The New York Giants dropped to 2-7 on the season after getting annihilated by the Las Vegas Raiders, 30-6, on Sunday afternoon at Allegiant Stadium.
Here are a few things we learned from the Week 9 game.
Things CAN get worse
The Giants’ season had been a disaster and with quarterback Daniel Jones and offensive tackles Andrew Thomas and Evan Neal returning, there was much optimism the Giants could begin to turn their season around.
Nothing doing. The Giants lost Jones to a knee injury early on and had to resort to undrafted Tommy DeVito again under center. DeVito comported himself fairly well, but let’s face it, he’s not NFL material at the moment.
It is suspected that Jones could have a torn ligament in his right knee, which would a) effectively end his season and b) set off a firestorm of speculation surrounding the team’s future at quarterback as they will likely be drafting in the first hour of next year’s NFL draft.
Either way, this season has gone from bad to worse in a hurry. Don’t let anyone tell you about having an ‘easy’ schedule, either.
The Giants just became the easy part of everyone else’s schedule.
Daboll and Kafka concerns
After opening his tenure as Giants head coach with a 6-1 record, Brian Daboll has fallen off a cliff. The Giants have been a mess since, going 6-14-1 in their last 21 games.
Daboll, who was named the NFL’s Coach of the Year last season, has suddenly become a candidate to be fired this offseason.
That likely won’t happen but Daboll sure has the look of a coach in trouble. He can’t seem to win no matter which buttons he pushes and his once ebullient demeanor has turned combative and even sully at times. Losing will do that.
Brian Daboll was very upset with Evan Neal after Neal's false start ended the Giants' first drive pic.twitter.com/9LnTRB1UIk
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) November 5, 2023
Brian Daboll confirms Daniel Jones got injured on a previous play pic.twitter.com/gSp9wk08UE
— Talkin’ Giants (@TalkinGiants) November 6, 2023
If Daboll gets to stay, it might be at the expense of some of his assistants. Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka could be on the hook for this absolutely putrid performance by the Giants’ offense.
A real shot a the top pick
The Giants are 2-7 and likely won’t win many more games. If they win four, that would be saying a lot.
Currently, they hold the fourth overall selection in the 2024 NFL draft. That would put them in a prime position to select one of the top quarterbacks in the class.
Keeping in mind that they are still very much contractually committed to Jones, they will have to decide whether or not Jones is the future at quarterback.
We’ve already seen five years of Jones under center and many are ready to move on. There could be a silver lining coming out of this mess after all.
Barkley keeping this end of the deal up
Saquon Barkley fought to stay a Giant and the team obliged. He continues to be one of the few shining lights on this team and showed once again his professionalism and talent on Sunday in Las Vegas.
Barkley averaged 5.6 yards per carry on 16 attempts in the game and added 23 yards on three receptions.
He’ll be a free agent come March. One has to wonder if a) the Giants will use the franchise tag on him again and b) he won’t welcome free agency this time around seeing how far the Giants really are from being a contender.
