There’s not many reasons why fans would want their own team to lose. But plenty of New York Giants fans had that stance going into the team’s late season matchup with the Washington Redskins, and there’s legitimate reasons for them to feel that way. Yes, wanting the team to lose to a rival is something that just feels scummy. But what feels worse than that?
The idea that the Giants are going to have to spend any more time than they already are rebuilding, and suffering through more bad results because a win in a late season meaningless game pushed the team out of position to get the second overall pick.
It doesn’t look like the Giants are going to be in a spot to take Chase Young, potentially a generational pass rushing talent who could fill the void that has existed for years at the position for the Giants, and at the end of the day that will probably be more remembered than Daniel Jones throwing five touchdowns against Washington.
“The Washington Redskins select Chase Young,” are words that no Giants fan wants to hear, but thanks to a temporary win, they may become reality. The Giants may be reminded twice a year of the player that they could have had, when their offensive line finds itself on the other side of the ball from Young – after all, with the Dolphins winning, it looks almost certain now that the Redskins will have the second pick rather than Miami.
Of course, there’s a couple different ways this hurts the Giants. Young ending up in the hands of Washington is one way, but certainly not the only one.
With four wins this season, things may look better on paper than they actually are for the Giants.
Which might motivate the team to not clean house at the end of the year. Some might say that it’s crazy to fire the coach and General Manager in the second year of a rebuild, but the fact of the matter is that in a three year rebuild, the trajectory is supposed to be heading upwards at the end of the second year. The Giants may have achieved good results against some of the worst teams in the league, the Dolphins and the Redskins, but there’s hardly reason to have confidence.
Let’s not forget how the Giants have performed this year against good or even mediocre competition.
Two years into the rebuild and the offensive line is only marginally better than the one that preceded Gettleman, the secondary has problems and requires more key players after making Janoris Jenkins the leader failed to pan out, and the pass rush is lacking for yet another year – something that will likely stay the same after the Giants won and removed themselves from position to take Chase Young.
It’s been said that we haven’t seen Gettleman yet with money to spend.
But based on his track record so far, we might not want to see that. Trusting Gettleman with free cap space may set the team back further. It will likely result in overpaying players who may just be past their prime and don’t deserve it. In selling out more cash for players like Nate Solder who may be on their way out in one or two years.
The New York Giants may get quicker results at this point from burning things down completely than trusting in Gettleman’s plan and suffering through more years of losing.
The question is, however, will a four or five win season that looks better on paper than it did when the season was ongoing be enough to blind the organization to that fact?