Following a 26-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road on Monday night, at 2-6, the Giants are tied with the New Orleans Saints for the second worst record in National Football Conference. Of the NFC’s 16 teams, only the 1-7 Carolina Panthers are below them. It’s not where the team foresaw themselves entering this season yet they now are woefully positioned as they will pass the halfway mark of the 17-game NFL schedule after this Sunday’s game (1:00 p.m.) against the Washington Commanders at MetLife Stadium.
The contrast between the Commanders and Giants, who are trending in distinctly opposite directions, is stark. The franchises have a historic decades-long rivalry. They have met 185 times with the Giants holding a 108-72-5 advantage. Washington put an ugly stain on the league under previous owner Daniel Snyder. While at the top of Washington’s hierarchy from 1999-2023, the team won just two playoff games and was embroiled in a toxic culture in which allegations of sexual harassment were made by at least 40 women.
Furthermore, Snyder, who grew up in the D.C. area as a Washington fan, for most of his years as their owner, staunchly resisted changing the team’s name from their racially offensive moniker. He finally succumbed in 2020 when chief sponsor FedEx made clear it would cut dealings with Washington in the midst of worldwide protests of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis by law enforcement officer Derek Chauvin as COVID-19 still raged.
Josh Harris, managing partner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, purchased the team in July 2023. He subsequently named Adam Peters, plucked from the San Francisco 49ers, as general manager, hired Dan Quinn, and drafted Heisman trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels out of LSU with the No. 2 overall pick last April.
Now, the Commanders are one of the rising and enviable organizations in all of sports.
Daniels is the leading rookie of the year candidate and in the race for MVP as he has helped dramatically transform the Commanders from a 4-13 squad last season and last in the NFC East to one of the best teams in football at 6-2 and atop of the NFC East. So it lends hope to the Giants that they can get through another disappointing season and reset next year, perhaps still with general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll, both in their third years with the organization, but with a new QB.
Current quarterback Daniel Jones isn’t the primary the Giants have regressed since making the playoffs two seasons ago, but QBs are almost always a source of a team’s lack of success. Maybe Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, viewed as the No.1 draft eligible college prospect at the position, can be a force multiplier for the Giants as Daniels has been for the Commanders.
Giants owners John Mara and Steve Tisch have to be as prudently daring as Harris of the Commanders has been. The latter has established a foundation for what seems to be a sustainable winner — a team the Giants will have to battle in the division for years to come.