Takeaways from New York Giants' Week 17 Loss
Photo Credit: Giants Wire - USA Today
The New York Football Giants lost to the Chicago Bears on Sunday 29-3 at Soldier Field. I'm at a loss for words to describe how awful this game was. The Giants are officially unwatchable as they're a 4-12 team with mercifully only one game left this season. We haven't seen anything in the last month to get excited about other than figuring out their NFL draft position. What makes this loss worse is that winning the game would've kept both their picks high in the draft. Now we are pushed further away from the top players.
The Giants finished a strong 2020 season at 6-10 and were looking to build on that late season push heading into 2021. The Giants have regressed to the point where attempting to unload tickets to the final game of the season is an impossible task. They are staring at an empty stadium in their season finale against the Washington Football Team. Trip needs to take notice and see that the fans have had enough.
The Joe Judge honeymoon is OVER
Photo Credit: Giants Wire - USA Today
The Giants are likely moving on from Dave Gettleman after this season and hopefully not hitting from within to replace him. Reports are that Joe Judge and Daniel Jones are safe for a return next year. However, how can you stick a new GM with this coaching staff and this coach going into next season. Joe Judge hasn't lost control of the team, but this team is uncompetitive and keeps repeating the same mistakes.
Joe Judge came in as a special teams coach and a disciplinarian, yet the Giants are undisciplined and continue to make stupid plays on special teams. The Giants took a second quarter kickoff and thought the ball was going to go out of bounds. The hands team let it roll and then had to recover the kick inside the two yard line. The Giants then struggle to move the ball out of the shadow of the end zone, eventually taking a safety. The route was on from there and another example of how this football team has taken one step forward last year, and two steps backwards.
Joe Judge's press conferences stop being comical, and have started to become borderline insanity. The quotes from this press conference are so mind-boggling that he's making his own case that he's unfit to hold any position anywhere. The only thing he's fit for right now it seems as a straight jacket. Kim Jones quoted Judge via her Twitter account saying, " The Bears are a good team, they're well-coached. I can say there's really not much we saw today that we weren't directly prepared for." Matt Nagy is about to lose his job and you were purchased by him? Really?
Joe Judge during his confusing 11 minute rant said that there are players that were on the Giants last year that have been calling him saying "how much they wish they were still here even though they’re getting paid more someone else.” I mean did he actually believe this garbage? Judge added, "I know we're a whole lot closer to where we're going than farther away. I can tell you that right now." Judge some about building a culture, which is right. There were times where players were skipping meetings last season and that's not happening this year. The Giants are playing hard, that's not a question. But the product is awful, they aren't competitive and fans are tired.
Judge was also quoted saying, "If we don’t play well, every fan has a right to boo my ass out of the stadium." I got my ticket for Sunday and I'm going just to boo this guy out of the building. What makes this worse is this was the guy making the players do sprints for fighting in the preseason. Now he's afraid to rip them a new one so he can keep his job. It's a joke! He said when he was introduced as the head coach that he was going to put a product on the field that this city could be proud of. Is that it?
Historically bad offense continues
Photo Credit: Giants Wire - USA Today
The New York Giants’ offense has sunk to a new low after the Bears game on Sunday. The Giants set a record for recording a net total passing yards of -10 for the game. That is the lowest in NFL history. The Giants were missing Kadarius Toney, John Ross, Sterling Shepard, and Darius Slayton due to injury or Covid. So the Giants knew they needed to lean on the run to have a shot in this game.
The Giants' inability to protect the quarterback has been their issue all season. QB Mike Glennon was under pressure all day from Chicago’s pass-rushers. Glennon had no time to throw and when he did, he either threw an interception or threw passes everywhere but to a receiver. On the first play of the game, Glennon dropped back and was immediately strip-sacked. Chicago recovered the fumble at the one yard line, the next play Chicago scored a touchdown the rout was on. Glennon finished the game 4 of 11 passing for 24 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INT, 4 fumbles (2 fumbles lost). I know Pop Warner players with better stat lines.
The Giants eventually gave up trying to throw the ball all together and just stick to the run game. They turned to the ground and gained some yards, but it was too little. In the second quarter the Giants had a third and 10 from around the 30 yard line. But instead of trying to get the first down the Giants opted to run the ball and settle for a field goal. They didn't even bother to throw the ball at that point because the passing game was so ineffective.
The Giants still haven't been able to find a useful way to use their star receiver Kenny Golladay. A player that they brought in to make a huge impact has literally done nothing all season because of ineffective offensive play calling and line play. The passing game was so bad on Sunday that Devontae Booker led the team in catches with 2, but got 0 receiving yards.
Return to the scene of the crime
Photo Credit: Giants Wire - USA Today
All areas of the Giants offense has been a struggle all year. The only one that is struggling as much as Kenny Golladay has been Saquon Barkley. Barkley returned to Soldier Field where he tore his ACL last season. This season has been a struggle for him as he is slowly recovering from the ankle injury he suffered vs the Cowboys and ineffective line play as he struggles to find open field.
Barkley put forth his best performance of the season, rushing for over a hundred yards for the first time in 2 years. Barkley finished with 21 carries for 102 yards, averaging over 4.9 yards per carry. It was good to see Barkley making some tough runs for 3-5 yards but also showing a little bit of burst. We all know the first year back from my ACL is the toughest, I expect Barclay to be fully recovered next year and really have a better impact on this football team. There's no better player to root for than barclay, who says all the right things and does all the right things.
The other incumbent running back, Devontae Booker finished with 18 carries for 46 yards. Most fans have said all season that Devontae Booker is the better option at running back. Today isn't the one day where I can say I told you so because it's only one game. But I don't know any smart football mind that would take Booker over Barkley. I know teams like the Buffalo Bills would trade pics to get Barkley on their team next year. We can use them both as they're both different style runners and try to get this team going in the right direction next year.
