With season slipping away, Giants' goal is to play 'complete' game

The Giants go back to work Wednesday after losing to the Cowboys on Sunday and for the second time this season.

They have two wins and eight losses. They have scored 118 points. They have given up 266.

The combined scores in two Dallas wins over the Giants this season was 89-17, which only seems like a typo.

And, yes, we understand that the Giants are playing their third-string quarterback.

And the Giants have both games remaining against the Eagles.

Yikes!

The NFL schedule makers' decision to save the Giants vs. Eagles games for Christmas Day and Jan. 7 certainly came with some risk given the often unpredictable nature of an NFL season. 

But now? Ugh. Break out the eggnog. Or the Diet Coke. Whatever you prefer.

All of this seemed so different a year ago, mostly because it was. Last year, the losses to the Eagles, three of them, clearly rankled Brian Daboll — why wouldn’t they? — but there was hope and general good cheer.

There was the promise of better days ahead.

The 2023 Giants won a playoff game, at Minnesota, and seemed to be an ascending team as this season began.

How’s that working out? Our bad.

These Giants are flirting with being double-digit underdogs to the Commanders on Sunday. And that’s after Washington traded away pass rushers Montez Sweat and Chase Young.

Let that sink in.

Lately, the Giants have failed and flailed in every conceivable way.

Two games ago, it was Antonio Pierce, in his first game as a head coach, beating the Giants, 30-6. Afterward, in the Raiders locker room, amid cigar smoke, the former Giants linebacker and his players celebrated.

There has been so little cheer for these Giants.

Losing Daniel Jones to a neck injury at Miami was significant, of course. As was losing backup Tyrod Taylor to injured ribs against the Jets.

Then there was losing Jones again, to an ACL tear, in his return against the Raiders.

None of this is the fault of undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito, who has been pressed into playing.

He absorbed five sacks Sunday and threw an interception where he hung the ball too high, allowing Daron Bland to win a jump ball with Jalin Hyatt. DeVito’s throws averaged 6.1 yards per reception, which won’t win you many games. But he competed.

The Giants are in a tough spot, to say the least.

We can understand frustration on the sideline. Players are proud. They want to make plays. They want to win.

Passionate dialogue can be misinterpreted from the press box. Or while watching TV.

That generally is more heat of the moment as opposed to a significant issue.

Daboll indicated he had no issue with effort.

“Certainly,” Daboll said, “when you’re in a little bit of a rut here, you want to make sure that you’re doing all of the things that you can do on and off the field the right way to give yourselves the best chance to get out of the rut. Those guys competed.”

So noted.

It would seem fair, however, that a defense that gave up 640 yards on Sunday might need to check itself.

Think about this: The Cowboys as 17.5-point favorites were an easy, breezy cover.

A goal this week? To play a 60-minute game.

In Dallas, in a game that was over at halftime, the Giants had 27 yards of offense in the first half. There was frustration all around, especially from playmakers who are entrusted to make plays.

For the Giants, this feels like familiar territory because it is.

As it stands now, it was the Giants' performance last year that was the fluke. Unless and until they prove otherwise.

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.