I will do
my best to keep this one short and sweet as there isn’t very much for me to say
about a franchise that has been in dismay for the past couple of seasons. I know that the fans of Big Blue would have
my head if I did not mention that the New York Giants did make the Playoffs
just two seasons ago, but that is already starting to feel like a lifetime
ago. This past offseason the Giants team
was dismantled, well maybe that is going a little too far, but then again,
they did lose quite possibly the best offensive player that they’ve had in
recent memory and maybe since I’ve been alive.
That’s right, that is just how good the Giants’ now ex-running back
Saquon Barkley had been for New York. Don’t
get me wrong here, I know that this is the same team that once had tight end
Jeremy Shockey, wideouts Amani Toomer, Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, Plexico
Burress, and of course Super Bowl hero David Tyree. The running backs that these G-men have had over
the years were also pretty good like Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw, and
eventual Hall of Famer Tikki Barber. Over
the last two seasons, Barkley had accounted for roughly 70-80% of the Giants' offense
and is already the first or second option on his new team, the Giants division rivals,
the Philadelphia Eagles.
The G-men have already gotten off to
an unfavorable start this season with a 2-4 record and I don’t see them turning
it around anytime soon. They opened the
season in the worst possible way, taking an absolute beating at home from the
Minnesota Vikings 28-6. They also lost
two divisional games to both the Washington Commanders in a close 21-18 game
and of course, losing another closely contested game to the Dallas Cowboys in
primetime 20-15. These Giants did manage
to beat a better Seahawks team on the road, one where they were without their superstar
rookie receiver, Malik Nabers in a 29-20 upset.
This past Sunday night we all witnessed the Giants drop another
primetime matchup when the Cincinnati Bengals and all-star quarterback Joe
Burrow came to town. It was a bittersweet
loss because Big Blue’s defense showed up, holding two of the league's top
wideouts to under one hundred yards each, but their offense was terrible. Cincy held the Giants to 190 passing yards
and only 4.2 yards per play, they only allowed NY to score seven points total (NYG
missed a FG). Not only that, but the NYG
were somehow only able to convert 5/15 third downs and ran over 70 offensive
plays (74 total plays). The Giants need
to do something quick to turn their awful play around, I mean they were only
penalized just twice in that game for only 9 yards and led the game in time of
possession (34:07). That would normally
be a recipe for success but not for this team.
New York also found themselves only punting the ball four times, which
would make you think that they led their team to a lot of scoring drives, on
the contrary, they just elected to go for it on fourth down five different
times in the game and a surprising twist had them converting on three of those
attempts. Three scoreless quarters with
seven points in the third quarter is terrible, especially against a defense
that ranks 23rd in yards allowed per game (356) and 26th
in points allowed per game (25.3).
On the other side of the ball, the
Giants have been decent thus far. Through
the first six weeks of the season, New York’s defense is holding opponents to
314 yards per contest, which ranks tenth in the league. They rank fifteenth in rush defense allowing
116.3 yards a game, twelfth in pass defense, giving up 197.7 yards through the
air, and are only letting teams score 20.2 points per game, ranking ninth in
that category. It’s largely noticeable that
their offense is holding them back from any success as of right now. You need to score points in the NFL to have a
chance to win games and right now they are only putting up 16 points per game (29th). The Giants are 20th in the league
in total offense with 319.3 yards per game, their passing attack is 18th
with 213.5 yards per game, and the run game is pushing them to just over 100 yards
per game on the ground (105.8) which ranks 24th in that statistic.
On the bright side, the Giants could
be getting their number one draft pick back in their lineup for their week seven
inter-divisional game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The G-men have been without their rookie
wideout Malik Nabers for the past two weeks now, due to a concussion he
sustained in the Thursday night matchup against the Cowboys in week four. The Giants are a bit banged up right now and
have hopes that they will be able to get their starting running Devin
Singletary back from a groin injury soon that he also sustained in week
four. New York is anticipating that
their kicker Graham Gano will be back sooner rather than later from his
hamstring injury. Though for their
O-line it seems like they may have lost their starting left tackle, Andrew
Thomas. It was reported earlier today
that Andrew Thomas is exploring season-ending surgery for a foot injury he
experienced this past week against the Bengals.
I like the Giants coach Brian Daboll and think that Big Blue’s head
coach is doing everything he can to right the ship, but I also feel that it is ultimately
too much for him and this team to overcome this season. This NFC East is one of the toughest
divisions in all of football, with everything that has been happening In East
Rutherford, New Jersey I don’t expect Daboll to go anywhere anytime soon. With the emergence of Washington’s rookie quarterback,
this is starting to seem more and more like a three-team division in the short
term, though these G-men do have some interesting pieces that could put them
right back into the mix next season.
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