[jwplayer qLoEf0nU-ThvAeFxT]
The New York Giants are finally playing meaningful games in December, something CEO John Mara has longed for since the team last appeared in the playoffs after the 2016 season.
But after a surging start to the month, they’re suddenly back facing irrelevancy as the ides of December descend upon them. Their loss to the Arizona Cardinals last Sunday exposed them for possible frauds in a game where they were outclassed from top to bottom and back to front. They fell out of first place in the NFC East with three games remaining.
Those three games will be against Cleveland this Sunday night followed by a trip to Baltimore before wrapping up the season at home against Dallas.
At 5-8, they can still win the division but will have to outdistance the Washington Football Team, who are a surprising 6-7 and one game ahead of the Giants in the East. The Giants will have to play a heckuva lot better than they did last week if they have any designs on the postseason.
The Giants have the tiebreaker over the WFT since they defeated them twice, so ideally, they only have to tie them for the division to win it. That is, if Philadelphia (4-8-1) and Dallas (4-9) don’t get hot and rip off a few wins to muck things up.
This week, they play the 9-4 Browns, who just lost a shootout to the Ravens, 47-42, at home in the last minute on Monday night. They’ve scored over 40 to weeks in a row and come to Jersey to face a Giants team that is second to last in the NFL in scoring, averaging only 18.3 points per game.
The trip to Baltimore has loss all over it. The Ravens have quarterback Lamar Jackson back after a bout with COVID-19. After losing three straight, Jackson has led the Ravens to two consecutive victories, scoring 34 and 47 points in those wins.
Dallas is healthy again and looking very competitive. The Cowboys defeated the Cincinnati Bengals last week but have the struggling San Francisco 49ers this week followed by Philadelphia in Week 16. They could come into MetLife in Week 17 very much alive in the division.
The Giants’ offense has to pick things up if they plan on keeping pace. Their defense has been playing lights out, with the exception of last week, but to be fair they were leaned on too heavily.
The offense relies heavily on quarterback Daniel Jones’ ability to extend plays and make yardage with his legs. Last week, Jones’ hamstring kept him in the pocket where he was completely ineffective. The Giants gained just 159 total yards in the game, their lowest output in seven years.
Head coach Joe Judge is still very much dedicated to Jones, who hobbled off the field in the fourth quarter and replaced by backup Colt McCoy.
“If Daniel is healthy to play and he looked the way he did in practice last week, I’d have no hesitation of playing Daniel at all,” Judge told reporters on Monday. “We made a calculation. We have a lot of confidence in Colt (McCoy). This has nothing to do with Colt. But there’s also a commitment we’ve made to Daniel as our quarterback and how we’re running this offense.
“We have confidence in all of our players. But if he’s healthy enough to go out there and protect himself, and we don’t feel he’s putting himself in greater danger to be injured worse, and he’s going to give the team a competitive advantage of going out there, then we’re going to play him. We have no hesitation.
“Just because we’re going to play Daniel doesn’t mean at any time that we’re not going to have a plan to put Colt in for a certain package or situation in the game, or we’re not going to have a plan for any other player on the roster to at some point be used in a certain situation or circumstance to give us an advantage.
“Look, all options are always on the table in terms of what we’re going to do by game plan. But to answer your question directly and simply, yeah, if Daniel is healthy enough to go out there, and we think he’s not in greater danger to be damaged or hurt, then we’ll play him.”
The season hinges on Jones being able to produce. If he can’t, these meaningful games will just three more meaningless December and January games in what is becoming a long list of them for Mara’s franchise.
[lawrence-related id=661547,661556,661553]