The Joe Judge lead New York Giants seem to be a different football team compared to recent years. The regimens of Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur have been tumultuous at best, but the tides are turning with Judge and his intensity.
It finally feels like the Giants have a true direction with a rebuilt, focusing on developing their youth and bringing a strong coaching staff to lead the change. The current staff compared to 2019 is vastly different, composed of former head coaches and respected personnel across the league. That should help in their progression, and it has reflected in ESPN simulator for the 2020 season.
Here’s a look at how the ESPN simulator works:
Each preseason, we run 20,000 simulations of the entire slate with ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI), our projection system. A lot goes into it, including expected starting quarterback, past performance, returning starters and projected win totals. The culmination is a strength rating for all 32 teams that helps us predict outcomes.
But today, only one of those sims matters: No. 3,869. We played out that single result across every game, giving us tight division races, QB controversies, breakouts and of course a Super Bowl LV champion. We also baked in NFL analyst Mike Clay’s player projections to give us stat leaders throughout the season.
The Giants finish the season 7-9, which is far better than most are predicting. I personally have them at 5-10 or 6-11, meaning winning seven games will be massive positive for a Judge in his first year.
Oddly, the Giants are projected to sweep the Philadelphia Eagles this season, overcoming the tough Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals, and Dallas in week 17. Unfortunately, Dallas goes on to the Super Bowl, just get blown out by the Kansas City Chiefs, as ESM’s John Fennelly states.
The bright news, the Giants don’t underwhelm, and they remain competitive for the 2020 season. That is all we can ask for, given the current situation and how young the team is across the board. Being held accountable and doing your job in specific roles is how they can take steps forward. Last year, they were unorganized, and the coaching staff didn’t do any favors with clock management and in-game decisions. Hopefully, Judge can upgrade that portion of the team and help his players improve their probability of success.