I want this to be the beginning of the Giants’ return to being competitive, but for that to happen, the defense is going to have to greatly improve, no matter how well Daniel Jones plays.
I was supposed to be at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday. I was going to go Tampa to watch the Giants play the Buccaneers and then see the Yankees play the Rays at Tropicana Field during the week. When the Yankees decided they would play spring training lineups until the playoffs started and the Giants proved to be as bad as ever in the first two weeks of the season, I canceled my trip. It didn’t make sense to go all the way to Florida to watch my teams play meaningless games.
Then last Wednesday happened and Pat Shurmur announced Daniel Jones as his starting quarterback, effectively ending Eli Manning’s career, and I began to think about if I should uncancel the trip to see the official start of a new era of Giants football. But that thought was quickly wiped away by the visions of the Buccaneers going up and down the field at will against the Giants defense, the way every other offense has against the Giants since the start of the 2017 season. I ultimately decided I didn’t want to be in the building for the first game in the post-Manning era, and I would rather see if the quarterback attached at the hip to the job of the Giants general manager and head coach was capable of playing in the NFL from my couch.
I didn’t know how to feel for Sunday’s game. As a Giants fan, I want Jones to succeed so that the Giants can play meaningful football past Week 3 in future seasons, but I don’t want Shurmur or Dave Gettleman to be part of the organization for future seasons, and if Jones succeeds then they stay. As a Manning fan, I don’t want the Giants winning a game or games changing the narrative to the reasons behind this multi-season mess and the blame then being pinned on the best quarterback in franchise history because of it. It’s quite the predicament and it created a weird way of watching Sunday’s game. Tiki Barber’s glowing praise for Jones and subtle shots at Manning combined with his glee for getting to broadcast a game in which Manning was the backup didn’t help matters.
I was impressed by Jones in his first real NFL action. He exceeded expectations from a stat perspective, throwing for 336 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for two touchdowns as well, and also from a poise and demeanor standpoint, never looking out of place as a rookie making his first career start. It wasn’t all good as he lost two fumbles, but it was mostly good and certainly more good than bad. It was the first time in more than two seasons, Giants fans could feel good about their team and the future of their team, and it was the first time ever Giants fans could feel good about something Gettleman and Shurmur have ever done for the Giants. Though Shurmur would try to erase any goodwill he had for the day late in the game with weekly nonsensical challenge. (At least his failed challenge attempt was on a play that could actually be challenged. Progress!)
Jones’s memorable debut and the Giants’ first win of the season was made possible by Buccaneers kicker Matt Gay’s horrific game in which he missed two extra points and a would-be, game-winning 34-yarder. Without Gay’s awful day, the Giants would be 0-3 and it would have been another loss made possible by the Giants’ embarrassing defense, which was picked apart in the final minute of the game to set up Gay’s eventual miss. But instead of another crushing fourth-quarter loss, the Giants were finally on the right side of a time-expiring field-goal attempt.
The story today is Jones and should be after his impressive debut and his go-ahead, seven-yard touchdown run on fourth down with one minute and 16 seconds left in the game. But the story should also be the Giants’ defense, which allowed 499(!) yards and did everything it could to give away another game. It’s hard to look at the win in a positive light without recognizing it was completely gifted to them by Gay, and it’s hard to feel entirely good about it when the defense looked the worst it has all season, and continues to get worse rather than better as the season progresses. Overall, a win is a win, and when you record as few of them as the Giants have over the last two-plus seasons, you take them in any way you can get them, even if it’s because the opposing kicker missed two extra points and a 34-yarder to win the game.
The Giants won a game on a fourth down play Manning isn’t capable of making: a seven-yard run. They won a game they haven’t been fortunate enough to win in a while: on a missed field-goal attempt. They won a game, which is something they haven’t done much of for a long time. I want this to be the beginning of the Giants’ return to being competitive, but for that to happen, the defense is going to have to greatly improve, no matter how well Jones plays.
The season has been filled with quarterback injuries, which has made an already hard job of picking games increasingly more difficult. That trends continues in Week 3.
I originally planned on going to Tampa this coming weekend to see the Giants play the Buccaneers on Sunday and then see the Yankees play the Rays during the week. But between the Giants being the worst team in the NFC and the Yankees preparing to use spring training lineups for the final two weeks of the season, it didn’t make sense to go all the way to Florida to watch my teams play meaningless games.
Then Wednesday happened and Pat Shurmur announced Daniel Jones as this week’s starting quarterback, effectively ending Eli Manning’s career. I don’t think Manning is going to be traded, and I don’t know that he would want to be, and he’s certainly not coming back next season, so Sunday’s loss was probably the last time we ever see Manning play for the Giants, barring an injury to Jones or meaningless garbage-time minutes between now and Week 17. Had I kept my trip to Tampa, I would have gotten to see the start of the Jones era and the first time a quarterback other than Manning had a future with the team in nearly 15 years.
Unfortunately, this is the right move for the Giants. They aren’t competitive and aren’t going to reach the postseason this year. I don’t know when any Giants fan can expect them to reach the postseason again. This season now has to be about the future, which it was always going to be about, no matter how much BS ownership, Dave Gettleman or Pat Shurmur spewed to the media in the offseason. It’s why the Giants should have either moved on from Manning before the draft, or committed to Manning, and used all of their draft picks to help the team win now. Instead, they tried to do a little bit of both and it’s led to an offense without any healthy and capable wide receivers, and a defense lacking a pass, secondary and the basic fundamentals of trying to prevent the other team from scoring.
The moment the Giants drafted Jones, Gettleman and Shurmur’s employment timer with the Giants began, and now that he’s actually going to play and has a potential 14 games to showcase his abilities in, that employment timer is going to pick up its pace. The general manager and head coach are tied to the success or failure of Jones, as is the entire organization, and if he proves to be an NFL quarterback over the next 15 weeks, they will keep their jobs. If he doesn’t, another duo, hopefully a better duo, will get to pick the future of the team at the 2020 draft.
It’s going to take the rest of the season to properly evaluate Jones as a potential franchise quarterback and determine whether or not the current front office made the right decision or if they wasted the sixth overall pick and an entire season, and unnecessarily ended the career of the best quarterback in franchise history. The Giants’ future begins on Sunday in Tampa. At least there’s a reason to watch for the rest of the season.
***
Back-to-back 7-9 weeks to start the season isn’t great from a record standpoint, but is good enough to have survived the first weeks of the season and all of the quarterback injuries to stay afloat. Week 3 is a chance to get above .500 and stay above .500.
(Home team in caps)
JACKSONVILLE +2 over Tennessee It’s hard to put a lot of faith into Gardner Minishew, but the replacement for Nick Foles has been better than expected after taking over early in Week 1 and playing a full game in Week 2. It hasn’t translated into wins, as the Jaguars are 0-2, but at least the Jaguars have a serviceable option at quarterback and can at least expect to be competitive, unlike say, the Jets.
I expected big things out of the Titans this season, and after their Week 1 win over the Browns, I felt great about them. But then they laid an egg in their home opener in an expected low-scoring AFC South game, and I saw the usual .500-esque offense from the Titans, led by Marcus Mariota’s blah game.
I had a lot of fun rooting for, picking for and winning money on the Jaguars in their run to the AFC Championship Game a couple years ago, and I thought I was going to have similar fun this season with Foles as their quarterback and one of the league’s best defenses. That idea hasn’t gone according to plan, but there’s still time for it to happen, if the Jaguars can win this week. If not, their season’s over at 0-3.
NEW ENGLAND -23 over New York Jets I love the college line the Jets are getting this week and the Dolphins got last week and will continue to get.
If Sam Darnold had played on Monday night, the Jets would have won. The Browns were so underwhelming and Baker Mayfield looked so bad that had the Jets had even just a bad quarterback and not two awful options, they might have won. Instead, the Jets watched Trevor Siemian suffer a season-ending injury and then watched Luke Falk run a game plan in which nearly every pass was thrown behind the line of scrimmage en route to their loss.
This line could be 35 and I still couldn’t take the Jets. I get that it’s ridiculously high and if the Jets were to ever find the end zone even once it might complicate things since their defense is solid, but I don’t think they’re going to find the end zone on offense. Maybe on defense or special teams, but that can’t be counted on.
Cincinnati +6 over BUFFALO What a gift the Bills received from the NFL getting scheduled to open the season against two bad teams in the Jets and Giants on the road, in the same state, a short plane ride away to MetLife. The Bills are 2-0 as a result of getting to play against the shaky Jets and defenseless Giants and have already played 25 percent of their road schedule. Now with home games against Cincinnati and Miami within the next month, there’s a good chance the Bills could be at 5-3 or even 4-3 a month from now.
Except these are the Bills we’re talking about. If there’s a possibility to screw something up, they will screw it up. Having a Week 3 home game and their home opener against the Bengals seems like it can be counted as a W, but again, these are the Bills. The Bills were fortunate to play their first two games against teams which will most likely get to draft in the first five picks in 2020.
The Bengals did get blown out at by San Francisco last week, but held their own in Seattle the week before. I don’t think the Bengals are good or are going to necessarily win in Buffalo, but it’s hard to believe the Bills could be giving six points to any team, and it’s even harder to believe they will cover.
DALLAS -21.5 over Miami When the Dolphins start running plays on their opponent’s side of the field, I will start considering taking them to cover the massive spreads for their games, which are only going to grow in size as the season goes on. I don’t think Josh Rosen is going to get the chance he spoke about at the 2018 draft to make all the teams that passed on him regret passing on him.
GREEN BAY -8 over Denver This game will be used in teasers more than any other game in Week 3. That normally would be enough to scare me into taking the points, but not after watching Denver play at Oakland in Week 1.
INDIANAPOLIS -1.5 over Atlanta It’s possible the Jacoby Brissett Colts are just as good as the Andrew Luck Colts. They have played well in the first two weeks of the season and look as good as they did at the end of last year before losing to the Texans in a weird game in the postseason.
I know what the Falcons are and have made my reasons for continuing to pick against them and their head coach clear in previous picks blogs. I’m not about to go against my principles, especially when the Falcons have to go on the road and face a better, more well-rounded team.
KANSAS CITY -6.5 over Baltimore I need at least a touchdown to fall back on if I’m going to pick against the Chiefs.
MINNESOTA -9 over Oakland Last week, in reference to their successful Week 1 game plan, in which the Vikings only let Kirk Cousins throw the ball 10 times, I wrote: If the Vikings stick to their plan and don’t allow Cousins to ruin the game, they will be 2-0 and in first place in the NFC North. If they go back to what made them unsuccessful last year, they will be unsuccessful again. Well, Cousins threw the ball 32 times in Week 2, and what do you know, he threw two interceptions, fumbled the ball twice and lost one of the fumbles.
It’s impressive the Vikings only lost by five with the way Cousins played, and had anyone other than Kirk Cousins as their quarterback, they would be 2-0 this season. Had anyone other than Cousins been their quarterback last season, they probably would have won the NFC North and returned to the NFC Championship Game too. But the Vikings are stuck with Cousins, who is bad as it gets at throwing accurate passes and maintaining possession, and it’s hard to envision them going anywhere as long as he’s on the team.
Fortunately for the Vikings, they get the Raiders at home this week in what should be a rout. If it’s not, that should tell you all you need to know about this team’s chances with Cousins, as if there hasn’t been enough to tell you all you need to know since the start of last season.
PHILADELPHIA -6.5 over Detroit The Eagles are dangerously close to being 0-2, but I guess most teams in the NFL are always dangerously close to having a completely opposite record. I know this because I’m a Giants fan who has watched them lose many games in recent years decided by three points or less and most games by seven points or less. At some point, the Eagles are going to look like a team expected to win the NFC East and compete for a second championship in three years. What better time to look like this team than at home agains the Lions.
ARIZONA 0 over Carolina I was upset with myself for picking the Panthers on Thursday Night Football in Week 2 the second the Panthers offense took the field. The Panthers have one playmaker in their entire offense in Christian McCaffrey and the Panthers run nearly every single play through him. I have no idea how he’s going to be able to hold up for a lengthy career with the way he’s used in Carolina, but for now, the Panthers have no choice.
Cam Newton has drastically regressed since his 2015 MVP season and the only way the Panthers can be successful is by handing the ball off to McCaffrey or by throwing him a two- or-three-yard pass and hoping he can gain significant yards after the catch. It’s an easy offense and strategy to prepare for, and even the rookie-led Cardinals will be able to handle it.
TAMPA BAY -6.5 over New York Giants It doesn’t matter that Jameis Winston isn’t good because it doesn’t matter which quarterback plays against the Giants’ defense, they are going to get lit up. That the Giants are going on the road against a Bruce Arians offense in what will be the first start for Daniel Jones makes this a rather easy pick for me. A 16-year veteran could barely function without any NFL-worthy receivers. I’m sure a rookie debut in his NFL debut will do much better.
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS -3.5 over Houston The Chargers left the Pacific Time Zone, and unsurprisingly, they lost. A return home this week should return the real Chargers, who can only really be trusted in games played in California.
New Orleans +4 over SEATTLE Once upon a time, Teddy Bridgewater was the starting quarterback of the Vikings and led them to what should have been a postseason win over the Seahawks, if not for a Blair Walsh 27-yard field-goal attempt.
Since Bridgewater’s career-altering knee injury with the Vikings, the Vikings have traded away a first-round draft pick for Sam Bradford, only to have a 5-0 season end at 8-8, and they have turned to Case Keenum, who led them to within a win of the Super Bowl, only to move on from Keenum to give a guaranteed $84 million to Kirk Cousins, who is at best as good as Keenum.
The Vikings could have kept Bridgewater following his knee injury and eaten the money they would have been forced to pay him while he was injured and it would have been a whole lot less than the money they guaranteed to Cousins. Had Bridgewater not been able to make a comeback from his injury, the team could have stayed with Keenum as quarterback. They would have retained the first-rounder they gave away for Bradford and would have had a lot more salary-cap space available without Cousins. Since Bridgewater did make a comeback, he would be the quarterback, the offensive and defensive lines would have more money invested in them, and the Vikings would be better than they are currently and would have been better than they were last year as well.
I don’t like the Saints, but I love Bridgewater, and I’m rooting for him to make the Vikings’ front office continue to look foolish.
SAN FRANCISCO -6 over Pittsburgh The Steelers are headed toward a long, loss-filled season. The lines for their games are only going to grow in size as the season progresses. Get in on going against the Steelers before the lines get too high.
Los Angeles Rams -3 over CLEVELAND I picked against the Browns last week before it was announced the Jets would start Siemian. Unfortunately, the Jets were essentially quarterback-less on Monday night and gave away a winnable game. But my need for the Browns to lose and be losers with Odell Beckham on the team still exists.
Chicago -4 over WASHINGTON The Bears went into this season with Super Bowl aspirations. After two weeks, they don’t look like a playoff team, forget a championship contender. I don’t know how the Bears or Bears fan can believe in Mitch Trubisky, or how they can think they will ever win it all with him. Maybe Trubisky will greatly improve, and maybe the first weeks of the season will be looked back on as anomaly for this Bears season, but scoring three points at home in Week 1 and needing a time-expiring field goal to the beat the Broncos in Week 2 isn’t exactly promising.
I still believe in the Bears, because of their defense and because of their running game, but Week 3 is about as must-win as it gets with Minnesota (twice), New Orleans, Los Angeles Chargers, Philadelphia, Los Angeles Rams, Dallas, Green Bay and Kansas City on their schedule.
After another disappointing loss, the Giants’ season is now over, and there’s no reason not to play Daniel Jones instead of Eli Manning.
The feeling I had when the Giants’ scored on their first offensive drive of the season wasn’t replicated when they did the same in Week 2. I knew better than to think the Giants had completely changed in a week and were going to keep scoring or prevent the Bills from scoring. I have seen many Giants games in recent years begin the same way they have the first two weeks of this season and have seen many Giants games end the same way they have the first two week of this season as well.
The Giants lost 28-14, but had their chances to get back into the game and possibly tie or even win it. They had a chance to complete a two-touchdown comeback late in the game like they used to when they were a competitive team.
Trailing by seven in the fourth quarter, the Giants were a defensive stop away from getting the ball back and trying to tie the game. Instead of a stop, the Giants’ defense gave its usual late-game performance, the kind of performance which got Tom Coughlin fired and pushed Ben McAdoo out the door, and will end Eli Manning’s career. Needing a stop, the Giants’ defense gave up a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown, which ate up six minutes and three seconds, and included a crucial third-down conversion on the Giants’ 40 for 17 yards. But the most Giants part of it all was that the Bills originally had to settle for a 21-yard field goal on the drive before a personal foul on the Giants on the field-goal attempt gave the Bills a first down and an eventual touchdown. Whether it was a penalty or not (and according to Gene Steratore, it wasn’t), the Giants weren’t going to come back and win the game even if the Bills had only extended their lead to 10.
The loss had a little bit of everything for frustrated Giants fans. There were the back-to-back drives after the game-opening touchdown in which the Giants gained one yard total. There was the missed 48-yard field goal from Aldrick Rosas. There was the interception thrown by Manning near the end of the first half, which came immediately after the Giants’ defense forced one of the only punts they will force all season. There was the turnover on downs (the Giants third of the season) in the fourth quarter. There was that long Bills drive, which first resulted in a field goal and then a touchdown to all but seal the win for Bills, and there was another Manning interception late in the fourth quarter, which ended the game. And the game wasn’t without a Pat Shurmur blunder either as the mostly-lost Giants head coach tried to challenge a play which can’t be challenged, which now seems to be a weekly bit he does.
It was a textbook Giants loss as they gave Giants fans encouragement to begin the game then made them question why they even watch or care about the team before reeling them back in one last time only to break their heart late in the fourth quarter. I feel bad for the Giants fans who went through that gauntlet of emotions on Sunday. I have gone through it many times, but I’m now immune to it after having no expectations for this season.
Mathematically, the 2019 Giants are done. They are finished. After Sunday’s disappointing loss, the Giants have now started 0-2 in six of the last seven seasons. Everyone knows the history of 0-2 teams and reaching the playoffs, and it’s that they rarely every do, which means in six of the last seven years, the Giants’ season was effectively over in mid-September from an odds perspective. Those odds have held up for the Giants as they have missed the playoffs in the previous five seasons in which they started as 0-2 and they are by no means going to the postseason this year.
The only good that can come from this season now is that Daniel Jones plays and proves to be a franchise-caliber quarterback. That’s it. If he doesn’t then this entire season was a waste and can’t be considered a rebuilding year. If Jones doesn’t work out, the Giants are no better than the Browns were for many years: a team without a plan.
The Giants won’t know what Jones is until he plays, and there’s no reason not to play him now. The season is over, and with Manning in the final year of his contract, he doesn’t have a future with the Giants. As a Manning supporter and fan, it’s unfortunate it had to come down to this, but when you’re given the surrounding pieces Manning was for this season (and for most of his career), it was always going to end this way, in midseason with Manning standing on the sideline.
Week 2 has always been the hardest week of the season for me to pick, and I’m sure it will be again this year.
I usually reserve this space in the weekly picks blog to write about the Giants, but I’m not sure that will continue this season. Like Tony Perkis telling Nicholas in Heavyweights, “I’m a beaten man.”
The Giants have beaten me up since the beginning of the 2017 season, losing 25 of their last 33 games, and there’s nothing left to beat as a Giants fan. They have lost because of their quarterback; they have lost because of their receivers; they have lost because of their offensive line; they have lost because of their defensive line; they have lost because of their secondary; they have lost because of their coaching; they have lost in blow-out fashion; they have lost in the final minute; they have lost as time expires. The Giants have lost in every way imaginable over the last two-plus seasons and it’s hard to take it anymore. They aren’t a team in the middle of a rebuild with a light at the end of the tunnel and a clear timeline for when they will be competitive again. They are a team in the middle of a rebuild with no light at the end of the tunnel and no clear timeline for when they will be competitive again.
Thankfully, I have no expectations for them this season and don’t expect them to make the playoffs or go on a postseason run. My expectations are for them to be one of the worst teams in the league and once again pick near the top of the draft in 2020. Week 1 was enough for me to realize this is going to happen and I don’t know how it will get better or when it will be fun and enjoyable to watch the Giants.
Week 1 is all about survival and not getting buried with the picks record for the season just as the season begins. I survived Week 1. It wasn’t pretty, but coming away with a 7-9 record after some sloppy football and wild finishes is more than acceptable, at least to me. Week 2 has always been the hardest week of the season for me, and I’m sure it will be again this year.
(Home team in caps)
CAROLINA -7 over Tampa Bay I love Thursday Night Football because it means football. I hate Thursday Night Football because of this blog. But the one thing I have learned over the years is if you’re unsure of who to take, take the home team on Thursday night. It makes it a little easier when the road team is the Buccaneers.
New England -18.5 over Miami I don’t care about Tom Brady’s odd career record in Miami and I don’t care about all the weird things that have happened to the Patriots down south. This Dolphins team is unlike any other Brady has ever faced since this Dolphins team isn’t even trying to win and isn’t even fielding an NFL-caliber roster.
The Dolphins have one goal this season: lose more games than any other team. Achieving that goal will get them Tua Tagovailoa, and getting him will speed up their rebuilding process. The lines for Dolphins games are only going to go up, s0 feel safe teasing them now because pretty soon the lines are are going to be Alabama vs. New Mexico State-esque.
BALTIMORE -13.5 over Arizona Kyler Murray’s NFL debut looked like it was going to be a flop when the Cardinals were trailing the Lions 24-6 early in the fourth quarter. But Murray led the Cardinals to a comeback which included a touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald with 43 seconds remaining and a successful two-point conversion to Christian Kirk to send the game to overtime, eventually tying 27-27.
Unfortunately, Murray’s feel-good start to his career and search for his first win will be put on hold in Week 2. This isn’t about the Ravens demolishing the Dolphins like a lopsided August college football matchup, this is about the Ravens being a postseason team with arguably the best defense in the league whether they embarrassed the Dolphins on the road or not. The Cardinals historically have been a disaster in Eastern Time Zone games and that’s only going to be enhanced for a rookie quarterback and rookie head coach flying across the country to face for the Ravens’ home opener.
San Francisco -1.5 over CINCINNATI This is the type of game where I have no idea which way to lean and wonder who would ever bet on this game and it becomes the easiest pick of the day and the biggest laugher from a score standpoint. One of these teams will probably win in a blowout. I hope I’m picking the right team.
Los Angeles Chargers -2.5 over DETROIT If anyone watched the Lions blow a late lead to a rookie quarterback/head coach combination like I did on early Sunday night, you too would not pick the Lions to cover. I don’t need any other information other than the fourth quarter of Week 1 to make this pick.
Minnesota +3 over GREEN BAY It took the Vikings a full season and a disappointing 8-8 record to realize Kirk Cousins isn’t good. I guess better late than never. We know the Vikings have come to terms that they should have kept the much cheaper Case Keenum and not destroyed their salary-cap situation by signing Cousins because of their Week 1 game plan. The Vikings let Cousins only throw the ball 10 times in their win over the Falcons, running the ball 38 times instead of letting their unreliable and untrustworthy quarterback decide the game.
That game plan is likely the one the Packers thought they were going to see in Chicago before the Bears forgot who their quarterback is, so the Packers will be ready for it this week, except the Vikings have much better personnel than the Bears to pull it off. If the Vikings stick to their plan and don’t allow Cousins to ruin the game, they will be 2-0 and in first place in the NFC North. If they go back to what made them unsuccessful last year, they will be unsuccessful again.
HOUSTON -9 over Jacksonville It’s never good to have a team +10.5 in a five-team, seven-point teaser and have that team’s quarterback break his clavicle on a 75-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and have that team’s best defensive player get ejected from the game for throwing punches also in the first quarter, especially when that team is playing the best offense in the league. Yes, I had the Jaguars +10.5 in a five-team, seven-point teaser.
The Texans covered for me and should have won if not for playing the old prevent defense, which unsurprisingly gave the Saints a time-expiring win. The Texans surprised me and looked much better than I expected them to and DeAndre Hopkins looked as good as ever despite already being the best wide receiver in the league. Usually, I would have a hard time picking for the Texans, but here I am picking them to cover in back-to-back weeks to open the season.
Buffalo -2 over NEW YORK GIANTS I have a feeling the first defensive and first offensive drives of the season are the only two times I will be happy with the Giants this season. Actually, I know they will. Because after seeing Sunday’s debacle in Dallas, I know the Giants still suck and didn’t improve at all on either side of the ball. This wasn’t just one game and it’s not early and only Week 1. This is a continuation of the 2018 season which was a continuation of the 2017 season.
So why would I ever pick the Giants to win their home opener against the Bills, who were also in MetLife on Sunday to overcome a 16-point second-half deficit to the beat the Jets, who at least on paper are must better than the Giants? I don’t care that the Bills will always be the Bills and I don’t care that the Jets will always be the Jets. The Giants are still the Giants of the last two-plus seasons and that’s much worse than the Bills.
Seattle +4.5 over PITTSBURGH The Seahawks almost lost to the Bengals at home and almost knocked me out of my survivor pool on the first Sunday of the season. The Steelers were flat-out embarrassed, and Mike Tomlin rightfully ripped his team, and himself, after the ugly loss. I always have a hard time trusting either of these teams, but the difference is the Seahawks are coming off a narrow win at home to a team going nowhere and the Steelers lost on Sunday Night Football to the best team in the league. Logic would suggest the Steelers will play better at home and the Seahawks will play worse on the road this week, but there’s no logic in the NFL and nothing truly matters from week to week as each week is essentially its own season. For that, I’m regrettably picking the Seahawks.
TENNESSEE -3 over Indianapolis I would like to thank the Titans for going to Cleveland and blowing out the Browns in Week 1. It was beautiful. Watching Odell Beckham be a part of another loss and Baker Mayfield scrambling to avoid eventual sacks before losing it on the officials with only a few minutes remaining in a four-score game was enjoyable. Beckham did get his targets (11), receptions (7) and yards (71), so I’m sure he didn’t care that the team lost. I’m going to show my appreciation for the Titans by picking them again in Week 2.
Dallas -5 WASHINGTON I used to care about other NFC East matchups because they would have implications for the Giants and the postseason. The Giants aren’t going to the postseason unless they buy tickets, so I have to find other reasons to determine who to pull for in division games.
I don’t think Dak Prescott is a good quarterback, and the longer he plays for the Cowboys, the less of a chance they have of winning a championship. Since the Cowboys are in extension mode right now giving out years and money to anyone who comes in contact with Jerry Jones, it only makes sense that Prescott is next. It was all the FOX broadcast talked about during Sunday’s game against the Giants, and the Giants did their part by making Prescott look like a superstar by allowing him to throw four touchdown passes while racking up yards thanks to yards after the catch against the Giants’ horrendous defense.
The better Prescott plays, the more years and money he will get in his eventual contract extension. The more years and money he gets, the more players the Cowboys won’t be able to sign in the future, and hopefully that future coincides with the Giants return to being a competitive team. Here’s to Prescott going off against the Redskins and adding more zeros to his future contract!
Kansas City -7.5 over OAKLAND The game which will be most used in teasers is also the second-best survivor pool game of the week. The Jaguars and their preseason top-ranked defense couldn’t stop the Chiefs, so I have no idea how the Raiders plan on doing so. The over/under on Chiefs punts in this game is 0.5 and I’m taking under.
Chicago -2.5 over DENVER After the Bears proved that running the ball and playing great defense is still a successful formula in the NFL last season, they apparently thought they had now become the Saints of the north, allowing Mitch Trubisky to throw 45 times in Week 1, while only running the ball 12 times. That formula resulted in three points and a disastrous season-opening loss despite holding Aaron Rodgers to 203 passing yard and 10 points.
I have no idea what Matt Nagy was thinking in Week 1. What unfolded for the Bears couldn’t have been their game plan since someone in the organization would have spoken up and said, “Um, what the eff are we doing?” Nagy must have inexplicably changed course during the game, deciding to go with an air-it-out strategy. The only problem with that strategy is that his quarterback is Trubisky, who isn’t capable of that type of game, as a one-read-only passer who telegraphs nearly all of his passes.
I have to think the Bears will get back to what led them to a division title last season. If they do, the Broncos, who were beat up by the talent-less Raiders won’t have a chance.
LOS ANGELES RAMS -2.5 over New Orleans This is a tough one. Not because the two teams are possibly the best two teams in the NFC again this season after playing each other to overtime in the NFC Championship Game last season. It’s tough because I have to pick for either the Rams, who laid an all-time egg in the Super Bowl against the Patriots, or the Saints, who no longer cover the spread at the Superdome and who cost me a two-team Championship Sunday parlay in January. The reason to not pick the Rams has more staying power and had a much more negative impact on my life, but the reason to not pick the Saints is more recent, including Monday night’s game in which a Drew Brees red-zone interception coupled with a Will Lutz missed field goal caused the Saints to not cover. I guess the only way to settle this is to go with the home team.
Philadelphia -1.5 over ATLANTA If the Falcons’ season keeps going the way Week 1 went, Dan Quinn is going to be fired in a move which should have been made the second the Falcons blew their 28-3 second-half lead to the Patriots in the Super Bowl. I don’t know how Arthur Blank can live with Quinn as his head coach after what happened in that Super Bowl and I’m not sure how he has kept him on after that loss and two more disappointing seasons. This season has to be Quinn’s last. It has to be. Until he’s gone it will be hard for me to ever pick the Falcons.
NEW YORK JETS +2.5 over Cleveland I used to love Odell Beckham and would defend him because of his talent and because he had single-handedly won a few games for the Giants. That all ended last October when I wrote I’m Done Defending Odell Beckham after he helped lead the Giants to a season-crushing loss to the Panthers. I turned on Beckham for good at the right time, as it was clear he would never be part of the solution for the Giants and was only going to be part of the problem, if not the problem.
After the one-handed catch in Dallas made him a household name, he did everything he could to be in and remain in the spotlight. From outrageous in-game antics to unnecessary sideline actions to bizarre off-the-field behavior, Beckham wanted to be the focal point of every Giants game, win or lose. After the emergence of Saquon Barkley last season, Beckhamn desperately tried to hold his status as the Giants’ star attraction by increasing his sideline shows and saying whatever he felt would keep his name in headlines.
Eventually, Beckham’s behavior and inability to stay healthy overshadowed his ability on the field. The Giants decided the organization would be better off without the player they made the highest-paid receiver in history and the culture of the Giants would never change as long as he was a member of it.
Since Beckham’s arrival in Cleveland, he has kept up the same act he had with the Giants, speaking about his time and dismissal from the Giants at every chance and going over the top with his look-at-me longing for attention. Beckham wore a $190,000 watch in the Browns’ season opener, a game the Browns lost, adding to the embarrassing record for the Giants and Browns when Beckham has played for them. When asked about the watch, Beckham acted though he was the victim of a media attack, never recognizing for a moment he would never need to know the time of day in the middle of a game and never admitting the decision to wear a clearly visible watch in an NFL game was all for publicity.
Like I said last week, since the Giants can’t be expected to win the Super Bowl this season, my rooting interest has turned to rooting against the Browns because of Beckham. All Week 1 did was make me want to root harder against them, even if they’re playing the Jets.
The Giants are now 0-1. One loss closer to another season ending before September does. One loss closer to another losing season. One loss closer to the end of the Eli Manning era.
The first game of a Giants season is special. There’s this feeling of anticipation about what the next four months (or possibly four-plus months) will bring and the expectation that the season at hand might provide a magical and memorable ending. Even going into Sunday’s game, in a season in which the Giants are expected to be one of the worst teams in the league, I began to have that feeling.
Despite everything I have read and said about the 2019 Giants leading up to to their Week 1 kickoff in Dallas, I thought for a moment, Maybe they will be better than I thought. And for a moment they were.
The Giants forced the Cowboys to punt on the season-opening drive, and the Giants took over possession at their own 9 for their first offensive drive of the season. The first play of the Giants’ offensive season was a short pass to Saquon Barkley, and in typical Giants fashion, Barkley, who has never fumbled in his NFL career, put the ball on the ground. It was so Giants it made me laugh. A turnover on the first offensive play of the season in Dallas? It was the same beginning as the 2013 season when Eli Manning threw an interception on the first play of the season in Dallas. Somehow, Eli Penny was able to jump on the ball and retain possession for the Giants, and I thought, Maybe things are going to be different this season.
Barkley took off for 59 rushing yards on the next play, and five plays later, Manning found Evan Engram in the end zone for a one-yard touchdown. The Giants had gone 91 yards in four minutes and seven seconds, never faced a third down and watched their star player pick up 72 yards on the first drive of the season. As a Giants fan, the Barkley fumble resulting in a loss of possession would have made sense. A 91-yard touchdown drive to open the season? As a Giants fan, I didn’t know how to react.
For the first six minutes and 54 seconds of football on Sunday, things were different. The Giants looked like the team ownership promised to the fans, the team Dave Gettleman built despite heavy criticism and the team Pat Shurmur preached about in training camp and the preseason. For the first six minutes and 54 seconds of Sunday’s game, the Giants were better than the Cowboys. Unfortunately, there was still 53 minutes and six seconds of football to be played.
The feeling I had when Engram scored to give the Giants an early lead was the last good feeling of the game. The Cowboys scored touchdowns on their next five possessions in what would eventually be a 35-17 loss for the Giants. It was a depressing, humiliating and disappointing loss. It was the exact kind of game the Giants have provided their fans with since the end of the Tom Coughlin era, the second year of the Ben McAdoo and nearly every week of the Pat Shurmur era.
The Giants trailed 21-7 at halftime after the Giants’ defense allowed three touchdowns and 305 yards. Despite the two-score deficit and lopsided team statistics, the Giants were receiving the ball for the second half and still had a chance to get back into the game. The Giants began the second half on their own 15, and on the first play of the half, Manning hit Cody Latimer for a 43-yard gain to the Cowboys’ 42. After successfully converting a critical fourth-and-8, the Giants were able to move the ball to the Cowboys’ 11 before settling for a field goal. The Giants had cut the deficit to 21-10, and the offense finally looked in sync for the first time since the opening drive.
I’m not sure what went on in the locker room with the defense at halftime, but clearly there weren’t any adjustments made. It took the Cowboys three plays with a 45-yard pass, five-yard run and 25-yard pass to go right down the field and once again open up the game at 28-10.
The Giants were able to march right back down the field themselves, and facing a third-and-2 at the Cowboys’ 8, the Giants decided to run the ball with Penny instead of Barkley, and Penny picked up one yard. Clinging to the smallest of chances to come back in the game, and desperately needing to convert the fourth-and-1 at the 10, the Giants’ play resulted in Manning rolling out to his right, and when the intended receiver Sterling Shepard was covered (more like tackled), Manning had nowhere to go. Rather than try to run the two yards in front of him, Manning froze up, got sacked and fumbled. With the game officially on the line, the Giants chose to not give the ball to their best player and the best offensive player in the league on either play. If Barkley isn’t going to be given the ball when the Giants need one yard, then what’s the point of anything? Twice in the game, the Giants went for it on fourth down and neither time did Barkley get the ball.
The game was a disaster. It went about as well as every Giants game has gone in Dallas for the last seven years aside from 2016. Nearly every snap in the game provided a perplexing moment from the Giants whether it came from the offense, defense or sideline. Between Manning’s intentional grounding and his fourth-and-1 decision to the defense’s entire game to Shurmur to trying to challenge inside of two minutes and just yelling “That’s bullshit” all games at the officials to Daniel Jones fumbling away possession in his NFL debut, the game was an all-out embarrassment.
All I could do at the end of the game was laugh. Laugh at the playcalling for avoiding Barkley and using him as a decoy with the game on the line. Laugh at the defense for thinking they deserve their game checks after allowing a quarterback who can’t throw to pass for 405 yards. Laugh at Shurmur for not knowing the challenge rules and for showing no signs of improvement or adjustment in second season as head coach. Laugh at Dave Gettleman for constructing this team. Laugh at ownership for trying to get Giants fans to buy into the organization’s plan for this season. And more than anything, laugh at myself for even having a second where I thought, Maybe things are going to be different this season.
Sunday’s loss might seem like it was only game, but it wasn’t. It was a continuation of the last two seasons in which nothing has changed when it comes to the Giants. There might be a different general manager and head coach and coordinators and players, but the Giants are the same losing team they have been since the start of the 2017 season.
The Giants are now 0-1. One more loss for a team which has now lost 26 of their last 34 games. One loss closer to another season ending before September does. One loss closer to another losing season. One loss closer to the end of the Eli Manning era and the beginning of the Daniel Jones era.
