The New York Giants are facing the Cowboys in their final game of the regular season, but that’s not the only game that will decide the division. For the Giants to make it into the playoffs, they need to win and Washington needs to lose their own season finale.
They’re in this situation because they haven’t been able to capitalize on earlier losses from Washington, and now, the Giants have to rely on a Philadelphia team that’s already been eliminated and doesn’t have anything to play for.
Because if Philly doesn’t pull off a win against Washington, it won’t matter what happens in the Dallas versus New York game. However, based on statements from Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, there’s reason to think that there might still be hope.
Schwartz has said that the Eagles don’t intend on just giving up because they don’t have something to play for against Washington.
“There’s too much at stake. It might not be at stake for us as a team with a playoff berth and things like that, but we’ve got a lot of individual things that players still can accomplish. We’ve got guys that are trying to earn their way in the league,” Schwartz said in the buildup to the game. “We have a division opponent that’s going to come and try to celebrate on our field. We’ve got to have a no-hat rule this week. We can’t let opponents put division win hats on at the Linc. There’s a lot of pride in that, and all our focus has to be to accomplishing that this week.”
There’s not much love between the Eagles and the Giants, but Giants fans will almost certainly be rooting for the Eagles on Sunday for the simple reason that an Eagles win is required to get the Giants into the playoff. The Giants will need a lot of luck to pull that off. But the last game of the season is so intriguing because regardless, there’s still a legitimate chance. And that hasn’t been true for this team for years until now.