The New York Giants fell to the New York Jets on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, 13-10 in overtime, to fall to 2-6 on the season.
The game was about as poorly played — by both teams — as an NFL game can be played these days and has put the Giants’ already fragile season on the brink of disaster.
Here are some things we learned in Week 8.
The loss puts the Giants on the brink
The Giants fell to 2-6 on the year, which effectively has put their season ‘on the brink’ of being over. They have a 1.9 percent chance of making the postseason at this point, per Team Rankings.
Only three teams in the history of the NFL have qualified for the playoffs after beginning the season with a 2-6 record — the 1970 Cincinnati Bengals, the 2020 Washington Football team, and the 2022 Jacksonville jaguars.
The Bengals did it in a 14-game season, Washington in a 16-game season and the Jags in the league’s first 17-game schedule.
So, it can be done. Just not by this team, which has lost so many key players to injury and is down to its emergency quarterback.
Disarray reigns supreme
Brian Daboll may have been the NFL’s 2022 NFL Coach of the Year, but he’s a far cry from that conversation this season.
Last year, everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. This year, the opposite has been true.
Everything from roster management to game management has been subpar this year. In fact, somewhere along the line, after the team opened his tenure at 6-1 last season, the worm turned for him. The mojo left the room.
The Giants are currently a mish-mosh of revolving players who have lost the ability to play complimentary football. The discipline level has decreased and the sideline appears to be in disarray most times.
On Sunday, against the Jets, the Giants blew a three-point lead with 24 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
But that was after Daboll decided to kick a field goal on fouth-and-1 from the Jets’ 17. Graham Gano, kicking on a swollen knee, missed the kick wide left leaving the door open for the Jets.
Giant fans were wondering why a) Daboll didn’t think they could get the one-yard to ice the game and b) why Gano was kicking on a bad leg as he had already uncharacteristically missed a field goal earlier in the game.
The question was why they didn’t allow backup quarterback Tommy DeVito to throw in passing situations when required. Daboll said the strategy on the day was to run the ball as much as possible. What? Not in passing situations…
Thibodeaux answers the call
Giants second-year linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux was the subject of a radio spat between WFAN hosts and former Giants linebacker-turned-analyst Carl Banks last week.
The radio heads claimed Thibodeaux was an underperformer and a possible draft bust (Thibodeaux was selected fifth overall in the 2022 NFL draft) while Banks vehemently disagreed and was eventually hung up on.
On Sunday, Thibodeaux settled the argument once and for all with nine total stops, three sacks, and a forced fumble.
Thibodeaux has 8.5 sacks on the season, tied for third in the NFL after eight weeks, and is on a pace for 18 this season. End of story.
