The New York Giants dropped their fifth straight game in Week 10 against the Carolina Panthers. In front of a whole other continent, playing in Germany, the Giants showed the rest of the free world what they are: not very good at football.
After being held scoreless in the first half, the Giants seemed to find their footing by constructing two long touchdown-scoring drives in the second half. A game-tying field goal in the final seconds equalized the contest and sent the game into overtime. Unfortunately, Tyrone Tracy fumbled on the first play in extra time, giving the Panthers the ball at the Giants' 23-yard line. Carolina ran the ball three times to inch closer to what ended up being a game-winning 36-yard field goal by Eddy Pineiro. Panthers win, 20-17.
If this game was viewed in a vacuum as a standalone one-off, you might say, “Hey, these Giants are a scrappy team that endured some bad luck. They fought their way back into it, and the ball didn't bounce their way this time. That's football.”
Head coach Brian Daboll expressed a similar sentiment after the Panthers' loss.
“I believe we've got the right people. Again, the results aren't there yet. We just lost a tough game. We've got to tighten up quite a bit of things. Some situational football and turnovers got us today. But we'll go back, we'll go to work, and make the improvements that we need to make.”
Unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way for Daniel Jones, Daboll, and the Giants franchise at large. New York choked away a winnable game yet again, extending what has become a persistent pattern for a team spearheaded by a quarterback who's never been good enough and a head coach with the right attitude but lacks the football acumen to compete against the NFL's best.
Good teams don't go 2-8; bad teams do. Good teams win it when it's winnable and don't consistently let wins become losses. Good teams find ways to win, even when games don't go their way. That hasn't described the Giants since 2022. The mojo is gone. The toothpaste can't go back into the tube. All interested parties should go their separate ways.
The Giants are cooked; stick a fork in 'em
Two years ago, in Daboll's first season as head coach, the Giants enjoyed their best season in years. They posted a 9-7-1 record in 2022, their best since 2016, and secured a spot in the playoffs. They even won a Wild Card game against the Minnesota Vikings before the overachieving proved not to be enough in the Divisional round in a 38-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. All in all, it was a great first season for Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen.
Unfortunately, the Giants opted to reward Jones that following offseason and likely shoehorned the franchise into a corner. In March 2023, New York gave Jones a four-year, $160 million contract extension. While the dead cap figures aren't as extreme as what Russell Wilson saddled the Denver Broncos with, the Giants will be on the hook for $22.2M dead cap in 2025 and $11.1M in 2026 should they release Jones before June 1. The 2025 dead cap drops to $11.1M if he is released after June 1.
Ultimately, Daboll should have no problems getting right back on the horse as an NFL coach. For those who watched Hard Knocks, he's exactly what you want in a coach or offensive coordinator. Nobody can take away his accomplishments with the Bills from 2018 to 2021. The 2022 Giants season did happen, and Daboll led a great campaign. Unfortunately for the franchise, they bet big on Jones, and it didn't pan out.
A new head coach and a new rookie quarterback are needed to reset the franchise's fortunes. The team should have been more active ahead of the NFL trade deadline to bring in some draft capital to prepare for the future. While it's a move that largely went unnoticed, the release of Nick McCloud, a team-first special teams guy and a locker room guy, tells us everything we need to know about this franchise.
They're bad at this, and it shows every week.
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