5 ways this Giants season can get worse
Tyrone Crawford of the Dallas Cowboys sacks Eli Manning at MetLife Stadium on Dec. 11, 2016. Credit: Jim McIsaac
With seven games left, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie wants the Giants to fight.
“We need to keep climbing,” the cornerback said. “I ain’t saying how far we’re going to get up that ladder, but we can get up that ladder a little bit.”
It would seem that’s the only direction things can go for this team after a 51-17 loss to the Rams and a 31-21 loss to the previously winless 49ers. But have the Giants reached rock bottom?
“Hell no,” Rodgers-Cromartie said.
He knows that things can always get worse. And after the last few weeks, it doesn’t take much imagination to picture how that can happen. Here, then, are five ways that this already miserable, forgettable, disappointing Giants season can get even worse:
1. Carved up by Cousins
The Giants will face Washington on Thanksgiving Night. It will be their final primetime game this season and it comes in front of an audience that already will be bloated from their turkey dinners. The last time the Giants played on Turkey Day they were embarrassed, 26-6, by the Broncos, in 2009. On a short week, anyone who gets a little dinged in Sunday’s game against the Chiefs might not be available to play, and Kirk Cousins could provide the Giants’ defense with one last nationally televised indignity.
2. Cowboys take over MetLife
The only thing worse than losing is losing to the Cowboys. The players know it, and the fans know it, too. So imagine what MetLife Stadium will be like on Dec. 10 when Dallas comes to town likely looking to improve its playoff chances in front of what could essentially be a home crowd. This game could become the largest-ever gathering of Cowboys fans outside the state of Texas. Giddy up!
3. Eagles clinch top seed
One week later, the Eagles come to MetLife. At that point, assuming the next month plays out as projected, they should be locked into a playoff spot. They might even need the win to clinch a bye in the playoffs or the top seed in the NFC. The last thing the Giants defense needs is to face a hungry Eagles team with something left to prove in Week 15. Those 51 points scored by the Rams might be eclipsed in this Week 15 game, and the coronation of Carson Wentz as the league’s MVP might just be settled in this contest as well.
4. Giants get scrooged
Long flights home from western cities after losses are never fun. The players can’t sleep and they get back to New Jersey in the middle of the night. The trip back from Arizona, though, could be even more depressing since the game is on Christmas Eve. It could be a very silent night on that plane ride back. Or maybe John Mara will be visited by three spirits en route and decide that he’s seen enough to drop the ax on Ben McAdoo on Christmas Day.
5. Manning Era ends
In what could be his final home game as a Giant on Dec. 31, the Giants finally decide to end Eli Manning’s streak of consecutive starts at what would be 214 games at that point. To make matters worse, Davis Webb plays the game of his life, throwing a pair of touchdowns to Evan Engram and running for two scores himself. The win over Washington not only drops the Giants from the top selection in the draft to the third spot overall, it leaves the team and its fans wondering – with four months until the draft - if they have their quarterback of the future on the roster or if they need to use their first-round pick to select one.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
