Whether there are planes flying over MetLife Stadium on Sunday or not, there will surely be more paper bags over heads and empty seats in the stands.
Joe Schoen‘s and Brian Daboll’s Giants (2-11) are 16.5-point underdogs to Lamar Jackson‘s Baltimore Ravens (8-5), the steepest underdogs for any game in this 2024 NFL season. And the final score should end up a lot worse than that.
The reality that the Giants have four more games of this despair is painfully bleak.
So is the fact that John Mara and the Tisch family are seemingly letting Schoen and Daboll coach this third season out despite the historically embarrassing weekly results. They’re about to lose their ninth straight.
Even Darius Slayton, the most diplomatically frustrated veteran in the locker room, was unable to keep his eye off of brighter days when asked for his opinion on Daboll’s ultimate fate.
“I would say all in all he’s done a good job,” Slayton said this week. “A lot of the things that have happened to us this year have been largely out of his control. At the end of the day, as a coach, all you can do is call the plays, try to galvanize the guys and get them ready to go on Sundays.”
“I think for the most part he’s done a good job of that,” the receiver added. “Obviously, I’m a free agent going into this offseason, so what they choose to do is up to them. But I think he’s done the best he can.”
A free agent who won’t be here. That’s right. At least that’s drawing closer for players tired of this deteriorated program’s reflection upon them.
This season has gotten so bad that the Giants’ top highlight of the week was a social media video of Malik Nabers catching passes from Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the Manhattan streets on Friday night.
The draft hype, however, can only temporarily draw attention away from the disaster that is still happening on the field.
The Giants’ return to starting Tommy DeVito because Daboll couldn’t protect Drew Lock is setting New York up for a frightening four quarters on Sunday.
The Ravens defense allows the fewest yards per carry (3.5) in football with Nnamdi Madubuike and Roquan Smith controlling the middle. Safety Kyle Hamilton is a terror at all levels. And corner Marlon Humphrey has five interceptions.
DeVito’s offense didn’t score a single point in the first three quarters of the Giants’ 30-7 loss to the Buccaneers here three weeks ago.
The Giants have scored 13 total first-half points in their three games since Daniel Jones’ release.
Add the Ravens’ determination to pour on the points with Jackson, Derrick Henry and the offense after their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, and Sunday has the makings of the NFL equivalent of a first-round knockout.
Baltimore, by the way, is also coming off their bye week.
Daboll was asked if he feels like there is something he needs to prove to ownership in the last four weeks.
“We’re just trying to get a win,” he said.
One win. That’s the bar now for the New York Giants in their 100th season.
They have four more chances to do it: Sunday against the Ravens, Week 16 at the Falcons, Week 17 against the Colts and Week 18 at the Eagles.
They’re only averaging 12.6 points per game since Jones’ release, though. And they will beat nobody with an offense like that.
That’s what Daboll’s offense is, though. It’s unproductive, it’s riddled with penalties and it’s unwatchable.
Schoen’s roster moves, of course, have not built the promised foundation to prevent the bottom from falling out either.
That’s why this is a collaboratively created abomination.
And that’s why that anonymous fan flew last week’s plane over Giants-Saints with the phrase: “MR MARA ENOUGH – PLZ FIX THIS DUMPSTER FIRE” streaming across the sky.
Because no one — other than fantasy football managers with Jackson on their team — wants to watch this.
