High hopes at the season’s start have yielded despair (again) as the Giants (likely) and Jets (definitely) will be watching the playoffs again this year. Last weekend’s whooping by combined scores of 54-6 tells the tale of woe.
“Woe” is the right word, too.
The Giants are technically still in it, but realistically, they don’t have much chance of making the playoffs, not after Sunday’s 24-6 loss to the New Orleans Saints and with two games to play vs. the Philadelphia Eagles. On the other hand, the Jets’ fate was sealed following the team’s 30-0 loss to the Miami Dolphins. It will be the 13th straight season NYJ has missed the playoffs and the eighth straight season with a losing record.
In New Orleans, Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito suffered a harsh reality check against the Saints’ front four by getting sacked seven times, and the Saints rubbed it into by mimicking his Italian hand gesture every time he was sacked. But most of us knew the Giants folk hero was due for a bad game. While all quarterbacks go through that, the reality is that successive bad performances often send replacement QBs back to the bench.
Two of DeVito’s biggest issues are that he can’t throw the deep ball for an entire game, and his swashbuckling style is turnover-prone. And let’s face it: the Eagles will attack DeVito like the Saints did.
That’s why we may see Brian Daboll eventually insert Tyrod Taylor into the game against the Eagles, a team that has had their way against the Giants over the past decade. Philadelphia has won 16 of 19 games against their turnpike neighbors, including nine straight home games.
While the Giants are at least still alive, the Jets have been generally horrible. On Sunday, the Dolphins had their way against New York’s only strength–its defense–and the Jets’ offense did nothing. QB Zach Wilson left before halftime (concussion) after being sacked four times and hit seven times as the Jets started their 11th different O-line. Overall, that line gave up six sacks and 14 quarterback hits on the day.
It would be tempting fate to bring back Aaron Rodgers this season, and it’s looking less and less likely that the Jets will win again this year. That’s saying something with the lowly Washington Commanders on tap this Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
The bottom line is last Sunday’s outcome served as a cruel reminder for NY’s NFL fans. Instead of getting a ho, ho, ho, they were served a lump of coal. Put another way, it’s NFL football as usual in the New York metropolitan area.
Some things never change.
