The New York Giants put out a stinker on Sunday. It’s probably not going to get better.
If the jerseys were any sign of the Giants’ season, it might be time to hang up the cleats now. After an offseason of backing their quarterback through thick and thin, the chickens might have just come home to roost. The New York Giants finally thought it was go time. No, they didn’t expect it to all go smoothly, but Sunday’s game shocked even the most pessimistic in East Rutherford.
For a brief period of time Daniel Jones was the highest-paid player in the NFL, a decision the Giants made and stuck by. When asked, the team said there was no plans of a change at the position throughout the offseason. The Giants are all in on Jones. No contingency plan, no second thoughts, and no regard for this season.
Jones’ performance on Sunday was nothing short of abysmal, paired with a New York team that might’ve been better not showing up. The Giants’ defense made transitory Vikings’ quarterback Sam Darnold look like prime Daunte Culpepper. Jones has never headlined the NFL’s quarterback position, yet the team signed him to a four-year, $160 million deal in 2023. The decision, as we predicted, has finally backfired to a level that even the Giants couldn’t see coming. The first season under the deal was predicated by ACL issues and Jones being out for the majority of the year.
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Daniel Jones only has made seven starts since inking the contract, a number that already looks like a lost investment for the Giants. Now, Jones didn’t just have a bad game– he had a nightmare game. He ranked second to last in passer rating against the 24th-ranked defense in 2023 at 44.3, he threw two picks and zero touchdowns– a recipe for disaster no matter which way you want to spin it.
It has been said and proven that the team that pays a mid-tier quarterback the big bucks almost never wins. Yes, it’s commonplace in the NFL these days– passers with even a semblance of a good performance by subjective standards are apt to get a monster deal that resets the bar every time. However, it’s simply not the formula to win games or even play defense to hold off until you can secure a top draft pick.
The New York Giants never expected Jones to be the next Aaron Rodgers or Joe Montana. They figured that if they put the pieces together on offense and defense, Jones would do just enough to become a playoff team. Two years in and the team isn’t close to either while burning through cash at a rate that even Pablo Escobar would cringe at.
Jones’ EPA per drop back on Sunday was -0.46, meaning that the team was better off without him even taking a snap. Jones was decreasing the likelihood of points on the board actively, not nearly good enough for someone who got paid $160 million.
Even more than Jones, the Giants’ WR1 Malik Nabers failed to do much of anything either. The offensive woes made New York dead on arrival but not much of the defense looked put together either. The loss of safety Xavier McKinney was apparent as the team gave up the fifth-most yards per pass play with 8.9 and 201 pass yards total throughout the game. The pass rush wasn’t much better– with star EDGE rushers Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns only amounting to two pressures and no sacks.
The Giants defense made Minnesota look like a bona fide Super Bowl lock even though the Vikings had Sam Darnold at quarterback.
Before anyone comes out and says it’s too early to make a determination on whether or not the Giants are truly broken– ask yourself this. Do you see the Giants making any substantial improvement throughout the season? Cause I certainly don’t.
