I’m just going to talk about the Giants and the NFC east. I’ll begin with an allegory. My youngest plays for a 9u football team. He used to play for a 10u team but we moved him down in order to make a contribution for a team. He did. He’s scored basically every touchdown for that team since he arrived to the tune of twelve scores in four games. He began to emerge as the feature back because he was playing in his own division where the talent is comparable. His confidence built and he is starting to believe in his abilities again. This is also the story of the Giants. Over the last few games I’ve watched the piecemeal line come together and protect Eli Manning. Slowly I’m watching him emerge from his ‘dump it off’ mentality and take a few more chances downfield. Not a lot. Still, he’s connecting on 72% of his passes, has the highest QBR of his career, and is at the second highest YPG in his entire career.
This week he lost to the Panthers in a game that should have been a win. Recently the league even admitted they got it wrong. The Panthers are in their league and it should’ve been a win. Now the Giants are about to face a team in their own division. It is going to be a win. On a short week where the emotions and energy are high and everyone is ready to break out, the Giants are about to take the defending Super Bowl champs to task. This is a must win game for the ‘G-men’, because with only one win on the schedule, they need to beat division rivals and win the division in order to make the playoffs.
I predict the Giants will be a 9-7 team and make it to the conference championship. What happens next is anyone’s guess.