The New York Giants: An Unending Disaster (Opinion)
Ten years. Three winning seasons. Two Playoff Berths. What is wrong with the New York Giants?
New York lost in Week Three to the Atlanta Falcons in another famous 4th quarter choke. This granted them their third loss of the year. The Giants have started their season 0-2 in each of their last five seasons. It seems it will continue to get worse before it’s better.
After their 2016 defeat to the Packers in the Wild Card round, it seems everything has been downhill. They have had four different coaches in a five-year span, (Spagnuolo, McAdoo, Shurmur, and Judge), and only one of them was able to lead the Giants to a winning season.
The Giants offense hasn’t ranked in the top 50% of the league since 2016. Dave Gettleman took over the team in 2018. He was been responsible for controversial draft choices, such as Saquon Barkley in 2018 and Daniel Jones in 2019. Since Gettleman took over, the Giants are 15-36.
Up until now, I’ve been reserving my personal opinions in favor of the objective facts of the situation. Following week three’s defeat, I can no longer do that.
Eli Manning’s jersey was retired at halftime. This just made the loss sting more. It’s the 36th loss of Gettleman’s time with the Giants, it is time to move on from him and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.
Personally, I’ve already phoned in the season. The Giants look atrocious. This team is too talented to be 0-3. Even still, it’s important to break down the key issues with the Giants, as there is a wide variety of them.
Offense
Daniel Jones and the Giants offense have scored only FIVE offensive touchdowns. Despite having an electric receiving corps of Kenny Golladay, Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton, and Evan Engram, only two of these scores have come via the pass.
The big thing for the past three seasons has to be turnovers, Jones himself has an insane 40 turnovers in his 3-year career. With the number of turnovers being limited so far this season (granted it’s the third game and I don’t have much hope), Jones just can’t find the endzone through the air.
Saquon Barkley’s constant injuries aren’t helping either, he has seen the endzone once this year and has only rushed for 134 yards. It seems his rookie year may just have been a spark in a pan, as he has had nowhere near the productivity from that first season.
Defense
Injuries, injuries, and injuries. Blake Martinez is out for the year with a torn ACL, and our defense already allowed a crippled Washington team to run circles around them. With our top tackler out, how are we ever going to stop any other team?
Draft Picks
2021 – Kadarius Toney, 4 catches for 14 yards, injury-ridden.
2020 – Andrew Thomas, taken with no. 4, ranked 4th among all in his position
2019 – Daniel Jones, Dexter Lawerence, and DeAndre Baker. We’ve already discussed Jones, Baker was removed from the team following issues with the law, but Lawerence admittedly has been an asset on defense.
2018 – Saquon Barkley, great rookie season, injury-plagued for two seasons straight.
My point is that Gettleman draft picks have not worked out. The big risk on Barkley at such a high pick has not paid off, and I don’t think that’s something a lot of Giants fans have come to terms with yet.
As good as Saquon was during that first season, that level of productivity and healthiness has not been there since then. Sometimes it’s hard to recognize if that is the same guy who won rookie of the year.
Conclusion
It’s hard to watch football as a Giants fan, constantly watching your team lose and be embarrassed every Sunday (or the occasional Thursday if we’re lucky), has gotten depressing. I hope that regardless of how this season ends, we move on from Gettleman and Garrett, and hopefully find a new way to rebuild a championship team.
