I haven’t written on the blog in awhile, so I’m not quite sure how to start this one. It’s been a weird time for me in my life, a weird few years. I like writing, but jumping back into it, really starting anything, can be hard. Usually getting my days going is tough, to the point where I don’t get into much of the tasks on my to-do lists.
I’m still lying in bed thinking about things and perusing the internet, the Giants in particular after that really bad loss last night. Usually I put off any sort of actual task until I’m “ready”, until I’m up and out of bed, but doing that can then take a while. Then once I am, I often don’t feel like it? Maybe I should get back into writing and doing things while I’m in bed, either at morning or at night, if that’s when inspiration strikes. Self-regulation for people with executive functioning struggles is a lot harder than you would think. And related, I’d say writing in general is actually pretty hard too, considering the organization of thought that it requires. Considering how bad I am at all that, it’s weird that people consider me a good writer.
Well, I don’t know, I thought I’d try to write about the Giants for now while I’m struggling for answers and the internet isn’t providing them. Forgive the ramblings, starting writing (or any task) is always the hardest, and when I haven’t written in a while, sometimes I have to kind of do a little free-write like this to unload whatever’s in my head to get the juices flowing. I’ve done less of that in recent years with fewer outlets to do so, as well as an increasing self-awareness as to how it sounds and who I’m talking to. But I always enjoyed having this sort of casual style on the blog.
Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yea, the Giants. Now I lost my train of thought, but I’ll try to get back into it here.
The Giants are bad! Really bad!
It can be tough to be a sports fan sometimes. You wonder why you put so much energy into something year in and year out that disappoints you so much. After all, it’s just a game. But any sports fan will know, the emotion you feel is real. The disappointment is all-consuming. The existence of Twitter, the media, of having to search for answers for the next week, while you wait for the next game. If you’re prone to spiraling of course, that makes it worse. But either way, it’s very easy to spiral from the misery.
The Giants in my lifetime have been a weird team and a weird franchise. Mainly because under Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin, they won two Super Bowls in four years. They did so against the flagship franchise and quarterback of the NFL in Tom Brady, one of which was probably the greatest upset of all time in denying the Patriots an undefeated season.
So yea, that’s more success than a lot of fans of sports teams have seen in their lifetime, and maybe will see. And you can’t take that away.
But let’s be real here. That’s what.. eight games? Over the course of a decade? Outside of those two Super Bowl runs, the Giants haven’t been good. Eli Manning wasn’t good. Tom Coughlin wasn’t good. They rarely made the playoffs and they didn’t win playoff games when they did. So when you talk about the Giants title success, you’re talking about a fraction of the overall time you spend watching Football. That happens in the NFL, you can get hot. But it’s not the same as having consistent success. Yes, I’ll keep the rings, yes, they count. All I’m saying is, most of the time that I’ve been watching the Giants, they’ve been bad. When you consider the fact that I started really watching the NFL in 2011, I was in high school, the Giants won the Super Bowl, and it’s been all downhill since.
Well, last year things seemed to change. The Giants hired a good coach! And a good GM! People in charge of the team who seemed to actually know what they were doing! Sure, they clearly overachieved. The roster needed work. They were winning close and losing big. You’re not going to fix things in a year.
But let me be clear, I am not an optimistic fan. And I was cautiously optimistic coming into this year. No, I didn’t think we’d win the Super Bowl, or anything like that. But I actually thought we’d be okay, that we could compete, at least be in the mix, maybe surprise some people. I think the Giants made the right move in choosing not to extend Saquon Barkley, an injury prone boom or bust running back that was coming off his only good year since 2019. I wasn’t thrilled about the Daniel Jones contract, but I understood that he showed enough last year to run it back and see what we had. Sure, he was overpaid, but quarterbacks are just expensive. The reality is that it’s a two year prove it deal, the Giants can get out after then. He can function fine in a good system if you use his legs, and that’s what happened last year. Darren Waller has been great in the past, and he seemed like if he could stay healthy then he would be a difference maker. Slayton, Shepard, Paris Campbell, and Isaieh Hodgins aren’t going to wow anyone, but they can be solid in a well-schemed system, which again, is what Daboll seemed like he would provide. The Giants continued to invest in the offensive line, and on defense you would have a hopefully healthy Xavier Mckinney to pair with an ideally improving Thibodeaux in Wink Martindale’s scheme. Dexter Lawrence just got a big extension as well I believe.
It’s all gone to shit, and it’s happened really fast. I’m not going to look up the numbers right now, but the Giants can’t score points. They can’t block for shit. If you take away the second half of the Arizona Cardinals game, they are not playing NFL Football.
Everyone wants to talk about Daniel Jones and his play and the contract. No, I’m not under the impression that he’s Mahomes or some great player. But he has literally no chance behind this offensive line. That’s been the biggest issue. No QB would have any chance behind this offensive line. And I’m tired of the nostalgic obsessed fans on Twitter acting like Eli Manning was some brilliant QB under pressure (he wasn’t), or that any QB would play well with a line that literally cannot pass protect.
The most depressing thing about the Giants is that there’s really no one to blame anymore. For years, there has been. It was Reese, it was Mara, it was an aging Eli Manning, it was Dave Gettleman, it was Ben McAdoo, it was Joe Judge, etc. The Giants made a lot of bad hires! But that was all out the window last year. The Giants made the best possible hires they could in Schoen and Daboll. That doesn’t mean those two are doing the best they possibly could or are infallible. But the issues here are way bigger than anyone imagined. The Giants are playing football as bad as we’ve seen. Forget about putting anyone on the hot seat. It’s not happening this early, nor should it, and it’s not like that would do anything.
The season is pretty much over at this point. The Giants were given one of the hardest schedules ever. There are not many winnable games left on the schedule. The next two weeks are at the Dolphins and at the Bills. If you’re a fan, you don’t even watch those games. They’re not going to win them.
Then we host the Commanders and the Jets. Maybe those are wins. Although the Jets look legitimately better than the Giants right now. Honestly the Commanders do too, but they’re always fair game for a win. At least, they’re the best shot we have at this point. After that, a three game road stretch: Raiders, Cowboys, Commanders again. The Raiders and Commanders, maybe a win. The Cowboys aren’t. Our line can’t block their front, period. Then back home against the Patriots before a late season bye. Who knows what’ll happen there.
After the bye, it’s Packers, @Saints, @Eagles, Rams, Eagles. Those teams are all better than the Giants as of now. The Packers and Saints are possible wins. The Rams probably aren’t. The Eagles definitely aren’t.
So you look to next year. You start thinking about the draft. The Giants will be in the mix for the No 1 overall pick. Do they take a QB? It’s not like that will solve all their issues, but If they’re picking that high, how can you not?
The crazy thing is the Giants have invested in the offensive line. Heavily. Andrew Thomas getting hurt doesn’t help. I know a few others are out too, as this team always seems to struggle with injuries, although I’m sure every other fan of their team feels the same way. Shane Lemeaux was good in college. Evan Neal was really good in college and a really highly looked upon prospect! Maybe he improves like Andrew Thomas did after starting his rookie year rough. That’s what you hope. Is it coaching? Who knows. But like, for whatever reason, it’s just not working.
It’s a weird and crazy and perplexing thing to have a terrible pass blocking offensive line going on a decade and to not be able to fix it. And right now, it looks as bad as it’s ever looked. The only HOPE is that it’s a long season, and they improve as the season goes on.
Of course, there are other issues. The defense seems to not be able to tackle. Special teams hasn’t been good. Waller doesn’t look like his past self. The offensive playcalling is not good. Why aren’t they running Daniel Jones on option plays? Why aren’t they even trying to run the ball, go play action, and throw it deep to Jalin Hyatt? Right now the Giants are just throwing short passes from the gun on every play. Yes, the offensive line is part of that, but we’re just not an efficient enough team to succeed doing that. Last night felt like watching the Jason Garrett / Joe Judge offense.
It’s just baffling to have the Giants be this bad. Things were supposed to be different. Instead it’s looking like New York football teams should take some time off to work on themselves, because for the Giants and Jets, it’s been years and years of being the butt of the NFL.
And this isn’t like we’re talking about the Cleveland Browns. This is a New York franchise. It’s a storied franchise with a history of success going back decades. There’s no reason the flagship New York football team should be this bad this consistently.
So it’s just hard to fathom and hard to watch, and fans are right for being upset and baffled. It’s not going to be fixed overnight. It’s probably not going to be fixed this season. And when it keeps happening again and again, there just isn’t much left to say.
Life is hard enough these days. Sports are supposed to be an escape. We don’t need our football teams making life harder. But for as long as I can remember, that’s what the Giants have been doing.
Cary Krongard's Football Blog 