news conference, McAdoo decided to share pretty much the entire speech, or at least a summation of it.

McAdoo’s explanation lasted 1 minute, 54 seconds. It began with a reiteration of a mantra that has been spouted since the day he was hired:

“Sound, smart and tough. Committed to discipline and poise.”

"You may think I'm a little bit out there, but I believe we have a run in us. I believe to the core we have a run in us," Giants coach Ben McAdoo said. Danny Wild/USA TODAY Sports

It’s something McAdoo said he has gotten away from too much. It’s something he said to expect to hear more moving forward.

He then talked about pride and said that everything is fixable. He added that simple was better.

After confusion abounded in Sunday’s blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the Giants plan to simplify things this week, especially defensively.

“Yeah, that is the thing we’re doing this week,” said cornerback Eli Apple, who blamed blown coverages for the defensive debacle against the Rams. “We’re going to go out there and stick to the basics and just play our football."

McAdoo also asked some of his younger players to be their leaders -- or their "Fraziers" -- specifically naming Sterling Shepard, Evan Engram, Dalvin Tomlinson and even Avery Moss. He told them not to buy into the lies that their feelings are telling them. Legacies are important to them all, and it starts between their ears, he said.

The highlight of McAdoo's message seemed to be his declaration that he believes the Giants are capable of stringing wins together.

“We talked about, you know, you may think I’m a little bit out there, but I believe we have a run in us,” he said. “I believe to the core we have a run in us.”

Safety Landon Collins seemed to buy it.

“Yeah. Of course,” Collins said. “Get this win underneath our belt. Doing the simple things. Playing what we do best, and get back to having fun. If we do that, yeah, we can definitely make that run.”

Veteran offensive lineman Justin Pugh thought it was a positive message. He appeared to absorb at least part of it, which was the intended goal.

McAdoo said he believes that if each player takes one thing, it's mission accomplished. That appears to be the case.

“I think he’s got confidence in us," Pugh said. "We’ve shown flashes of doing some really good things, but we’ve lost and we’ve turned the ball over at crucial times and had plays that have really hurt us. We've got to go out there, and we've got to change those things. We’re going to go out there and play hard for him, play hard for each other and try to get this thing turned around.”