When the New York Giants not only made the playoffs but won a playoff game in 2022 under first-year coach Brian Daboll, the general feeling was that they were at least a year ahead of schedule. The 2023 season has been a different story.
The unquestioned highlight of the season thus far was overcoming a 20-0 halftime deficit in Week 2 to defeat the Arizona Cardinals. Otherwise, it’s been a disaster.
That come-from-behind victory in Arizona was sandwiched between a 40-0 shellacking from the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1 and a 30-12 beatdown from the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3. That, combined with the 24-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night means New York’s three losses have come by an average of more than 26 points. All three were nationally televised on prime time.
Monday’s game was so bad that with more than 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, scores of fans at MetLife Stadium were not only leaving their seats but already in their cars and on the roads out of the stadium.
Joe Buck: "It's gridlock getting out of here. Fans have seen enough."
Troy Aikman: "It'll clear out in time for us. We'll just be strolling right down the road." pic.twitter.com/uQzeeW8WEB
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 3, 2023
The easy play is to blame quarterback Daniel Jones. And he deserves a lot of it. He turned the ball over three times, including a pick-six right when it looked like the Giants might be making the game close. But the rest of the team didn’t help. He was sacked 11 times. New York’s tackling on defense was a mess.
"What. Just. Happened?"- Peyton and Eli Manning react to the Giants' horrible tackling efforts on a 51-yard play for the Seahawks. #MNF 🏈🎙️ pic.twitter.com/8X8ddfMNo5
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 3, 2023
And while the fans at MetLife Stadium were fleeing for the exits, the rest of the NFL world was making the obvious, yet brutal observation.
Something is seriously wrong with the Giants.
Giants have the worst point-differential (-76) in the @NFL through 4 games.
Yes, worse than the winless Bears. Yes, worse than the Broncos, who gave up 70.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) October 3, 2023
The Giants offensive line this season pic.twitter.com/chxxoss55u
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) October 3, 2023
Giants offensive lineman in pass propic.twitter.com/f2UbKvPWoQ
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 3, 2023
Brian Daboll's offense is broken. Two quarters against a bad #Cardinals team should hide everything else they've displayed this season. This very much looks like a bad team. #Giants
— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) October 3, 2023
It's easy to blame Daniel Jones, and the contract is low-hanging fruit. But there are way more problems with this Giants team than just the quarterback. The offensive line is pathetic; oh, and let's take away Saquon Barkley too. The tackling on defense has been problematic at…
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 3, 2023
A potentially more troubling issue is that New York may be repeating an unsavory history. Ben McAdoo was brought in to replace Tom Coughlin after the 2015 season. In McAdoo’s first year, the Giants made the playoffs and were heading in the right direction. The second year was so bad that he didn’t even finish.
Two years of Pat Shurmur didn’t fix the issue, nor did two years of Joe Judge. Daboll seemed to bring stability in his first year but the 2023 Giants are a far cry from the 2022 version.
And while the schedule over the first four games has been tough, and it has been. Unfortunately for New York, the next two teams on the schedule are the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills. While the schedule does soften some after that, being 1-5 will be tough to overcome if the team has aspirations of making the playoffs or even competing for a spot.
