The New York Giants season is already lost… Or at least, that’s what many people believe. Of course, it’s one hundred percent understandable if you think that the Giants can’t bounce back. Their first two losses weren’t ones to inspire confidence in a fanbase, and whatever progress was made in the draft seemed to be wiped out by more problems. Losing to the Cowboys this season was hardly different from losing to the Cowboys last season.
But for the people who matter the most in all of this, the staff and the players, there’s still some faith there. Faith that this year can end up less like 2017 and more like 2007. Granted, comparing this team to the 2007 one just because of their opening records would be a shallow and surface level comparison at best, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything that can be learned from that year.
“Obviously there are young guys that are going to be looking at the vets to see how they respond and how they act. Guys are coming from college, where all of a sudden you lose a game, you lose two games, the season’s over, where the NFL we’re one game back in the division,” said Eli Manning yesterday.
Whether or not the Giants can improve their play and capitalize on it, Manning is right here. Every other team in the NFC East is 1-1 right now, meaning the Giants aren’t as bad off as they seem. At least not based on their record. If they continue to play the way that they have, there’s no hope of turning things around and making a Wild Card run, or even being semi-competitive in general this year.
But if adjustments on the coaching side work out, and the players step up their performances, particularly on the offensive line? It’s only two games into the season and the Giants aren’t exactly in a hole that can’t be overcome. It is easier said than done, however, to just improve the play when the team has the roster of one that should be in a rebuilding phase.
“At one point for the Houston Texans last year it wasn’t going so well for them and then at one point there was a stretch where they were lighting up the scoreboard and then [Deshaun Watson] got hurt,” said head coach Pat Shurmur, making a point about how it’s possible for a team’s fate to change from bad to good and then change back all over the course of a single season.
Do things look bleak right now? Yes. But looks aren’t always everything and it’s impossible to know how well the team is actually adapting following their bad start. We’ll see that against Houston, but if there legitimately is an improvement and the Giants manage a 1-2 start instead of an 0-3 one? Well, it wouldn’t be time to call off the season just yet.