The Giants are not making the playoffs. That is not a statement of fact but a highly informed opinion based on their current standing. It’s not going out on a limb either. The Giants are a terrible team right now. Their record is not indicative of the talent on the roster, injuries be damned, the latest being second-year starting left tackle Andrew Thomas being placed on the injured reserve list with a right ankle injury. He’ll be out a minimum of the Giants’ next three games.
They were demonstrably overmatched by the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, getting thoroughly outplayed in a 38-11 loss. The Giants fell to 1-5 and must go 7-4 in their remaining 11 games to finish 8-7 and above .500 for the first time since the 2016 season. That’s not happening. They have not shown any signs of potentially reversing course as pressure mounts on head coach Joe Judge and general manager Dave Gettleman.
Someone has to be held accountable for the early season failures. There will undoubtedly be significant organizational changes. In August, weeks ahead of the start of the regular season, Giants co-owner John Mara implicitly maintained that although the team was a work in progress, positive results were the mandate.
“How do you define a rebuild?” Mara said to reporters. “I expect to win more games than we did last year. Hopefully we’re going to be a playoff team this year, so you can call it anything you want,” he underscored, referencing the Giants’ 6-10 campaign in 2020.
Mara added that no one was exempt from an intensive performance evaluation. “We’re all on the hot seat, with our fans in particular,” when questioned about Gettleman’s job status. “We’ve given them too many losing seasons. It’s time for us to start winning.”
With Gettleman in his fourth season as the Giants GM, the team has an abysmal 16-39 under his leadership heading into this Sunday’s matchup at home versus the 3-3 Carolina Panthers. Now in his second season, Judge’s record is 7-15 thus far. Scan the Giants’ roster over the past two seasons and the takeaway is that the numbers should be much better.
Quarterback Daniel Jones, who took over as the starter for Eli Manning on Sept. 22, 2019, his rookie year, won his first two career starts but is 9-23 overall. His play has been typically uneven this season. The 24-year-old former No. 6 pick in the first round of the NFL Draft is
12th in the league in passing yards but has a middling passer rating of 83.1.
Like Judge and Gettleman, Jones’ future with the Giants is also tenuous.