Giants prepare to show effort in last game of season
Jake Fromm of the Giants looks on during the third quarter against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Dec. 26, 2021, in Philadelphia. Credit: Getty Images/Scott Taetsch
The Giants continue to do a lot of talking about how invested they are in Sunday’s final game of the season, how they are focused on beating Washington and not worried about the abyss of an offseason that awaits them on the other side of this contest. There have been so many questions and answers and other references to "tapping out" in the last few days that you’d think Savion Glover was running the team.
He’s not. Joe Judge still is. And the best way for him to rehabilitate an image problem that has pushed him from an almost sure thing to return in 2022 to where he is now fighting to keep his job would be a victory that illustrates all of the claims he’s made about his squad.
There’s the problem.
Normally this game could be seen as a referendum on Judge’s command of the locker room and a barometer of just how bought in the players remain to his guidance despite the five straight losses and four wins all season. If they believe in him, logic dictates, they’ll win for him. But it’s almost impossible to gauge any of that based on the players the Giants will be putting on the field, a list that starts with quarterback Jake Fromm.
He’s making just his second start in the NFL and his third appearance as a pro. He was a fourth-string practice squad player in Buffalo until November when Daniel Jones was injured and the Giants needed someone to be a backup. Now, with Mike Glennon’s season over with a wrist injury, he’s being asked to put a period on the 2021 season.
Plenty of people — Judge and beyond, including players, coaches and executives — could have their jobs on the line Sunday. It’s not a win-or-else game because, frankly, that or-else part has already happened. Every employee will be evaluated based on the entirety of this dismal season. But being competitive or even winning on Sunday would certainly end the campaign with those evaluators who sit in the owners’ suites at MetLife Stadium feeling slightly better about things than another blowout loss would.
Judge said his expectations for Sunday are the same as they have been all season long.
"I expect to see the effort from the opening kickoff to the final whistle from our team," he said. "That’s how we play around here . . . These guys have gone through a lot of adversity this year. There have been a lot of times that they could have tapped out, but this team has emptied the tank every week in preparation. They emptied the tank for each other and for the fans, to represent them every time they take the field."
No one, of course, would ever admit to giving up. At least not publicly. It does happen, though. A lot.
"I’ve definitely been on teams before in general or I’ve been around guys in general, especially older vets, who sometimes tap out when things start to get hard," defensive lineman Leonard Williams said. "We pretty much know we’re not going to the playoffs now and a lot of people would be saying we’re playing for nothing at this point, whereas these guys are still breaking down the huddle today after practice and saying, ‘We’ve got one more opportunity.’ That’s what I love about this team is we see everything as an opportunity, and we want to take advantage of every opportunity we get."
They have one more.
Nothing can erase all the bad that has already happened, but for this final afternoon they can at least try to show some of the good Judge and others claim is going on behind the scenes . . . even if they must turn to a quarterback whose only other start two weeks ago lasted a little more than a half before his play became too intolerable to keep him on the field to do so. It’s almost impossible for a football team to look cohesive nevermind competitive without a minimum level of play from the quarterback position that has eluded the Giants for most of the past month.
Fromm was asked on Wednesday about carrying that burden for those whose livelihoods are up in the air. He said he isn’t focused on that and it sure sounded as if he hadn’t even considered it.
"Trust me," he said, "I want to win more than anybody does."
Maybe. But he certainly doesn’t need it as badly as others might.
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.
More Giants
